Thomas Jefferson was an important figure in American politics, who came close to the presidency two times, in 1800 and 1804. In 1800 Jefferson tied in electoral votes with his supposed vice-presidential candidate Aaron Burr, opening up a loophole that allowed Aaron Burr to become president after being chosen by the House. Jefferson came back in 1804, running against president Burr and federalist candidate Charles Pinckney. Jefferson had a strong base of supporters and came close to victory, but due to the Louisiana Purchase and the strong economy, Burr was narrowly able to be re-elected. How would history have been different if Jefferson had become president, either in 1800 or 1804.
DBWI: President Jefferson
- Thread starter Centralen
- Start date
Probably worse for the country in the long run. Jefferson was a strict constitutionalist, and the constitution doesn’t give the president the authority to unilaterally purchase land from foreign leaders. With president Jefferson we would certainly not see the Louisiana Purchase, and America would be doomed to being hemmed-in by the British
Well Haiti would probably be in a far worse position than in OTL. After all, Jefferson was a slave owner who was frightened by the new republic. Without the Burr's controversial decision to recognize Haitian independence and force the French to back down from their outrageous debt demands, the island republic would be in a much worse place.
FillyofDelphi
Banned
Not only that; remember how big a Francophile the man was? Congress may have alot of power domestically back in early 1800's America, so we probably don't see any hard changes there, but he could easily renege on Washington's neutrality declaration and made a hard pivot towards Revolutionary France. We might have even ended up at war with the Coalitions!
I think having Washington be the only slaveholder President was a good thing.