---
title: "Thomas Jefferson"
chunk: 11/19
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:06:33.894887+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

Following the 1801 electoral deadlock, Jefferson's relationship with his vice president, Aaron Burr, rapidly eroded. Jefferson suspected Burr of seeking the presidency for himself, while Burr was angered by Jefferson's refusal to appoint some of his supporters to federal office. Burr was dropped from the Democratic-Republican ticket in 1804 in favor of charismatic George Clinton.
The same year, Burr was soundly defeated in his bid to be elected New York governor. During the campaign, Alexander Hamilton made publicly callous remarks regarding Burr's moral character. Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel, held on July 11, 1804. In the duel, Burr mortally wounded Hamilton, who died the following day. Burr was subsequently indicted for Hamilton's murder, causing him to flee to Georgia, even though he remained president of the U.S. Senate during Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase's impeachment trial. Both indictments quietly died and Burr was not prosecuted.
In August 1804, Burr contacted British Minister Anthony Merry offering to cede U.S. western territory in return for money and British ships. After leaving office in April 1805, Burr traveled west and conspired with Louisiana Territory governor James Wilkinson, beginning a large-scale recruitment for a military expedition. Burr discussed seizing control of Mexico or Spanish Florida, or forming a secessionist state in New Orleans or the Western U.S.; historians remain unclear as to his true goal. In the fall of 1806, Burr launched a military flotilla carrying about 60 men down the Ohio River. Wilkinson renounced the plot and reported Burr's expedition to Jefferson, who ordered Burr's arrest. On February 13, 1807, Burr was captured in Louisiana and sent to Virginia to be tried for treason.
Burr's 1807 conspiracy trial became a national issue. Jefferson attempted to preemptively influence the verdict by telling Congress that Burr's guilt was "beyond question", but the case came before his longtime political foe, and distant cousin, John Marshall, who dismissed the treason charge. Burr's legal team subpoenaed Jefferson, but Jefferson refused to testify, making the first argument for executive privilege. Instead, Jefferson provided relevant legal documents. After a three-month trial, the jury found Burr not guilty, while Jefferson denounced his acquittal. Jefferson subsequently removed Wilkinson as territorial governor but retained him in the U.S. military. Historian James N. Banner criticized Jefferson for continuing to trust Wilkinson, a "faithless plotter".

==== Wilkinson's misconduct ====
Commanding General James Wilkinson was a holdover of the Washington and Adams administrations. In 1804, Wilkinson received 12,000 pesos from the Spanish for information on American boundary plans. Wilkinson also received advances on his salary and payments on claims submitted to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn. This damaging information apparently was unknown to Jefferson. In 1805, Jefferson trusted Wilkinson and appointed him Louisiana Territory governor, admiring Wilkinson's work ethic.
In January 1806, Jefferson received information from Kentucky U.S. Attorney Joseph Davies that Wilkinson was on the Spanish payroll. Jefferson took no action against Wilkinson, since there was not then significant evidence against him. An investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives in December 1807 exonerated Wilkinson. In 1808, a military court looked into the allegations against Wilkinson but also found a lack of evidence. Jefferson retained Wilkinson in the U.S. Army. Evidence found in Spanish archives in the 20th century proved Wilkinson was on the Spanish payroll.

=== Foreign affairs (1805–1809) ===

==== Attempted annexation of Florida ====
In the aftermath of the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson attempted to annex West Florida from Spain. In his annual message to Congress, on December 3, 1805, Jefferson railed against Spain over Florida border depredations. A few days later Jefferson secretly requested a two-million-dollar expenditure to purchase Florida. Floor leader John Randolph opposed annexation, was upset over Jefferson's secrecy on the matter, and believed the money would end up going to Napoleon. The Two Million Dollar bill passed only after Jefferson successfully maneuvered to replace Randolph with Barnabas Bidwell as floor leader. This aroused suspicion of Jefferson and charges of undue executive influence over Congress. Jefferson signed the bill into law in February 1806. Six weeks later the law was made public. The two million dollars was to be given to France as payment, in turn, to put pressure on Spain to permit the annexation of Florida by the United States. France, however, refused the offer and Florida remained under Spanish control. The failed venture damaged Jefferson's reputation among his supporters.

==== Chesapeake–Leopard affair ====

Starting in 1806, the Royal Navy began stopping American merchantmen to search for deserters from the British navy; approximately 6,000 sailors were impressed into the Royal Navy this way, leading to deep anger and resentment among the U.S. public. In 1806, Jefferson issued a call for a boycott of British goods; on April 18, Congress passed the Non-Importation Acts, but they were never enforced. Later that year, Jefferson asked James Monroe and William Pinkney to negotiate an end to foreign interference with American merchant shipping, though relations with Britain showed no signs of improving. The Monroe–Pinkney Treaty was finalized but lacked any provisions regarding the issue of impressment, and Jefferson refused to submit it to the Senate for ratification.
The British warship HMS Leopard encountered the USS Chesapeake off the Virginia coast in June 1807; Leopard fired at Chesapeake after the latter refused to allow for a search for deserters before removing four deserters from the ship. Jefferson issued a proclamation banning British warships from U.S. waters. He presumed unilateral authority to call on the states to prepare 100,000 militia and ordered the purchase of arms, ammunition, and supplies, writing, "The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation [than strict observance of written laws]". The USS Revenge was dispatched to demand an explanation from the British government, and Jefferson called for a special session of Congress in October to enact an embargo or alternatively to consider war.

==== Embargo (1807–1809) ====