Thomas Jefferson
There is a lot of controversy surrounding Thomas Jefferson. Whether he was a moral person or not, he had a significant impact on the development of the United States. By the time he became the United States’ third President, he had already accomplished a lot in his life, most notably the Declaration of Independence, which he wrote at the age of 33.
Once he became President, he accomplished quite a bit, both good and bad. On the good side, he was instrumental in the exploration of the rest of the North American continent, specifically that which would later make up the lower 48, as it is called today. In 1803, two years after taking the oath of office, Jefferson purchased nearly 800,000 square miles of land from France. It doubled the size of the country’s territory and was instrumental in the growth of the nation. For $15 million, he added thirteen states’ worth of land to the nation. In 2011, that would be around $233 million. Still a very good deal.
On the other hand, Jefferson wasn’t so good in terms of foreign policy. He tried to support Napoleon in his quest to defeat Great Britain by increasing exports between the United States and Europe. Unfortunately, the British and French started to seize American trade ships, which caused the export market in the U.S. to collapse. Jefferson tried banning all trade with Europe and Britain, but it led to one of the first economic depressions of the new nation.
Quite a lot of Jefferson’s contribution to the United States that makes him so influential to this day happened after he left office. These included the founding of the first non-secular university (University of Virginia) and helping to found the Library of Congress. As one of the founders of the United States, he was very influential in developing and forming U.S. policy in the formative years of the new nation.