Throughout his early political career, Thomas Jefferson had always been a

strong supporter of states’ rights and a major critic of Federalist policies.

However, after being elected as President in 1801, Jefferson radically altered
his earlier philosophy of government. Documents A and B show Jefferson’s
strong opposition to federal power and his firm belief in a “strict construction”
of the U.S. Constitution. However, Document C shows his abuse of federal
authority by exercising power not specifically granted to the federal
government by the Constitution.

Before Jefferson entered office, he was a states’ right activist and a

Democratic-Republican. He believed that the federal government should be
given as little power as possible; in his opinion the federal government was
very prone to becoming tyrannical. He feared that, after a hard fought war of
independence against Britain, Americans’ might once again be governed by a
tyrannical authority. His worst fears came true when, in 1794, Congress passed
the excise law (Doc. A). Jefferson voiced his disgust in a letter to James
Madison; he believed the law to be “an infernal one” and a possible
“instrument of dismembering the Union”. According to him, the law was
unconstitutional; he believed that the federal government was abusing their
authority by exercising powers that were not specifically granted to them in
the Constitution. This is called “loose construction”.  This illustrates his strong
beliefs in limiting federal power and interpreting the extent of federal power
through a strict construction of the Constitution.  He furthered this same point
when he wrote the Kentucky Resolutions in 1798 (Doc. B). In this piece of
legislation, Jefferson openly opposes the Alien and Sedition Acts. This
demonstrates his opposition of federal government controls on free speech
and immigration—and federal government controls in general. Jefferson
believed that the federal government was granted “certain definite powers”
and that the states were reserved “the residuary mass of right to their own
self-government”. In other words, he believed in strict constructionism: that
the federal government’s powers should be expressly limited, and that the
states should receive all the remaining powers. It is clear that before Jefferson
was elected to office in 1801 he was a major advocate of states’ rights and
critic of federalist policies.
After Jefferson was elected to office, he significantly altered his philosophies
about government. As president, Jefferson acted outside his legitimate
authority on numerous occasions. One such occasion was when Jefferson
authorized the Louisiana Purchase (Doc. C). In this situation, Jefferson clearly
demonstrated a disregard for the limit of his powers. Jefferson knew that he
did not have the authority to engage in such a deal with France, because it
was not a power specifically granted to him in the Constitution. However, he
completed the Louisiana Purchase anyway because he “thought it his duty” to
risk himself for the good of the United States. In other words, he knew what
he was doing was wrong, but he felt justified in knowing that it was for the
good of the country. Although Jefferson had good intentions, he clearly
violated the Constitution by abusing his position as executive of the U.S. In
another situation, Jefferson pushed the limits of presidential power by passing
the Embargo Act of 1807. This act restricted trade with France and Britain
because they did not respect the U.S. neutrality during the Napoleonic War.
Although, his intentions were again good in this situation, he pushed the limits
of what a president could constitutionally do while in office. Clearly, Jefferson
exercised massive federal power to achieve his political goals.

It is obvious that after being elected as President, Jefferson radically altered his
earlier philosophy of government. Before, he had strongly opposed federal
power and fought for a strict constructionist view of the U.S. Constitution.
However, once in office, he clearly abused his presidential authority by
exercising power not specifically granted to the federal government in the
Constitution. Despite his anti-Federalist upbringing, Thomas Jefferson turned
out to be more a Federalist than Washington or Adams ever was.