Thomas Jefferson
Author of the Declaration of Independence. He cut taxes and the military and paid down the debt, bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, sent Lewis and Clark west, fought the Barbary pirates, and signed the ban on importing enslaved people. His Embargo Act, which stopped all foreign trade, badly hurt the economy.
The economy, first day to last
Shaded areas show the years in office, with a few years before and after for comparison. Until 1842 the federal budget year matched the calendar year and debt figures are dated January 1; from 1843 to 1976 budget years ran July to June.
National debt
January 1, 1801: $83.04 million → January 1, 1809: $57.02 million
The debt fell by about a third even after borrowing for the Louisiana Purchase. Until 1842 the Treasury's debt figures are dated January 1, so these are the closest readings to the start and end of the term.
Debt compared with the economy
Debt as a share of GDP. Above 100% means the debt is bigger than a year of everything the country produces.
Deficits and surpluses
Money borrowed each budget year (below the line) or paid down (above). The White House budget office's yearly figures begin in 1901.
Unemployment
No national estimates before 1890. Economist Stanley Lebergott's yearly estimates, the earliest national series, begin in 1890
Inflation
How much prices rose each year (consumer price index).
Cost of living
What everyday prices and paychecks did while in office.
Prices use the consumer price index (MeasuringWorth). The minimum wage is the federal rate set by Congress.
Executive orders
4 orders. Count from the American Presidency Project.
Orders signed each year
Yearly counts aren't reliable for this era. Orders were not numbered until 1907, when the State Department numbered the ones already in its files, and many orders were never numbered at all, so only the total is shown.
Source: American Presidency Project: executive orders (full list of every order).
Notable orders
Most orders in this era were routine, such as setting aside public land or exempting jobs from civil service rules.
Pardons and commutations
A pardon wipes out the punishment for a federal crime; a commutation shortens a sentence but leaves the conviction. The Justice Department's published counts begin in 1900.
Granted each year
The Justice Department's published clemency counts begin in fiscal 1900, so there are no reliable yearly totals for this presidency.
Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice, clemency statistics, which lists every recipient with the crime and sentence.
Notable grants: tap to see the crime
People convicted under the Sedition ActPardons1801
The crime: Criticizing the Adams government (Sedition Act of 1798)
Sentence: Fines and prison terms
Why it drew attention: Jefferson considered the law unconstitutional and pardoned everyone convicted under it, including writer James Callender.
SourceInvestigations and legal record
The same checklist for every president. Tap a row for details and sources.
ImpeachedNoNo
No articles of impeachment were voted on.
Criminally chargedNoNo
Never charged. He was the first president subpoenaed, in Aaron Burr's 1807 treason trial, and partly complied.
Aides or cabinet convictedNoNo
No member of his cabinet or White House staff was convicted.
Special counselsNoNo
None were appointed.
Misuse of DOJ, FBI or IRSDisputed — the Burr casePartly
Jefferson publicly declared Aaron Burr guilty before his trial and pressed the prosecution; to enforce his embargo, he used the military against smugglers.
SourcePeople around the president who were charged or penalized
Controversies and scandals
What happened, what was proven, and how it ended.
Slaveholding and Sally HemingsProven1780s–1826
Jefferson enslaved more than 600 people over his lifetime and freed only a few. He fathered children with Sally Hemings, an enslaved woman at Monticello, a relationship that began when she was a teenager.
Outcome: Long denied by his defenders; a 1998 DNA study and historical evidence led most historians and the Thomas Jefferson Foundation to accept his paternity, though a minority still dispute it.
SourceThe Embargo ActDisputed1807–1809
To pressure Britain and France, Jefferson banned all American exports. Trade collapsed and smuggling soared.
Outcome: Congress repealed it days before he left office.
SourceBurr's treason trialCharged1807
Jefferson's former vice president was tried for plotting to create a separate nation in the West.
Outcome: Acquitted; Chief Justice John Marshall required proof of an actual act of war.
SourceIn their own words
Widely quoted remarks, with the context they were said in.
We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists.
Building a wall of separation between Church & State.
Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep for ever.
I advance it therefore as a suspicion only, that the blacks ... are inferior to the whites in the endowments both of body and mind.