But Jefferson showed his sympathy for the rights of others quite as much in his private as in his public life, and won the personal attachment of his numerous household. His letters to his little daughters were full of loving advice, and their letters to him breathed the spirit of genuine affection. When, after the close of the Revolution, Franklin returned from his mission as minister to France, Jefferson was sent to take his place. On his return to Monticello at the end of five years, his slaves went miles to meet him and give him a hearty welcome home. They wished to take the horses from the carriage, that they might draw it themselves; and when, arriving at the house, Jefferson alighted, they bore him proudly upon their shoulders, while they laughed and cried for joy because "Massa" had come home again.
Jefferson was truly polite, because he had warm sympathy for others, especially for the poor and the needy. Once when he and his grandson were out riding together they met a negro who bowed to them. The young man paid no attention to the negro, but Jefferson politely returned the bow, saying, "Do you permit a negro to be more of a gentleman than yourself?" thus teaching the young man a useful lesson.
After filling many of the highest offices in the country, Thomas Jefferson became the third President of the United States in 1801. He had looked on with serious misgivings at some of the ceremonies and formalities in the executive mansion while Washington was President. He loved Washington, but he did not think that the President of the United States should be coldly formal and hold himself aloof from the people quite as much as Washington did. He believed in "republican simplicity," which he began to practise on the very day he was inaugurated.
On that occasion he went on foot to the capitol, clothed in his every-day dress, and attended by some of his political friends. It became his custom later when going up to the capitol on official business to ride on a horse, which he tied with his own hands to a fence near by, before entering. He declined to hold weekly levees, as had been the custom, but instead opened his house to all on the fourth of July and the first of January. In these ways he was carrying out his convictions that the President should be simple in dress and manner, or, in other words, should live in "republican simplicity."
Many acts of Jefferson prove that he was an able statesman; but one of the greatest things he did, while President in the years 1801-1809, was the purchase of Louisiana. Do not think of this territory as the State of Louisiana. It was far more than this, for it included all the country lying between the Mississippi River on the east and the Rocky Mountains on the west, and extending from Canada on the north to Texas on the south.
In 1763, at the close of the Last French War, France gave up all this vast region to Spain. But in 1800, Napoleon forced Spain to give it up to France. When the Americans learned that Louisiana had again become French territory they were alarmed, as the country that held Louisiana could control the mouth of the Mississippi, and stop all American goods passing down through the river. As a consequence, American settlers living west of the Alleghanies would not be able to find a ready outlet to the world for their products. Then, too, France might plant a strong colony in Louisiana and thus give the American people untold trouble.
Map of Louisiana Purchase; also United States in 1803.
Accordingly, President Jefferson sent Monroe to France to aid in securing New Orleans and a stretch of territory in Louisiana lying on the east bank of the Mississippi. By getting that territory, the Americans would own the entire east bank of the river, and could therefore control their own trade.