Thomas Jefferson Marbury v Madison Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark Expedition Chesapeake Incident Embargo Act

Marbury v Madison Marbury v Madison , (1803) is a landmark case in United States law and the basis for the exercise of Judicial Review in the United States, under Article III of the United States Constitution.

This case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, who had been appointed as Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia by President John Adams shortly before leaving office, but whose commission was not delivered as required by John Marshall , Adams' Secretary of State.

When Thomas Jefferson assumed office, he ordered the new Secretary of State , James Madison, to withhold Marbury's and several other men's commissions. The Supreme Court denied Marbury's petition, holding that the statute upon which he based his claim was unconstitutional.

Louisiana Purchase When Jefferson learned that Spain had secretly ceded Louisiana to France in 1800, he instructed his ministers to negotiate the purchase of the port of New Orleans and possibly West Florida. Jefferson strategically made this move in order to insure that American farmers in the Ohio River Valley had access to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River -- the river was a key to the farmers' economic well-being, as they needed a vent for their surplus grain and meat.

To his surprise, Napoleon, needing funds to finance a new European war with England, offered to sell Jefferson most of the land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. His price of $15 million amounted to approximately four cents per acre for 828,000 square miles, doubling the size of the nation. Although Jefferson understood that the U.S. Constitution said nothing about the purchase of foreign territory, he set aside his strict constructionist ideals to make the deal -- Congress approved the purchase five months after the fact.

Lewis and Clark Expedition Jefferson then outfitted a twenty-five man expedition to explore the new lands. Led by his secretary, Meriwether Lewis, and Army Captain William Clark, these adventurers took two and one-half years to cover 8,000 miles. They traveled up the Missouri River, across the Continental Divide, and down the Columbia River to the Pacific before retracing their steps to St. Louis. The expedition is considered one of the great exploratory quests in human history.

Chesapeake Incident Several weeks after buying Louisiana, Napoleon declared war on Great Britain. At first, the European fighting benefited the United States since Americans functioned as the merchants carrying supplies to the warring powers.

Then, the bottom fell out of the trade industry as England and France each independently outlawed virtually all American commerce with their opponent. The British navy also began seizing American ships with cargoes bound for Europe and impressing American sailors into the Royal Navy.

Tensions mounted, and in the summer of 1807, the British warship Leopard fired on the American naval frigate Chesapeake, killing three Americans, when the ship refused boarding orders. Cries for war erupted throughout the nation.

Embargo Act Jefferson banned all British ships from U.S. ports, ordered state governors to prepare to call up 100,000 militiamen, and suspended trade with all of Europe. He reasoned that U.S. farm products were crucial to France and England and that a complete embargo would bring them to respect U.S. neutrality.

By spring 1808, however, the Embargo Act that was passed by Congress in December 1807 had devastated the American economy. Economic desperation settled upon the mercantile Northeast. Finally, Jefferson backed off in the last months of his administration, and Congress replaced the Embargo Act with the Non-Intercourse Act, which banned trade with England and France but allowed it with all other countries.