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| Field name | Value |
|---|---|
| Collection Reference Number | GLC05242 |
| From Archive Folder | Documents Relating to 1801 |
| Title | Elias Boudinot to Jacob Burnett regarding the Napoleonic wars and Thomas Jefferson's inauguration |
| Date | 25 April 1801 |
| Author | Boudinot, Elias (1740-1821) |
| Recipient | Jefferson, Thomas |
| Document Type | Correspondence |
| Subjects | American Statesmen President Inauguration Inaugural Address Presidential Speeches and Proclamations Military History Global History and Civics Foreign Affairs |
| People | Jefferson, Thomas (1743-1826) Burnett, Jacob (fl. 1789-1801) Boudinot, Elias (1740-1821) |
| Place written | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Theme | The Presidency; Foreign Affairs |
| Sub-collection | The Gilder Lehrman Collection, 1493-1859 |
| Additional Information | Beginning in his first day in office, Jefferson sought to demonstrate his administration's commitment to republican principles. At noon, March 1, 1801, clad in clothes of plain cloth, he walked from a nearby boarding house to the new U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. and took the presidential oath of office. In his inaugural address, he sought to allay fear that he planned a Republican reign of terror. "We are all Republicans," he said, "we are all Federalists." Echoing Washington's Farewell Address, he asked his listeners to set aside partisan and sectional differences. He also laid out the principles that would guide his presidency: a frugal, limited government; reduction of the public debt; respect for states' rights; encouragement of agriculture; and a limited role for government in peoples' lives. In the following letter, Elias Boudinot (1740-1821), a leading New Jersey Federalist who had served as president of the Continental Congress, describes the reaction to Jefferson's inaugural address and then comments on recent events in Europe, which hold out the prospects of radical shifts in European power relations. As the letter makes clear, the United States was born during a period of war and revolution, which presented the country both with great opportunities for territorial expansion and grave perils to its political and economic independence. |
| Copyright | The Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History |
| Module | Settlement, Commerce, Revolution and Reform: 1493-1859 |
| Transcript | Show/hide |