Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

STUDIES - András Tarnóc: "Jefferson Still Survives".

The second term of Jefferson's presidency also contained a disappointment as his inability to deal with the European crisis led to the divisive Embargo Act and brought the nation closer to America's second war with Britain, the War of 1812. Leonard Levy found several inconsistencies in the Jefferson image establishing a sharp contrast between the champion of freedom of the "Notes" and the advocate of tyranny in his response to the acquittal of Aaron Burr. Aaron Burr a former vice president of Jefferson was caught up in a bizarre scheme to establish a separate republic in the Louisiana territory. Although he was tried for treason, a lack of two constitutionally warranted witnesses led to his acquittal. Jefferson, frustrated by the legal wrangling wrote: "There are extreme cases when the laws become inadequate even to their own preservation and where the universal resource is a dictator or martial law".

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7 Also the author of the Kentucky Resolutions protesting governmental restrictions on freedom of speech and press signed a bill in 1806 making the utterance of "contemptuous and disrespectful words" against Congress and the President a crime.

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8 III. The Jeffersonian legacy is as complex as the man himself. He was a Renaissance man, a rare specimen in today's specialization who in James Parton's words could calculate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, try a cause, break a horse, dance a minuet and play the violin.

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7 Leonard Levy, "Jefferson as a Civil Libertarian," in Thomas Jefferson. The Man. His World. His Influence ed. Lally Weymouth (New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1973), p. 193. 1

8 Ibid., p. 194. 1

9 Douglas L. Wilson, "Thomas Jefferson and the Character Issue," in Jefferson Anniversary Series (United States Information Service, 1993) 125