Talk:Thomas Jefferson

Image

I've found a digital image of Jefferson's portrait from the White House Historical Association http://www.whitehousehistory.org/ but am unable to find copyright information regarding the image. Has anyone approached this site before? I believe the portrait of this, and other presidents, is important to include on the article. The Association has image files for all of them available.

I'm just hoping I don't have to be the one to make the phone call and ask for permission. Could someone else (who understands more about copyrights) review the website and tell me if the images are 'free game' or if we need to obtain something in writing granting us permission?

The image in questions is directly linked here: http://www.whitehousehistory.org/04/subs/images_subs/1801_b.jpg

The page it can be found on is here: http://www.whitehousehistory.org/04/subs/04_b_1801.html

Jacob Roecker

all images published like this one pre 1923 are public domain and we should not ask permission. We do not want our request to be used as evidence against us. Richard Jensen 23:42, 22 May 2007 (CDT)

the image has been added and I'll work through others using the same standard. Thanks Jacob

Second Term

In the paragraph dealing with his second term, there is this line: "Most historians judge his military policies a major disaster...." Can we confirm a who these "historians" are? Who, specifically, made these claims? Thanks. --Russell D. Jones 21:39, 21 February 2008 (CST)

It goes back to T Roosevelt (who said TJ was " "perhaps the most incapable Executive") and Henry Adams ("Adams supports the war of 1812 but judges Jefferson and Madison woefully lax in preparing for it. Both men had on misguided principle opposed any prewar naval buildup and allowed the Army to go to seed." Garry Wills agrees) Ellis says the embargo was a disastrous failure as does Leonard Levy. Rutland says "To say the young Republic was unprepared for the War of 1812 is a grave understatement. The army was a small frontier force, the navy was a token force"; Carr: "the Congress [ in 1799] sharply reduced the new Navy and Jefferson on taking office continued the reduction, even after the war with Tripoli began"; Channing: "Of all the Federalist inventions nothing was more hateful to Jefferson than the navy. On April 17, 1801, he wrote to Samuel Smith that he should be chagrined if he could not lay up the seven larger men-of-war in the eastern branch of the Potomac, where the ships would be under the immediate eye of the department, and would require but "one set of plunderers to take care of them.""; Merrill D. Peterson: "The [economy] plan, which Jefferson outlined in his first annual message to Congress, was liable to two main objections. It assumed peace, and although the principles of the Peace of Amiens had been agreed upon, this was a risky assumption in the world of William Pitt and Napoleon Bonaparte and seemed to jeopardize the nation's defense in favor of niggardly economy." Eugene R. Sheridan TJ was (in 1807) "without credible military or naval power". Smelser considers Gallatin the greatest enemy the navy ever had. Richard Jensen 23:34, 21 February 2008 (CST)