Former member of the U.S. House of Representatives William Jefferson, while maybe not so known, was able to use his political power to gain for himself. He was a bribe taker during his terms in office making him a grafter. A grafter is someone who secretly takes money for political favors. These types of actions when discovered can get the person who has done them in many different kinds of trouble, including loss of job and even charges pressed. This crime by many is seen to be corruption, rightfully so, as things happen that might not have happened if money was not involved. Those who are guilty of being a grafter are the ones who end up in circle 8 of Dante’s “Inferno”. William started his political career serving as an officer in the Judge …show more content…
In 2005 it was revealed that he was using his position to receive bribes from American companies interested in opening businesses in Africa. Jefferson from 2000 to 2005 sought hundreds of millions of dollars for both himself and others he was working with from companies whose success depended on the approval of specific U.S. and West African government agencies. From doing this he pocketed more than $478,000, but all this money gained was wasted through his attempt to continue his doings. (“A Look Back at the William J. Jefferson Corruption Case | Federal Bureau of …show more content…
As clearly stated in Dante’s Inferno being a grafter leads people to end up in circle 8 of Hell. Hell, to Dante’s beliefs, is a place of punishment with 9 different circles that are formed in the shape of an inverted cone, with punishments for all kinds of sinners. Working down from the top, the sins of those in each circle continuously get worse, as seen in Dante’s eyes, with the punishments of those sinners matching their sins. Circle 8 is designated for those who have frauded. The circle is divided into 10 different ditches designated for all different kinds of fraudsters. The one grafters end up in is ditch 5. In ditch 5 there is a tar-like pit that is boiling hot with demons equipped with grappling hooks and pitchforks to poke sinners if one pokes their head out. This punishment fits the crime of a grafter as the sticky tar almost represents the sticky fingers of the grafters, since they like money and trickery, and the grappling hook represents their desire to grab everything they can get their hands on.
The experiences that Jefferson includes in the document are harsh, and leave the people believing that they are being abused instead of protected. One example of this is, “accordingly all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms in which they are accustomed.” (Jefferson, 2) Jefferson is talking about how the government system is corrupt, no one rises up against it or does anything about it. The experiences that the people have had allow them to place what they believe the “evils” that are “sufferable” are, which for most people in the U.S, that would be the King and the way Britain is treating them. This unites the people under that common hatred.
When Thomas Jefferson was introduced on March of 1801, he received troubled relations with Barbary states, and the Ottoman Regencies of the Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, and along with independent Morocco. The U.S. Had treaties with all four of them, but tension was high and rising. The American representatives in the region wanted an American Navy presence. They regularly, is less spoken, echoed the 1793 view of their worker in Lisbon, they said When we can appear in the Ports of the various Powers, or on the Coast, of the Barbary, with their ships of such force as to talk those nations that We are able to protect our trade, and to control them if necessary to keep faith with Us, then, and not before that, We may probably secure a big share
My poster is promoting Thomas Jefferson to be elected as the third president during the election of 1800 including my arguments why. I wrote and added a lot of meaning in the phrase, “Surely, if you are looking for someone to have a beer with you, turn to Aaron Burr. Otherwise, if you are looking for someone to run YOUR country, turn to Thomas Jefferson”. This phrase showed that despite how approachable Aaron Burr was that you could ‘have a beer with him’ was not United States president material. In addition, to further show that Thomas Jefferson would be a better president to run the country I made it sounds as if anything else that someone is looking for should turn to Jefferson because he is the only qualified to do so, like being the president
While writing the declaration the problem Thomas Jefferson was trying to address was the unjust treatment of the English colonies. For the most part, the English colonies where bullied and not given the right treatment by England. As a solution to this miss treatment Thomas Jefferson decides that the colonies should run them self as a completely separate country. Even if that means going to war. Jefferson chose the evidence he did to highlight the unfair treatment of the colonies.
Was Thomas Jefferson a Hypocrite? “No man will ever carry out the Presidency the same reputation which earned him into it.” Thomas Jefferson was not a hypocrite, and his actions show it. He stuck to his beliefs throughout all two terms of his Presidency. Jefferson acted as a common man, helped educate the less fortunate, and made the government smaller while reducing the debt.
The British are taking American ships and crewmen. If this non-sense doesn’t stop, I’m not going to be able to send my merchandise abroad. Why doesn’t our navy resist these attacks! I read in the Boston Times that the British tried taking crewmen from the Chesapeake. Why isn’t Jefferson doing anything to prevent this!
Thomas Jefferson was a man of contradictions whose biggest one was his attitude towards slavery. He was one of the loudest abolitionists yet he never freed his own slaves. The reasoning behind this was that he was deeply in debt and could never seem to get ahead of his payments. He had plans to have his slaves freed after his death but his debts made that financial feasible for his heir (Johnson, 248).
The time period in which a certain piece of literature was written says a lot about the society at the time. Authors usually write about the events happening in their society. The Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson reflects what was going on at the time, so does “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” by Martin Luther King , Jr. These were both written because of the issues happening in their communities.
Without a doubt Thomas Jefferson’s explanation of how to break the law was a very insightful intake on how to properly break the law when the opportunity presents itself. When injustice is present it's the duty of man to stand up for their beliefs and fight for their rights. In order to combat the injustice of the British, Jefferson provided a list of grievances to the American citizens and told Americans that, it was their duty to break the law after asking for a peaceful compromise from the British. Jefferson specifically wrote, “When in course of human events , it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of Earth , the separate and equal station
I chose to focus my posting on Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson was a very knowledgeable man. Jefferson had a lot of jobs like being a politician, scientist, inventor, statesman, and more. Thomas was a part of the Continental Congress, governor of Virginia, vice president, and a United States president. Thomas Jefferson did a lot during the eighteenth century in history.
We, as colonists, have just exited a time of strife and conflict that has not been paralleled so far in our New World. The followers of Nathaniel Bacon have assaulted native villages, causing the death of an untold amount of men women and children, not bringing into account the starvation sure to follow once winter descends on the land. While many of the settlers do not approve of this drastic action, it has shown us the corruption in the Virginian government that must be addressed. In Bacon’s “The Declaration of the People”, he points out that our governor is guilty of “having wronged his Majesties prerogative and interest, by assuming Monopoly of the Beaver trade” .
“The God who gave us life, gave us liberty at the same time” and “He who knows nothing is closer to the truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors” are wise words from Thomas Jefferson (BrainyQuote.com). Thomas Jefferson was a well-known man who was, and still is, liked by many people today. Many people may remember Thomas Jefferson as the nation’s first Secretary of State, the third President of the United States, and one of our Founding Fathers. While some people may have known Thomas Jefferson to be a strong political man, others have known him to be a great religious man. Thomas Jefferson may be responsible for many contributions of the political world, but he is certainly not a stranger to the religious world either.
Thomas Jefferson believed that the Constitution should be interpreted strictly, but his actions with the Louisiana Purchase showed him to be a hypocrite. The same man who argued that only Congress had the power to enter into treaties decided to enter into a treaty with France on his own, without the consent of Congress. Jefferson was a strong supporter of limited federal government. He warned, “To take a single step beyond these boundaries [of the Tenth Amendment], is to take possession of a boundless field of power.”
Madison shared his passion for religious liberty with fellow founding father, Thomas Jefferson. Their collaboration came in 1776 when Virginia’s leaders urgently needed the support of the state’s religious dissenters in the war against Britain. The dissenters were a large and growing community that accounted for approximately one-fifth to one-third of the population, and recognized their opportunity and insisted on improvements in religious freedom in return for their support. (Ragosta) Jefferson and Madison, serving together on the Committee for Religion in the House of Delegates, subsequently led successful efforts to eliminate the religious tax on dissenters. (Ragosta)
Thomas Jefferson’s works and ideas laid the foundation for several key aspects on the limits of the United States government, the idea of separation of church and state, and the importance of personal rights. Jefferson wrote many influential pieces of literature which pushed the concept of having limited government power. Jefferson wanted America not to be like the European monarchies that fell due to religious strife, so he emphasized a secular government. Jefferson, following closely with the ideas of John Locke, stressed the importance of the protection of individual rights against the government. Thomas Jefferson believed that a government should have limitations.