Editor’s note: This week we are counting down the top five inaugural addresses in U.S. history. At number five is Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address. Below, the historian John P. Kaminski of the University of Wisconsin–Madison explains the importance of Jefferson’s address. Kaminski’s complete analysis of the document can be downloaded at MilestoneDocuments.com or Amazon.com.

Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address, given on March 4, 1801, is one of the great documents of democratic government and oratorical rhetoric. After the bitter election campaign of 1800, Vice President Jefferson defeated the Federalist incumbent, President John Adams. Adams peacefully surrendered his authority to his opponent, and Jefferson assumed power pledging there would be no retaliation against his opponents, whether they held political office or not. “We are all Republicans, we are all Federalists,” Jefferson asserted. The new administration, unlike the old, would allow dissent. The Sedition Act of 1798, which elevated criticism of the government to a high crime and targeted Jeffersonian Republicans, would be allowed to die, and those still imprisoned under it were released. Those who now opposed the government would be left “undisturbed as monuments of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated where reason is left free to combat it.” Jefferson then laid out his “general principle” of government, predicated upon the maxim of “equal and exact justice to all men, of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political.”

Knowing that he lacked the universal confidence held by George Washington when he became president, Jefferson asked for the people’s indulgence when he erred and support from them against the errors of others. He hoped the “Infinite Power which rules the destinies of the universe” would “lead our councils to what is best,” and provide “peace and prosperity” for America.

Jefferson’s first inaugural address completed the peaceful transfer of power from one hostile administration to another, setting a tradition in American politics. In this sense it marked one of the great moments in the history of democratic government. It signaled to Federalists that they had nothing to fear from a vindictive new president and to Democratic-Republicans that they should be just and conciliatory toward their political opponents.

To a great extent, the policies advocated in the inaugural address were those that Jefferson attempted to implement during his administration. Often elements in Jefferson’s own political party made it difficult for him to fulfill the pledges in the address. However, by the end of his two terms, Jefferson had followed his own general principles and achieved widespread support from the American public. The Federalist Party was in complete disarray and on the verge of annihilation.