It was Jefferson who threw together a Navy and first projected our Naval power throughout the world and and Jefferson who somehow found a grant in the Constitution to buy the Louisania Territory.
This acts -- especially the details of the first Barbary War show Jefferson to be an immensely practical executive, well-grounded and adeptly footed at the same time. And despite Scenic Sounds later additions of Hamilton's own comments, I am hard pressed to imagine that a man who clearly understood limited and enumerated powers -- that is Hamilton, would be so unlimited even by what he meant when he said "plenary powers" for the use of tax revenues.
Do not be giving "general welfare" two distinct meanings at the same time. Hamilton gave it one: the use of Federal revenues and grants must directly benefit the whole and not particular individuals, corporations, groups, or geographic locations. (To damn "scholar" Robert Byrd, that is.)
A sitting Judge at trial has plenary powers -- they have there limits, and can not be blue-sky unlimited.
Although the Constitution did not specifically empower the federal government to acquire new territory by treaty, Jefferson concluded that the practical benefits to the nation far outweighed the possible violation of the Constitution. The Senate concurred with this decision and voted ratification on Oct. 20, 1803.Source: Gateway!, New Orleans, "Lousiana Purchase" http://gatewayno.com/history/LaPurchase.html
By the time Thomas Jefferson took office in 1801, negotiations were falling apart. Jefferson bristled at the idea of paying tribute and had long called for war to eliminate the threat of the pirate states; now he had the power to do so. He had promised budget cutbacks, so he cut the Navy’s size. He sent the shrunken fleet to the Atlantic with vague orders to find out which countries were at war with America and attack them, to “chastise their insolence.” The four dispatched ships arrived to find that the state of Tripoli had sent its pirate ships in search of Americans.The war on piracy had the goal of stopping Tripoli’s attacks on Americans, but there was little agreement on what that meant. The initial plan was to blockade Tripoli and trap its ships until the king gave in and signed a favorable treaty, but inept Commodore Richard Morris spent his time cruising the Mediterranean with his wife and convoying merchant ships until being yanked home for court-martial. There was no communication with our forces abroad, and thus no accountability. There was also the danger that war with Tripoli would turn into war with the entire Barbary Coast. Here Jefferson and his diplomats acted skillfully to fight the specific threat to Americans and rely on peaceful means to push other potentially hostile countries towards a lasting peace -- at least until the war with Tripoli was finished.
Because of the confusion over the war’s objectives, it turned into an attempt at nation-building. Ambassador Eaton grew impatient at the slow progress of a Navy-only war and formed a band of mercenaries and Marines, intending to invade Tripoli’s capital by land and replace the king with the king’s brother. Eaton led his men across hundreds of miles of desert and captured the city of Derne against amazing odds, but found he’d been sold out. Jefferson backed away from his semi-official support of the mission, and a rival ambassador signed a peace treaty with Tripoli before Eaton could march on the capital. There was no guarantee of a lasting peace; breaking treaties was sound Barbary business practice. It was not until after the War of 1812 that a strong, experienced American fleet would go to each Barbary port and offer new treaties at gunpoint. [bvw: 1815's Decatur and Bainbridge squadrons]
Source: Kris Schnee, "The War on Piracy", http://www-tech.mit.edu/V122/N43/col43schne.43c.html