Consequences Of The Louisiana Purchase

In “When the Ends Justify the Means,” Barry J. Balleck debates that President Jefferson did not abandon his political ethics by purchasing the Louisiana Territory (P. 14). Balleck states that the Louisiana Purchase was “the greatest achievement of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency” (P. 14). With the addition of the new territory to the United States, President Jefferson secured the nation “for generations, if not centuries to come” (P. 14). Jefferson was confident that purchasing the Louisiana Territory would encourage the development of an upright Republican populace (P. 14). Surprisingly, he had many reservations about his authority to purchase Louisiana, but that did not stop him from laying the treaty before Congress (P. 19). He also knew that, by purchasing Louisiana, the Federalists power might be lost, but he still pushed forward with the treaty (P. 19). Although many historians criticize President Jefferson for giving up his most visible political convictions by purchasing Louisiana, he knew that it would double the size of the United States and ensure much land expansion for the country (P. 20). He strongly believed that the new territory was “essential to national security” (P. 21). In President Jefferson’s mind, purchasing Louisiana secured the “virtues of Republicanism in an ‘Empire of Liberty’” (P. 22). “The Louisiana

Though the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States, the President had incorporated a great deal of territory into the Union. Jefferson was not expecting this territory, though he authorized its purchase. As a result, this purchase was unconstitutional because Jefferson did not have the right to ratify the purchase, the House and the Senate did. Even though the House and Senate could not resist this opportunity for such land gain, Jefferson had exemplified Federalist ideals by giving great power to the

The Louisiana Purchase happened in 1803 when Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from the French for fifteen million dollars. The Louisiana Territory extended from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Canadian border in the north to the Gulf of Mexico in the south. I believe that there were just as many disadvantages to the Louisiana Purchase for President Thomas Jefferson as there were advantages. The advantages were that the purchase removed France from North America, doubled the size of America, allowed the United states to acquire more fertile land, and gain control of the Mississippi River and New Orleans. The disadvantages were that America had to defend a country that was doubled in size, they had to supervise how Americans settled the new land, deal with more Native Americans, and the purchase was against Jefferson's beliefs.

In April 1803, the negotiation was concluded and the entire region of Louisiana was ceded to the United States for the sum of $11,250,000 dollars (LeFeber 182). The American negotiators seized the favorable circumstances to urge the claims of American merchants on the French government for $3,750,00. This important acquisition more than doubled the territory of the United States. The great majority of the nation received the treaty with jubilation, but there were some particularly in the eastern States that disclaimed strenuously against it. They saw in the great enlargement of our territory and was nogthing more thatn a great waste, a wilderness unpeopled with any beings except wolves and wandering Indians. We are to give money of which we have too little for land of which we already have too much (LeFeber 183).

The Decisions made to buy the Louisiana Purchase were tough; however, in the end the Louisiana Purchase was the most important land purchase in American history. In 1803 the United States had seventeen states along with the Northwest Territory. America still had not reached its potential growth, even though the states were still growing with settlers, until after the Louisiana Purchase. The president at this time was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson’s decision would soon be the birth of our nation, as well as be the largest land purchase in American history.

At the commencement of the 17th century, successions of westward expansion had already begun to take place. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson, who was president at the time, purchased the Louisiana territory from France. Several citizens did support Jefferson’s purchase in virtue of the many

The Louisiana Purchase was the United States purchase of the Louisiana territory in April of 1803 from the French. The French at the time were in need of money because of the war between them and the British so they decided to sell their Louisiana territory to America. The Louisiana Purchase created an issue with the people who live in the Louisiana territory. Since most of the people who live there are of a French origin, Americans and the American government were split on how citizenship status should be given and how would the Louisiana territory be added to the United States Union. For Louisiana and its inhabitants, they should be admitted into the United States on an equal footing with the original states of the Union because the United

Thomas Jefferson’s ideals were split when it came to the purchase. At first he fought against loose interpretation of the Presidential Powers which were found in the Constitution but also believed that, “if a power could not specifically be found in the Constitution, it did not exist and automatically reverted to the interests of the individual Sovereign States”. (www.shmoop.com/louisiana-purchase-lewis-clark/politics.html) Take into consideration that Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence which was very strict with order and anything that dealt with the United States. This thinking was argued multiple times with Alexander Hamilton

Imagine you are the President of a rapidly expanding country. If you got offered 530 million acres of land for $15 million, would you buy it? President Thomas Jefferson and his advisers were faced with this exact decision. Thomas Jefferson, envious of France’s New Orleans, sent Monroe and Livingston to Paris with the hope of at least getting the port rights to New Orleans, if incapable of buying it with a budget of $9.3 million. When Livingston and Monroe reached Paris, they were surprised to find Napoleon and his French government not only willing to sell, but almost forcing a sale on the American ambassadors. Not only that, they wanted to sell all 830,000 square miles of the Louisiana Territory, including New Orleans. Constantly expanding and exploring, Livingston and Monroe knew America needed more room to grow. 530 Million acres worth of land would be more than sufficient for 1803 America. At 3 cents per acre, the Louisiana Purchase was a great deal as far as cost is concerned. Before they had even signed the contract sealing the deal, President Thomas Jefferson had already recruited a close friend and fellow botanist, Meriwether Lewis to explore the new Territory. Before the public even knew about the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition had set out. The Louisiana Purchase was a good idea because it provided room for rapidly-expanding America to grow and explore at an incredibly low price but also increased America’s global prowess.

The Louisiana Purchase was a key point in The United States of America’s history that without it, the country as we know it would be completely different. The Louisiana Purchase may have been a controversial decision, but it was a good on that put America on track to becoming a superpower. Almost half of America was included in the Purchase and the rest on the west coast is separated by the land included in the Purchase. So, if the purchase had never happened America would still be confined to only the east coast that borders the Atlantic and we’d be a much smaller country. However, since the Louisiana Purchase did happen, the country spans from both the west and east coast. The Louisiana Purchase is the treaty that lead America to be one of the three largest countries in the world. Along with the land came the things that are within nature and can only be created by nature which are natural resources. Included in the Purchase made between Jefferson and Napoleon was everything on and in the ground, that was bought. This means that all of the gold, oil, wood, and any other useful resources that could be found on the land was included in the deal. America was then opened up to many more riches to help their economy. This could also comprise of the new land that could be used for farming of many different plants and foods. So, not only did the territory grow so did the wealth in natural resources.

Although there were a few doubts at the time, the Louisiana Purchase was extremely beneficial to the United States. It was “One of the most colossal land transactions in history”(1), containing modern-day Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska; as well as parts of Minnesota, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and two Canadian provinces: Alberta and Saskatchewan. It doubled the amount of land the U.S. owned. “Bigger land area also meant for more farming lands and more places for various business enterprises”(2). With the expansion of the United States farther west, came the total availability of New Orleans and the Mississippi River. This provided security and protection for the states east of the Mississippi and opened up

This inspired the Lousisiana Purchase, which was a brilliant diplomatic achievement. The purchase of the Louisiana territory from France for $15 million, doubled the size of American territory. It did however leave Jefferson with a constitutional dilemma. He admitted that the purchase was not authorized by the Constitution, but he allowed his desire to expand the American Republic to trump his legal concerns. The purchase was supported by other Republicans for several reasons. Acquiring more territory would serve "the immediate interests of our Western citizens" and promote "the peace and security of the nation in general" by removing French control and creating a protective buffer separating the United States from the rest of the world. And in the time it would've taken to make the purchase constitutional, the opportunity the buy the land could've

President Jefferson’s major personal moral dilemma was actually purchasing the territory of louisiana from the french. Jefferson was a strong Democratic-Republican. This party was founded by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, This party was created in opposition of the federalist party which was led by Alexander Hamilton. The Democratic-Republican party believed that a strong central national government would deplete and completely rid the rights of states. The party strongly disapproved of the national Bank Of The United States stating that the bank was taking away power that belonged to the states. Among many of the views of the Democratic-Republican the strongest belief was to strictly abided by the constitution, so when the opportunity arose to purchase the French owned territory, the constitution did not state whether the government could or could not acquire any new land

Thomas Jefferson had mixed emotions about the Louisiana Purchase. On one hand, he knew it would be a grand opportunity, and the United States would be assured free navigation of the Mississippi River. Also, it would double our nation in size and be considered one of the largest, if not the largest, land transaction in history. On the other hand, he was conflicted whether or not to buy the Louisiana Territory because of guidelines set forth in the Constitution. The Constitution did not specifically

To buy or not to buy, that is the question. Although it was the greatest “real estate” deal, the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was perhaps one of the most controversial events in American History. President Thomas Jefferson, although he was a Founding Father and the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, faced major opposition with his decision to purchase the Louisiana Territory from the French. Most of the opposition he faced, however, was domestic.