President Jefferson And 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

Power is another word for control. People can abuse of their power by demanding things beyond their reach. In the article The Louisiana Purchase, the author demonstrates how Thomas Jefferson abused his power as President to buy the Louisiana territory from the French. The president; Thomas Jefferson, knew that the purchase of this territory was beyond his reach and he still went out and he purchased Louisiana. In the passage it states, "Jefferson was delighted with the deal. At the same time he had a serious problem. The Constitution nowhere states that the President has the power to buy land from a foreign country." Jefferson knew he could not buy Louisiana from the French, but he was delighted with the deal so much, he proceeded with the

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

“One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” does that sound familiar? If so, it is because nearly everyone in America knows these words like the back of their hand. However, most do not consider their importance. These words are a part of the Pledge of Allegiance. Pay attention to the beginning, “one nation,” a nation that changed significantly with the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase added 828,000 square miles which doubled the land area of the United States (history.com 1). The importance of the Louisiana Purchase can be best appreciated by understanding why this purchase was considered significant to the United States, why France agreed to sell such a sizable amount of land, and how the Louisiana Purchase changed the United States forever.

Jefferson faced a political dilemma by having to make a difficult decision with purchasing the Louisiana. He was a very strict person involved in the constitution. The federal government had a very hard time dealing with the constitution. The constitution would not give the federal government enough power to purchase it from France. Jefferson was an anti-federalist, although he wrote the constitution he did not agree to author it. He also faced the fact about deciding whether purchasing and acquiring land was even legal. On top of that there was also cons Jefferson dealt with. A con was that the United States would have to protect a larger nation with purchasing the Louisiana. The United States would also have to be careful with how the Americans explored the land and settled. Thomas Jefferson had a lot going on after

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.

The American Indians who lived on that land were removed after the deal was made. They didn’t even know of the purchase and being removed from the land where they lived hundreds of years is just wrong. Jefferson also didn’t have the right to buy the land. According to Document 10, it states that “Let’s ignore the fact that an Executive cannot purchase land.” This shows that even though the Executive isn’t allowed to purchase land, Jefferson did it anyway and citizens were against it. The Louisiana Territory wasn’t allowed to be

Even thought Jefferson knew that the Constitution didn’t grant the President to purchase the territory from France. He justified his actions by saying that it was for the good of the United States. There were many positive impacts of this purchase since it changed the size of America. Without it America look the same today. Also, all the new land gave the Americans more resources and America began to become the big world power that it is now. But, there were also some negative effects. One negative effect was that later on there were a lot of disputes over the borders, like the dispute with Mexico. Slavery became an issue. Before the Louisiana territory was added there was a balance between the slave and free states. The Louisiana territory threatened this balance and started to deepen the divide between the slave and free states and eventually this contributed to the start of the Civil War. Lastly, Native Americans already lived in this area and there were a lot of disputes over the

I think that Thomas Jefferson and United States government shouldn't buy the Louisiana territory and New Orleans because we are already in debt also don't have an army and it is against the constitution

Other than this there was nothing about the purchase of new territory in the Constitution. Jefferson had to use implied powers again to justify the purchase. Jefferson in his second inaugural address said, “I know that the acquisition of Louisiana had been disapproved by some from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union. But who can limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate effectively?” Jefferson basically said that there are some cases in which to keep the federal government operating effectively some rules need to be broken when necessary. He abuses the fact that the Constitution isn’t clear about the purchase of new lands to buy Louisiana and doing so he goes against his strict view of the Constitution.

One of the biggest dilemmas that Thomas Jefferson faced throughout his presidency was the purchase of Louisiana from France in October of 1803. He was cautious about what would happen in the sense that there would be collisions on whether it was the right or wrong choice. From the beginning, Thomas Jefferson had always been a strong advocate of strict interpretation and that if not listed in the Constitution, the U.S Government had no right to exercise a certain power. But when the Louisiana territory was offered to the United States for only $15 million, Thomas Jefferson could not resist the “irresistible” offer. While the Constitution stated that new states could be bought and added, many people argued that the Louisiana Purchase was considered unconstitutional because it was foreign land (www.billofrightsinstitute.org). Many viewed Thomas Jefferson as hypocritical in the sense that he went with loose constructionism instead of what he preached. The purchase treaty was soon ratified on October 1803 and officially declared Louisiana as American territory in December 1803 (www.monticello.org). Although it was quite controversial, Jefferson knew that the Louisiana Purchase would demonstrate many advantages and disadvantages for the United States.

The Louisiana Purchase was, without question, Jefferson’s greatest achievement during his presidency. However, Jefferson faced a few moral dilemmas during this time, such as his devotion to strict constructionism, his credibility as the President, and political pressure from other parties. On the other hand, the purchase did provide some advantages to the Union, such as greatly increasing the size of the country, and gaining the support of many Americans.

In 1803, one of Jefferson’s major achievements during his first term with the American West, was the Louisiana Purchase; land between the Mississippi river and the Rocky Mountains. Intentionally, Jefferson wanted Napoleon Bonaparte to sell the city of New Orleans; instead, he was offered all of Louisiana for $15 million dollars. With such an offer, Jefferson soon confronted problems about the purchase.