The Louisiana Purchase: Unconstitutional or Not? Essay

Also if purchased it will be admitted into the union, but as a slave state. As stated in a letter from Rufus King to Timothy pickering, “Congress may admit new states, But can the President sign treaties forcing Congress to do so?[...] Since slavery is legal and exists in Louisiana,... Won’t we be forced to admit the new states as slave states[…] Doing so would worsen the problem of unequal representation”(Document B). Because the new states will be slave states, it will cause unequal representation to occur at an even greater scale. Also it is not right for the treaty to be forced upon the congress to sign. The Federalist problems with the new purchase that was being signed were practical reasons and not just because Jefferson had made the

The Louisiana Purchase formed both negative and positive impacts for President Jefferson and the expansion of the United States; dealing with both agricultural and economic reasons. On April 30th, 1803 the United states representatives paid fifteen million dollars to the French for over eight-hundred-twenty-eight-thousand square miles of their territory. This segment of land stretched from the Mississippi river to Rocky Mountains, and also from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. Both negative views of the Louisiana purchase reflected ill on President Jefferson.

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

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

Some argued that the purchase was unconstitutional because the Constitution didn’t say that Jefferson could purchase the land. Others argued that the purchase was indeed constitutional because the Constitution didn’t say Jefferson couldn’t purchase the land. Also, like said above, Jefferson had an aversion to big moves by the central government. Again, he compromised his beliefs by purchasing a territory from a foreign nation (obviously a huge move by the central government (not by the states)). It is seemingly understandable, however, that Jefferson decided to compromise his beliefs. He was afraid that the French would give up the deal in the time it would take to pass an amendment saying that he could purchase the land. Jefferson also resolved the issue (of constitutionality, his personal beliefs, etc.) by deciding that the growth of the nation (at a modest price) was more important than his own political aversion to big moves by the central government. In addition, Jefferson seemed to have purchased the land in order to protect the United States. First off, Spain’s agreement to give Louisiana back to the French compromised Pinckney’s Treat, which gave the United States access to the Mississippi River. Also, he feared that Napoleon, if he had control over the territory, would close off New Orleans to the United States

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

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

Document Four declares, “The nation-changing Louisiana purchase subsequently doubled the size of the United States overnight. Eventually Spain ceded all of its territories to the United States, beginning in Florida in 1819, as the modern-shape of the U.S.A. finally come together. Generally speaking, expansion made by any other countries, not including your own, is considered to be a massive dilemma. The Louisiana Purchase resolved the problem of expansion made by those in Spain and helped the United States expand into a more powerful

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

At first the United States wanted to buy only New Orleans and the land around it. The purchase met with the strong opposition in the United States on account of being unconstitutional. Those accusations were correct to some extent. President Jefferson couldn’t deny that the Constitution of the United States did not provide for buying new territories but still he decided to proceed with the purchase since the removal of French presence in the region was such an important issue.

After breaking away from a king, earning their independence. Thomas Jefferson believed that it was beneficial for a young republic to grow, this deal starting the Louisiana purchase landless of the Mississippi bought for 15 million dollars because one, he needed the money for is soldiers and a war, two he was already at war with Europe and had his hands tied. Also he knew he could control the land from afar, pushing him to not only give away the land but for a cheap price.This act was an influence to westward expansion because it almost doubled the size of a young

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.

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

The Louisiana Purchase is the biggest exchange of land in history. Jefferson’s acquisition of this big piece of land doubled the United States’ size for 15 million dollars. The Louisiana Purchase would have not happen without Napoléon’s loss of interest in the french american empire. At the time, Thomas Jefferson was in office,the president’s political beliefs opposed this to happen, what convinced him? As the United States started to expand, gaining alliance with the most powerful forces on the planet, business and influence started to flourish. New Orleans became the most diverse place in the country both socially and politically.

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