Thomas Jefferson 's Dilemma On The Louisiana Purchase

Did Thomas Jefferson give up his deeply held political values in order to purchase the Louisiana Territory from the French (P. 2)? This is the major question that has led to much debate within the early history of America (P. 1). Some historians argue that Thomas Jefferson did, in fact, throw away his commitment to states’ rights and constructionism by the large purchase of Louisiana for the U.S. (P.1). On the other hand, some believe that President Jefferson supported his political beliefs, the fortification of the republican government, with the Louisiana Purchase (P. 1).

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

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most influential expansionist in American history. He firmly believed that in order for America’s republic to succeed, democracy must expand its region and obtain new land. The United States began to idolize the Mississippi River as Americans spread west towards the Appalachians. Jefferson had many decisions to make regarding the Louisiana Purchase, and was careful to please citizens. The Louisiana Purchase is crucial to our nation’s history, and it impacts Americans today.

In the year of 1800, Jefferson ran for the second time averse to former president, John Adams but unlike the previous election, John Adams wins the presidency, Jefferson was able to defeat John Adams. The Adams lost the election due to passing the Alien and Sedition Acts, Considered unconstitutional laws because the Acts took away the first amendment, freedom of speech. Jefferson was a more promising choice as he promised to have a “Republican Revolution”, Jefferson promised to help the yeoman farmer and decrease the Federal debt the United States had at the time period. Jefferson’s presidency was to a certain extent a “Republican Revolution” and to a certain extent it was a Federalist Continuation.

(Hence westward expansion). This was mainly because Thomas Jefferson knew as the third president of what would become the u.s.a that more people would equal more states and more states would equal more soldiers for time of war a beneficial part of claiming and from others, the losing a purchase had an effect on this the amount of people that were able to come to this land. Another reason was that far across on a different land,if napoleon hadn't bought the land hadn't bought the land, he could have built an empire right in North America,an unwanted thing for settlers and believers of manifest destiny, and lastly the louisiana purchase had an impact on the president's own interest Thomas Jefferson wanted to find out if the Mississippi ran into the pacific a thing that would lead to the infamous and widely talked about Lewis and Clark

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.

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

(Doc. 1)The purchase of Louisiana was the biggest purchase the United States had conquered doubling its size. This purchase gave the United States more to discover and it also gave more land for cattle, crops, and for people to grow on their own. The expansion brought more people and better opportunities but it also brought the power of government into question on whether what was better for America

Louisiana Purchase, more prominently known as an acquisition that doubled the size of the country we reside in, was much more than just a simple purchase, much less an easy one. Thomas Jefferson had to consider all the aspects, consequences, and effects that the decision of buying 2,144,500 square kilometers of land would have on the country (Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia 1). This purchase brought many improvements to the country, but also had unexpected consequences that would transform the country as a whole. Although Jefferson’s decision was considered a mistake by some Federalists and caused conflicts with Spain, it was actually a step forward towards the respectable and prosperous country that many had envisioned the United States to be because it doubled the magnitude of opportunities, solved the initial conflict of attaining the port of New Orleans (thus continuing trade), removed France’s colonial power from North America, which made the United States the dominant influence in North America and, most significantly, secured new western territory, which led to westward expansion (Loos).

New American settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains depended on river transportation to transport their goods because overland trade was very expensive and impractical. Also, the United States wanted a tract of land on the lower Mississippi. James Monroe, the primary negotiator in Paris, was empowered to obtain New Orleans and West Florida for anywhere between two and ten million dollars. Surprisingly, however, Napoleon offered much more. The United States was given the opportunity to buy the Louisiana Territory, which stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. This one transaction doubled the physical size of the United States and cost our nation fifteen million dollars. Fifteen million dollars came out to approximately three cents an acre. Now this seems like a relatively small sum for such a massive amount of land, but it was still a gigantic price tag for the modest federal budget of the day.

-Jefferson was pro-French, until issue of New Orleans being blocked arose (Louisiana Purchase resolved this problem)

I believe Thomas Jefferson in United States government should buy Louisiana Territories or the part of the New Orleans because it would expand the United States and add more states to the country.

The Louisiana Purchase was President Jefferson’s most popular and significant event of his presidency, but not many agreed with the decision. The Louisiana Territory was initially populated by Indians then settle by the French and later by the Spanish. When Jefferson got the offer to buy the territory, the Federalist Party argued that it was unconstitutional to acquire any territory. Jefferson agreed that the U.S. Constitution did not contain explicit provisions for acquiring territory, but he asserted that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties was sufficient. Not only did acquiring the immense territory promote peace and security for the nation by removing French power from the region but also diminish racial tension along the Atlantic

One of the biggest issues Thomas Jefferson faced during his presidency was the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. The Louisiana Purchase was a purchase of land west of the Mississippi River between the United States and France in which the U.S. obtained about 828,000 square miles of land for $15 million. The cause of this started in 1795 when the Spaniards at New Orleans extracted warehouse rights guaranteed by Pickney’s Treaty. Then in 1803 Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris to work with the regular minister, Robert Livingstone to try to calm down the uproar of the West. The two ambassadors were ordered to buy as much land as they possible could for a maximum of $10 million.

During Thomas Jefferson’s presidency he faced a huge moral dilemma concerning the Louisiana Purchase most predominately from the concerns that the purchase could be considered unconstitutional because nowhere in constitution did it grant power for the president to make land acquisitions.