Thomas Jefferson had many important roles in his lifetime. He was a public official, historian, and a philosopher. He was also one of the authors of the Declaration of Independence and became the third President of the United States. He was in service to the country for over five decades. He inherited some slaves from his father and father-in-law. On a regular year, when he was younger than the age of sixteen,he owned around two hundred slaves. During his presidency, in 1803, Jefferson decided to purchase the Louisiana territory from the French for fifteen million dollars. This purchase stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to New Orleans.
On the Lewis and Clark expedition, the two men had encountered Native American tribes. Nobody has been completely sure if they treated the Indians with respect. Meriwether Lewis, a skilled frontiersman, was chosen by President Thomas Jefferson to take the lead in an expedition where he would explore the land he had bought, which was known as the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis had chosen William Clark, a draftsman and frontiersman, to co-lead in the journey. The Lewis and Clark expedition began its long journey in May 1804. Throughout the expedition, Lewis and Clark had ran into Native Americans who lived on the land. Lewis and Clark were respectful towards the Native Americans. The explorers had gifted the Indian tribes to befriend them, treated the Native Americans’ health, and trusted the
Now on the pro side of this historical event, this would mean we would get full access of the Mississippi River which meant several things during this time period. Before Jefferson made this purchase, the New Orleans port and the southern part of the Mississippi River was owned by the French. The French were never to friendly about these ports and rumors had it that the French were going to heavily tax any goods or shipments that went through their ports, if not completely shut them down. This would make transporting merchandise from merchants on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains very hard to get to Europe. If the ports really would close, the shipping route would have to become over the Appalachians. Which was a very hard and money costing route to take just to ship goods. So, when we bought the Louisiana Purchase, that meant free access to routing western goods down the Mississippi River, through the New Orleans Port and then sailing either too an American east coast port, or going across the Atlantic to Europe
The Louisiana purchase was one of the biggest land purchases in history. In 1803, the United States paid around $15 million dollars for around 800,000 square miles of land. This was arguably the greatest achievement of thomas jefferson’s presidency. The louisiana territory was a wild card in the european game of imperialism. The land mass was first claimed by france, ceded to Spain in 1762, and then ceded back to France nearly 40 years later.
Jefferson desired that the country be agricultural. Jefferson hated cities with a passion, desired to have the open land into a fertile frontier, which bred the concept of a Jeffersonian utopia that individuals to this present-day wish to retire to after long years of working. Our third President Jefferson saw this as an opportunity to further his dream of the country being agrarian, and because western farmers were shipping there products through the city. Jefferson, who being brought up as a farmer he believed that this expansion of the country will help them as well as further prove that farmers was the backbone of the country. Jeffersonian Democrats welcomed opportunities for the territorial expansion of the United States because it would produce new farm lands for yeomen farmers as well as facilitate western Indian integration into American society (www.boundless.com). Jefferson who was so enthralled with the land he sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the land and record their findings on the Territory. While on their journey the two men encountered a woman named Sacajawea who assisted the men in going through the new land. Both men travelled nearly 3,000 miles in two and a half years with a collection of vegetation. The purchase of the Louisiana Territory had given the additional 828,000
President Thomas Jefferson commissioned the Corps of Discovery to have the Lewis and Clark expedition find a waterway that could connect the United States for transportation because he had aspirations to expand to the Pacific and Northwest making the expedition important to his agenda for the United States. (The Corp of Discovery, 2016). Another reason for the important expedition was to create a relationship with the American Indians, and the American fur trade, while learning the North American topography and geography of the land which was also important to the exploration (Corps of Discover, 2016). Thomas Jefferson was important to the Lewis and Clark expedition because he organized the journey, sought funding and made Lewis and Clark head
In the era before the Civil War America was expanding westward. The Louisiana Purchase and other lands gained help to give America new land to expand on, but this leaded to issues with the division of free and slave states. As Missouri became a state they wanted to become a slave state, which caused trouble. In order to keep equilibrium between the states, Congress came up with the Missouri Compromise of 1820.The Missouri Compromise made Missouri a slave state and Maine a free state. The Treaty also made a line within the Louisiana Territory to keep slavery from moving up the
This was a purchase of all land west of the Mississippi river. The U.S. was Originally going to just buy New Orleans. There plans for New Orleans were so that farmers west of the Appalachian Mountains would now have a trade route. After the U.S. asked France for New Orleans they offered all the land west of the Mississippi river for just $5 million more. This raised the price of this trade to now $15 million which was $7 million dollars over budget because the U.S. was already cutting into the funds for the next year. Jefferson believed that this deal was way too good to pass up. This was declined by the rest of the constitution. To make sure that he got his way Jefferson made this a trade deal and sent it to the senate to get ⅔ approval. This trade deal was approved and they bought all land west of the Mississippi. This was a good way to use the constitution because the U.S. now had much more land to expand their country now. “ He shall have power by and with evidence and consent of the senate,to make treaties.” This is saying that Jefferson has the power to make treaties with the consent of senate. This was very effective because the U.S. had much more land and might eventually lead to more
In the 1800’s the newly formed country was split into Federalists and Anti-Federalists. Federalist were those who were supportive of the growth of the government towards a stronger federal government and agreed upon the ratification of the Constitution. Anti-federalist were those who did not support the growth of the government and did not agree with the ratification of the Constitution. When talking about the indifference people felt about the purchasing of the Louisiana Territory it is said that, “Members of the Federalist Party, already a significant minority in both houses of Congress, worried that the Louisiana Purchase would further reduce their clout” (Jesse Greenspan). In other words, the Federalists were worried they would lose their already set status when it came to society and the political world. Federalists were strict believers in what is stated in the constitution and questioned the legality in purchasing the Louisiana Territory. The Federalists believed that the Louisiana Purchase would only harm the community, not help them so they were against the purchase of the land. Jefferson, when contemplating the purchase of the land, needed to take what his people felt into consideration. He polled the representatives with the treaty passing with a 24-7
The Louisiana Purchase was the purchase of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. The U.S. paid fifty million dollars and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million dollars which averages to less than three cents per acre. The Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The territory contained land that forms Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, portions of Minnesota, large portions of North Dakota; large portions of South Dakota, parts of New Mexico, the northern portion of Texas, the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. The Louisiana Purchase was smart move by the United States.
In April of 1803 Thomas Jefferson was faced with many moral dilemmas in the process of buying the Louisiana territory. Though the price for the territory was beyond generous, Jefferson felt that by purchasing the territory he would be going against his beliefs that the constitution should be followed word for word. The constitution said nothing of the president having the power to purchase land from another government, or to use money of the states for the same purpose (“the moral dilemma”). Another problem was once the land was purchased, there was a fear that it could have been a waste since they had no way to know the layout of the land, and what it would be useful for. What's more
Did Governor Lewis commit suicide or was he murdered? At the age of 30, Merryweather Lewis had become a national hero after his western expedition. He spent about four years in the wilderness of the Louisiana territory that President Thomas Jefferson had purchased. The President purchased from France for 15 million dollars in order to improve America’s trade and commerce. However, the Congress believed that the president did not have the power to purchase land and that the purchase added up to the increasing national debt. To prove to the Congress that the land was not a “worthless dessert”, President Jefferson assigned his friend Lewis and Clark to explore the western land. After Lewis returned from the expedition, Thomas Jefferson appointed him as the Governor of the upper Louisiana territory. On the year of 1809 Lewis wants to go to Washington to complete the publication of his journals and work his problems with the war department after having difficulty with his new
The Lewis and Clark exploration would not have been possible without Thomas Jefferson's monumental purchase of the Louisiana Territory. Due to the United States westward
After the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, many citizens were eager to find out more about this new land. Thomas Jefferson, the president of the United States at the time, “sent a secret letter to Congress asking for $2,500 to fund an expedition to the Pacific Ocean (Thomas Jefferson and the Lewis and Clark Expedition). He chose Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to lead this expedition. Lewis and Clark were some of the greatest heroes in our country because of their experience, how they interacted with their team and with the natives, and how they gave citizens a new outlook on their country.
President Jefferson told Lewis and Clark to “cultivate good relations with the Sioux” because at the time “the Sioux were the dominant power on the northern and central Great Plains more than able to hold their own against white Americans in the first half of the nineteenth century.” (The American Journey Ch.13 Pg.349). This was because the Sioux were able to successfully mix important components of American life with their traditions. Unfortunately these components including guns they had acquired from the French and horses introduced to the New World by the Spanish helped the Sioux push weaker tribes to the south and west of the Missouri River basin. These weak tribes became dependent on the Sioux. Which is very infuriating because native