When the situation of Louisiana Purchase arose, the parties’ original ideas began to shift, especially in the case of the Democratic- Republicans. Jefferson wanted to complete the Louisiana Purchase, a sale of land from France to the United States that included the Northwest; parts of the Midwest; and South; as soon as possible (Document 4). In order to complete the purchase, Jefferson had to go against his initial claim that any powers not explicitly given to the constitution are given to the state. The constitution did not contain anything that gives the power to spend government funds on expanding the country’s boundaries, but in order to obtain this new land, Jefferson abandoned his beginning principles. In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase was completed, around the same time that Ohio became a state and Britain declared war on France in Europe (Document 4). A few years later in 1815, a clause was added to the constitution denying the purchase of new states without the approval of Congress. "No new state shall be admitted into the Union by Congress, in virtue of the power granted by the constitution, without the concurrence of two thirds of both houses..."(Document 5). This clause needed to be added so that in future situations when the chance to buy territory from other countries emerged, there was no way that the transaction could occur without going through Congress first. It is explicitly stated that a new state shall not be admitted into the union without Congressional approval and, therefore, does not allow for the future of Federalists and others who would advocate for implied powers to assume the authority to acquire new land. The addition of the latter clause to the constitution affected how the parties would look at territory purchases in the
The Louisiana Purchase was the first territory the U.S gained in 1803. James Monroe and Livingston were sent by the president to Paris to negotiate the sale. In an agreement with Napoleon, Louisiana was bought for 15 million dollars. Another form of payment to France was giving them specific privileges in the Port of New Orleans. In the attempt to keep on expanding the nations territory, the U.S offered to buy several times the state of Texas from Mexico, but so far there had been no success.
Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton both had very defined visions of the scope and power of the new federal government, how they saw the future of the economic development, and what the United States society should become. In my opinion Alexander Hamilton had more of an impact on the United States during the 1820’s and on contemporary government when compared to Thomas Jefferson. His policies did not strictly work during that time and many of his ideas are still seen in today’s society. Jefferson’s views and ideas on/of the national bank, higher tariffs, debt assumption, The Federalist Party, and his support of the ratification of the Constitution are all reasons in why his policies and visions came closer to becoming a reality.
While this was a plus of the purchase, allowing the country to grow so big would also bring along some cons too. As a country grows to be the size America did, this made governing for all of that land difficult. Also, considering that this took place in the very early 1800’s which means that they didn’t have the same technology, transportation, or transmission that we have today. This means as settlers started to move out west, many would start to not completely follow all the laws because there wasn’t as much government power in the west back then. As stated above, another concept that Jefferson and America had to take into thought was this purchase would put America into a huge amount of debt. Having the land come at about four cents an acre wasn’t too bad, but because the vast size of the land that America was acquiring, it was not the best situation for the debt of America. Just this outcome alone will become one of the few reasons why the Louisiana Purchase could be viewed as one of the poor decisions made back in the
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.
A representative, Robert Livingston, was sent to France to purchase the land, or at least convince Napoleon to not occupy the Louisiana Territory or New Orleans. In reality, Jefferson and Livingston wanted all of the Louisiana Territory, including the port of New Orleans. When Napoleon was approached by the US diplomat he agreed to sell the territory to the US. In the treaty created, besides agreeing to pay money for the territory, Jefferson agreed to in direct violation of the Constitution, that the French and Spanish traders would have special lower tariffs than other countries’ tariffs. Having fought Alexander Hamilton’s attempt to interpret the Constitution broadly, Jefferson knew that the Constitution did not allow him to take New Orleans, as nothing allowed the federal government to annex or govern new territories. Yet, Levi Lincoln advised that the sale should be designed so that the lands were an extension of the Mississippi Territory or an extension of the state of Georgia. This advice helped to set in motion the new regulations of The United States’s right to acquire territory, if the land is acquired by treaty, the President and Senate have a right to sanction the treaty, and when the territory is acquired, Congress shall have the power of admitting it as a new a state, adding it to a current
While the supporters of Thomas Jefferson believe that buying foreign land was necessary, those who are against him feel that what he did was unconstitutional. In the source, “Thomas Jefferson to John Breckinridge, 12 August 1803”, the text explains that what Jefferson did was allowed, as it had not mentioned that he couldn’t in the constitution. This controversy is huge, because some people believe that he did not have the right to do so. Jefferson made a point that it wasn’t mentioned in the constitution, so he decided to ratify it and pay for it. Some believe congress did not have the right to authorize this decision. Beginning in the 17th century, France discovered the Mississippi River valley and established scattered settlements in
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
The Louisiana purchase was a “watershed” event. This purchase nearly doubled the land mass of a new nation. We got this area from France in 1803. We purchased the Louisiana territory for 15 million dollars and increased in size by 828,000 square miles stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. In 1802 Jefferson predicted that Spain would retrocede to France, the vast area of Louisiana. From the deal that was made 15 states were eventually created. Since France was so slow at making the Louisiana area a slave area they asked the US if we wanted to purchase all if the Louisiana Area. 9 years after the US purchased Louisiana, the first state to be created was Louisiana
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.
To many people it is a strong belief the Lewis and Clark expedition was a threat against the american indians and wildlife and caused the start of their removal, but I believe that what happened to the american indians had to happen in order to expand our country. The Lewis and Clark expedition explored the Louisiana purchase bought from the French in 1803 after the French failed their dream of a new empire. Current president Thomas Jefferson was asked by the French to buy a considerable amount of land for a very cheap price when the french had entered a rough patch of financial issues. The land was bought by Thomas Jefferson who had no idea what or really even who was living there besides the american indians. Thomas Jefferson decided to send explorers
Alexander Anderson created a cartoon in 1808 that depicts the unaccepted Embargo Act that Jefferson put into effect. (Doc C.) However, in passing the Embargo Act of 1807, Jefferson went against his original Republican beliefs. The embargo barred U.S ships from using European ports, during the Napoleonic Wars, which ultimately negatively affected the U.S more than anyone else. Through this act, Jefferson denies the states their constitutionally-given rights, those which he whole-heartedly advocated for in the beginning of his presidency. Also, Jefferson completely ignored his original views when confronted with the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. The Louisiana Territory was a large mass of land acquired from France in 1803. Napoleon wanted to sell the land due to the fact that he no longer saw the possibility of a French Empire in North America, so he planned on selling it to the United States. Jefferson completely agreed to the purchase. However, many saw this as unconstitutional as the Constitution does not explicitly allow the government to purchase foreign
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
New Orleans was a port that controlled most of the economy of the US this port was found in the Louisiana Territory so Americans were talking about a future war was coming. Instead of a war, Jefferson sent James Monroe to France to help the American minister Robert Livingston in negotiating New Orleans, they got astonish when they discover that France was selling all 820,000 square miles to the United States for $15 million(4 cent the acre).Monroe signed the treaty and brought territory and peace to the nation, the thing was that this purchase from the Republicans was legally questionable, this was not in the constitution and their strict constructionism wouldn’t allowed, still Jefferson acquired
The Louisiana Purchase was signed on April 30, 1803 .It was negotiated between James Monroe and Robert Livingston. The purchase was between France (Napoleon) and The United States (Thomas Jefferson) for 15 million dollars .The purchase was signed on May 2, 1803 and made finalized December 1803. The benefits of the purchase were they doubled the size of the territory 827,000 square miles .The territory stretched from the Mississippi river in the east to the rocky mountain in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Canada borders. The negative components were by purchasing the territory from France, The United States was antagonizing Spain .The opponents of the Louisiana Purchase feared that Spain would attempt to reclaim the Louisiana