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Controversial Decisions: Thomas Jefferson And The Louisiana Purchase

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Thomas Jefferson during his terms (1801-1809), Jefferson made on of the most controversial decision at that time, the Louisiana Purchase, he sent James Monroe in 1803 to help with the negotiation to buy New Orleans. Monroe was astonished to learn that France already offered to sell 828,00 square miles of Louisiana to the United States for $15 million (4cent an acre), by April 30 they sign a treaty to purchase the vast territory. Its legality was questionable, the constitution gave him no clear authority to acquire new territory and incorporate into the nation but it promised fulfillment of the dream of a continental nation reaching the Pacific Coast.
When John Quincy Adams was adopted as Secretary of State, one of his remarkable moves was to settle long-term dispute with Spain. During the war of1812 U.S. remain on the West Florida, Adams dealt with Don Luis de Onís (Spanish minister) who ceded Florida without payment this was later on known as the “Adams –Onís Treaty”.
By obtaining new territory, the U.S. enters on the dilemma whether the new territory would be a slave or free state. A compromise emerged in under pressure from House Speaker Henry Clay: the admission of free Maine, carved out the Massachusetts, was linked with that of the slave Missouri, In the rest of the Louisiana Territory north of 36°30 (Missouri’s southern boundary), …show more content…

The now president Andrew Jackson, had little sympathy for the Indians and ignored the supreme court’s ruling, he was determined to remove the Cherokee at all coast. In the Removal Act of 1830 Congress provided Jackson the founds he needed to negotiate new treaties and resettle the tribes west of the Mississippi, this migration is known as the Trail of Tears, the Indians “traded” 100 million acres of land east of the Mississippi. (Document

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