The Louisiana Purchase's effect upon the American political landscape was almost as dramatic as its effect upon the country's geography.
In 1803, the democratic experiment of the American republic remained very much in its infancy. The Constitution had been ratified just over a decade earlier. Only four new states (Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio) had joined the original thirteen in the Union. Thomas Jefferson was only the third president; his election in 1800 was the very first peaceful transfer of power from the incumbent party (John Adams's Federalists) to the opposition (Jefferson's Democratic-Republicans).
The Louisiana Purchase literally expanded the horizons of American opportunity, but it also raised thorny political and constitutional questions for the country's fragile young democracy.
The first problem was the Purchase's constitutionality. Nowhere does the Constitution authorize the executive branch of the government to spend public funds to expand the boundaries
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Jefferson believed that the best way to guarantee the long-term integrity of the republic was to cultivate a nation of independent yeoman farmers. Jefferson's idealized farmer, owning his own plot of land and dependent upon no one else for his sustenance, would fight corruption and maintain liberty. But Jefferson's yeoman republic could not survive a shortage in free land; once a country was full, men without land would be required to work for others, and their loss of economic independence would lead to a loss of political independence as well. So Jefferson hoped that the Louisiana Purchase, by doubling the size of the United States, would provide generations' worth of free land to extend the yeoman republic's "empire of liberty" toward the western
The longer Jefferson was in office, the more the Democratic Republicans started to go against their own principles. The acquisition of the Louisiana territory, in 1803, was the most notable achievement of Jefferson's presidency, yet it showed the inconsistency between his actions and his beliefs. Jefferson realized that there was no time for strict constructionalism due to the slow process of the amendment. This purchase violated his constitutional morals and his belief in a weak central government.
If Jefferson bought the land thinking to do good, where would be the dilemma? The purchase crossed lines with his, quite strict, view of the rules of the constitution. He viewed the
This transaction would come to be known as the Louisiana Purchase and nearly doubled the size of the new nation. While George Washington and John Adams made efforts at westward expansion, Thomas Jefferson secured the Louisiana Purchase and initiated the Lewis and Clark expedition. According to Wulf, “maybe Lewis would find the huge mastodon roaming across the plains; discover profitable crops, flowers in exotic shapes and sizes, and trees that would soar even higher than those already encountered. Jefferson planned this expedition in the name of science, but it would also be the beginning of a distinctly American glorification of the wilderness” (Wulf, 157). The Lewis and Clark expedition and the Louisiana Purchase had such a significant impact on America’s identity.
... a few years to complete discovered various plants, animals, and Native American Tribes that were undisturbed and forgot about before that time. This purchased benefited both sides in the form of money to the French and land going to the United States to continue the growth of their respective countries. Many great things come from the Louisiana Purchase such as the California Gold Rush in the 19th century. It also led to a split in the nation between the north (free states) and the south (slave states) in the form of which of the new states would be free or slave. These different views eventually led to a civil war, but if it wasn’t for the Louisiana purchase, no economical or geographical growth would have occurred. If it wasn’t for the Louisiana Purchase led by Thomas Jefferson, the United States may only still be the 13 colonies we had at first in my opinion
result of this purchase, the U.S. population was able to expand and increase. The Federalist favored the sale of large land parcels to wealthy speculators instead of small parcel sales to farmers and contributed to the inflation of land values. Federalists were in control so they could determine anything that they wanted as far as the land goes. Thomas Jefferson was aloud to spend 10 million dollars on the Louisiana Purchase. However, he spent 15 million dollars putting the US in a 5 million dollar debt. “In a government which is founded by the people, who possess exclusively th...
As Jefferson’s presidency wore on, the Jeffersonian Republican beliefs began drifting farther away from the original ideals they began with. Some of the decisions made by Jefferson proved to follow the loose construction of the Constitution of the Federalists. When he made the decision to purchase the Louisiana Territory, he never obtained congressional approval. He...
The late 1800’s was a watershed moment for the United States, during which time the Industrial Revolution and the desire for expansion brought about through Manifest Destiny, began to run parallel. Following the end of the Spanish-American war, the United States found itself with a wealth of new territory ceded to it from the dying Spanish empire. The issue of what to do with these new lands became a source of debate all the way up to the U.S. Congress. Men like Albert J. Beveridge, a Senator from Indiana, advocated the annexation, but not necessarily the incorporation of these new l...
From 1800 to 1850, there was an increased interest in territorial expansion in the United States. During this time the United States found itself in a position to acquire more land, starting with the Louisiana Purchase all the way to the Mexican Cession. Upon reviewing the documents, it became clear that documents A, I, and H, were against the expansion the the United States while the rest documents were mostly for the expansion of the United States. However, each of the documents were conveying different views from various people spread out over the span of 50 years. Numerous amounts of debates emerged arguing if the United States should obtain the new land, and people’s thoughts on the matter were influenced by the different wars and activist groups, and
Though initially his decision was criticized, Thomas Jefferson 's pursuit of the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States, as well as impacted the economy, religion, and race of the nation.
To buy or not to buy, that is the question. Although it was the greatest “real estate” deal, the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was perhaps one of the most controversial events in American History. President Thomas Jefferson, although he was a Founding Father and the primary writer of the Declaration of Independence, faced major opposition with his decision to purchase the Louisiana Territory from the French. Most of the opposition he faced, however, was domestic.
In 1803 the United States would make the largest and possibly most controversial land purchases in American history, the Louisiana Purchase. During the years leading up to this event the United States was still trying to solidify a national identity. There were two subjects that were causing for division of the new national identity, one being westward expansion. The Northern states and Federalists opposed the idea of westward expansion while the Southern States and the Jeffersonians backed this purchase. Although there was a struggle for a single national identity and this controversial purchase did not aid in finding that single identity, it was still the right decision for the United States. By purchasing this land from the French the United States would not share a colonial boundary with the French who were continuing to gain power under Napoleon. Purchasing the Louisiana Territory would prove to be beneficial for the United States for more reason than one.
During the extent of Jefferson's presidency, he was given the opportunity to expand the borders of the U.S. This expansion was called the Louisiana Purchase. This enabled families to branch out away from towns and develop their own small farms throughout the new land, much like what Jefferson had envisioned for his country. In the old north and south the population was increasing, and in return, room for self-sustaining farms was quickly diminishing, and on plantations, the land was being overworked and good crops were less common. Now, with the expansion, the good fertile land was plentiful and
President Jefferson worked diligently with Congress to change the Alien Act to have a more relaxed naturalization that only required five years of residency to achieve United States citizenship, instead of the previous fourteen years. President Jefferson achieved credit for making the Federal government's priorities foreign affairs, and leaving local matters for the state and local governments to tend to. Jefferson’s beliefs in local self-government created differences between himself and Alexander Hamilton, which created the Federalists (Hamilton followers) and the Democrat Republican’s (Jefferson followers). President Jefferson was instrumental in the Louisiana Purchase, which secured an area extending from Canada to the Gulf and the Mississippi to the Rockies, for fifteen million dollars. This purchase also led to the planning and organization of the Lewis and Clark expedition.
One action taken by the United States government that was influenced by geographic factors was the Louisiana Purchase. There were many historical circumstances that resulted in the government’s action. Louisiana was originally owned by the French until France sold it to the United States. Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana in 1803. The influence of this geographic factor occurred because as the United States had expanded westward, navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the port of New Orleans had become critical to American commerce. The purchase of the Louisiana territory, including New Orleans, was for $15 million. The acquisition of approximately 827,000 square miles would double the size of the United States. This also gave the United States control of the Mississippi River. This had a lot of impacts on the United States. It increased western expansion which was included in the Manifest Destiny. The Manifest Destiny was a 19th-century doctrine that the United States had the right and duty to expand throughout the North American continent. But, this expansion did lead to conflicts...
It was not very easy for the United States to expand like they had in mind. The division of land had been a rising problem since the Revolutionary war. Two of the main issues during the time of the Articles of Confederation were the pricing and land measurement (Potter and Schamel 1). Throughout the course of over fifty years, the government had tried many different attempts to get people to want to expand to the west. They just didn’t really know the right way of how to go about it. Trying to sell the acres did not go over well, considering the price seemed outrageous for what they were getting. Untouched soil was very hard to start on and be successful from the beginning, which caused some problems with people not wanting to buy the land (Weiser 1). So again, a different political group tried a different approach.