As the United States expanded westward, access to the port of New Orleans and navigation of the Mississippi River became essential to commerce, so the transfer of control to France from Spain caused concern. James Madison drew up instructions for Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe which were approved by Thomas Jefferson, and these instructions allocated up to ten million dollars for the purchase of New Orleans and all or part of the Floridas. However, upon Livingston and Monroe’s arrival to France, they were asked to purchase the whole of the Louisiana Territory, as Napoleon no longer wanted it on account of his French army in Saint-Domingue being wiped out by a massive slave revolt ad Yellow Fever. It also would gain France money to support their ongoing war with Great Britain. …show more content…
This was the time of “manifest destiny,” the idea that our country’s destiny was to expand west and occupy the whole width of the continent to the Pacific Ocean. The Louisiana Purchase made that a lot more possible. Main reasoning for more expansion was to gain farmland, developing more wealth and taxes, and a stronger nation. Jefferson also wanted to find routes to the Pacific Ocean for trade. Lewis and Clark’s expedition – after the purchase of the Louisiana Territory ̶ was meant for them to follow the Missouri River as far west as it went to see if they could find a water route leading to the Pacific. This way, boats could carry goods to the west coast and from there to Japan, China, etc. The Louisiana Purchase too would put an end to French claims to the western part of the continent. Without the French in our way, we would only have the Indians to deal with, who were much less of a threat. Jefferson also anticipated that the new land might become a refuge for free blacks and diminish racial tensions along the Atlantic
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.
Napoleon convinced the Spain to return to the Louisiana Territory in 1800. Americans were alarmed when news about a secret transfer was exposed. The thought of a massive attendance of the French in the midcontinent, worried Jefferson simply because he did not want the U.S. and Britain to form an alliance. Jefferson wanted a solution to his problem, so he came up with the idea of buying New Orleans and western Florida from the French. In Paris of April 1803, Monroe had arrived, but Napoleon had already decided to sell the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States. With not enough time to speak to their government, the deal was closed for $15 million by Livingston and
The United States tenacity to move west in the 19th century was known as “The Manifest Destiny”, and the implications were colossal. Early Americans believed they were destined to move west and to stretch from coast to coast. This demeanor helped fuel the western settlement of americans and the removal of native americans, and war with mexico which ultimately led to their removal. With the purchase of Louisiana by Thomas Jefferson in 1803 which included a total of 828,000 sq miles, the U.S. acquired large amounts of land, most importantly the acquisition gave them access to the mississippi river, and the New Orleans Bay which was an huge economic benefit for the us because of the greater efficiency to trade. The Mexican American war which was
The Louisiana purchase was Spain’s territory of about 828,000,000 square miles. Louisiana being Spain territory made it extremely difficult to move goods because, without access to the Mississippi River, the goods had to be moved through the mountains. With access to the Mississippi River, the goods could be taken by boat. Thomas Jefferson knows that Spain is struggling, so he knows he is more likely to be able to purchase Louisiana from them because they needed the money.
With all of the social and economic rifts in America, Napoleon saw a perfect opportunity to capture the sugar colony of St. Domingue from their slave rebellion and establish Louisiana as a part of his American empire. After having purchased Louisiana from France in 1800, Napoleon sent his troops to St. Domingue, preparing to acquire New Orleans. New Orleans had been a major trading port for America, dealing with almost half of America’s import and exports, and Thomas Jefferson began to question his trust in France when Napoleon threatened to take it. Jefferson decided to discretely handle the matter by approaching the situation as it came rather than taking a rash action that would surely create dissonance between France and America. Thomas Jefferson knew that the American West would be put into jeopardy if France captured it as they would have the same commercial rights and privileges as they did whilst under the Spanish. Jefferson issued a warning to Napoleon and treated to side with Britain if France captured New Orleans. As Napoleon’s army weakened and his fear of American attack grew, he decided to sell Louisiana to Thomas Jefferson for a mere 15 million dollars. This made Jefferson reevaluate his strict interpretation of the Constitution as he had to create his own rules with the Elastic Clause in order to obtain the land and secure American safety. Napoleon was not American and therefore did not hold an opinion on federalism and different interpretations of the Constitution. However, he had a major impact on the politicians of the Jeffersonian Age and made people reevaluate how they viewed America. The whole transaction also made America a more powerful force who was willing to side with their long-term enemy with due cause. Napoleon challenged Federalists and Democratic-Republicans as they scrambled to save Louisiana from French rule and
The Louisiana Purchase was land that was Indian land. West of the Appalachian line stood Louisiana. The Louisiana purchase was land that the U.S. bought in hopes of becoming more of a power state, gain riches through cotton and precious metals and gain its fertile land. This purchase increased westward expansion instead of limiting it. JRank Articles, a website that covers historical events and biographies of historical people States,
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.
This put President Jefferson on edge because many of the people were worried. Slavery was still allowed in the U.S but was outlawed in France. The people feared that Napoleon would free all the slaves in the Louisiana territory, which could influence other slaves in the U.S to rebel. His people felt helpless and Jefferson knew that he had to do something to console them. Jefferson felt the best thing to do would be to try to purchase New Orleans from Napoleon. He was hesitant at first to make the offer with Napoleon because he didn’t want to break the law by doing something he didn’t have the power to do. He was reassured by Article 1, Section 8, and Clause 18 of the U.S Constitution which states “ The Congress shall have power -- To make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers, and all other powers vested by the Constitution in the government of the United States, or in any department or officer thereof.” This gave him the freedom to make independent decisions when he felt necessary. This helped finalize his decision on offering to buy New Orleans from
(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
The Louisiana Purchase was a land sale between France and the United States in the year of 1803. In our history it is known as one of the largest land transactions to ever occur. The United States Congress decided to pay, “approximately $15 million dollars to France for over 800,000 square miles of land”. (www.thoughtco.com/jefferson-and-the-louisiana-purchase-104983) This became Thomas Jefferson’s greatest accomplishment through his presidency. By achieving this purchase it also posed a huge problem for the president. He knew the purchase would not be easy as it brought many dilemmas for him. His strong beliefs in “strict constructionism” brought about problems with the Constitution and money issues while trying to purchase. As well as hypocritical arguments with Alexander Hamilton over their opposed views.
At first, France was in control of the Louisans territory but they ceded the territory west of the Mississippi to Spain in the Treaty of Fontainebleau: they gave the land to Spain in an effort to keep Spain from rebelling against Britain (“Spanish Colonial Louisiana”). Three decades later in 1801, the land was returned to France in a secret treaty because Spain had done little to develop the Louisiana territory during the thirty year period (“Louisiana Purchase concluded”). Jefferson knew that obtaining this territory would be beneficial for American trade and the growth of our country. One of Jefferson’s goals was to obtain control of the port of New Orleans, an essential trading and transportation port for the United States. Jefferson sent two delegates over to France in order to negotiate with Napoleon and he offered to sell the territory for fifteen million dollars, equating to only a few cents per acre (“Louisiana Purchase”). This event is known today as Thomas Jefferson’s greatest accomplishment throughout his entire two terms as
Equipped with this cash in pocket, Jefferson sent Robert Livingston and James Monroe to France with guidelines to buy New Orleans and a lot of Florida as they could potentially gain. From
Somehow, at the point when the chance to buy the Louisiana Purchase introduced itself, Jefferson couldn't leave the offer behind. The Louisiana purchase had many pros and cons. Things like Economy, resources, money, change , expansion and land were few of the many advantages and disadvantages. The purchase had helped and benefited the United States tremendously. Creating this land deal meant better was soon to come; especially for Thomas Jefferson by which this was one of his most important achievements during his
At first the United States wanted to buy only New Orleans and the land around it. The purchase met with the strong opposition in the United States on account of being unconstitutional. Those accusations were correct to some extent. President Jefferson couldn’t deny that the Constitution of the United States did not provide for buying new territories but still he decided to proceed with the purchase since the removal of French presence in the region was such an important issue.
Jefferson faced a political dilemma by having to make a difficult decision with purchasing the Louisiana. He was a very strict person involved in the constitution. The federal government had a very hard time dealing with the constitution. The constitution would not give the federal government enough power to purchase it from France. Jefferson was an anti-federalist, although he wrote the constitution he did not agree to author it. He also faced the fact about deciding whether purchasing and acquiring land was even legal. On top of that there was also cons Jefferson dealt with. A con was that the United States would have to protect a larger nation with purchasing the Louisiana. The United States would also have to be careful with how the Americans explored the land and settled. Thomas Jefferson had a lot going on after