Research Paper On The Louisiana Purchase

Thomas Jefferson had mixed emotions about the Louisiana Purchase. On one hand, he knew it would be a grand opportunity, and the United States would be assured free navigation of the Mississippi River. Also, it would double our nation in size and be considered one of the largest, if not the largest, land transaction in history. On the other hand, he was conflicted whether or not to buy the Louisiana Territory because of guidelines set forth in the Constitution. The Constitution did not specifically

Imagine you are the President of a rapidly expanding country. If you got offered 530 million acres of land for $15 million, would you buy it? President Thomas Jefferson and his advisers were faced with this exact decision. Thomas Jefferson, envious of France’s New Orleans, sent Monroe and Livingston to Paris with the hope of at least getting the port rights to New Orleans, if incapable of buying it with a budget of $9.3 million. When Livingston and Monroe reached Paris, they were surprised to find Napoleon and his French government not only willing to sell, but almost forcing a sale on the American ambassadors. Not only that, they wanted to sell all 830,000 square miles of the Louisiana Territory, including New Orleans. Constantly expanding and exploring, Livingston and Monroe knew America needed more room to grow. 530 Million acres worth of land would be more than sufficient for 1803 America. At 3 cents per acre, the Louisiana Purchase was a great deal as far as cost is concerned. Before they had even signed the contract sealing the deal, President Thomas Jefferson had already recruited a close friend and fellow botanist, Meriwether Lewis to explore the new Territory. Before the public even knew about the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition had set out. The Louisiana Purchase was a good idea because it provided room for rapidly-expanding America to grow and explore at an incredibly low price but also increased America’s global prowess.

Did Thomas Jefferson give up his deeply held political values in order to purchase the Louisiana Territory from the French (P. 2)? This is the major question that has led to much debate within the early history of America (P. 1). Some historians argue that Thomas Jefferson did, in fact, throw away his commitment to states’ rights and constructionism by the large purchase of Louisiana for the U.S. (P.1). On the other hand, some believe that President Jefferson supported his political beliefs, the fortification of the republican government, with the Louisiana Purchase (P. 1).

A Wilderness so Immense by John Kukla explores the events leading up to and the enduring effects of the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. Kukla begins his story almost twenty years before Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from France and analyzes how factors ranging from major revolutions to personal relationships all culminated to make the most famous land acquisition in American history possible. He argues that the Louisiana Purchase was not only a case a good luck on Jefferson’s part or solely the result of Napoleon’s failed caribbean ambitions, as some historians that came before him argued. Rather, Kukla explains that the roots of American expansionism are older than the republic itself. American politicians worked and made very

uring the years 1789 through 1816 (the time known as the Launching of a New Nation) the United States had to build their way up to where they are today. There were 2 political parties forming with polar opposite views. which set up a way the government is like today. The United States expand West through war and settlements made with other foreign countries. The first four presidents set a precedent on how the county is ran and it is has still been followed for the past few centuries. Although, the Embargo Act ruined the relation with France, the Louisiana Purchase and the War of 1812, strengthen the economic and political system.

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.

Starting in the seventeenth century, France investigated the Mississippi River valley and built up scattered settlements in the district. By the center of the eighteenth century, France controlled a greater amount of the present-day United States than some other European power: from New Orleans upper east to the Great Lakes and northwest to advanced Montana. In 1762, amid the French and Indian War, France surrendered French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain and in 1763 exchanged almost the majority of its staying North American possessions to Great Britain. Spain, no longer a prevailing European power, did little to create Louisiana amid the following three decades.

The Louisiana Purchase today, is considered one of the greatest things an acting president has ever done. However, when Jefferson did buy the territory, it was viewed by many of his fellow Republicans as Federalistic, and an act of viewing the Constitution very loosely. Many claimed that he was abandoning his political principles, which he had fought for so strongly in the past. However, amid all the claims of his betrayal of his political principles by buying the territory without consulting congress, it is clear that he didn’t abandon them, because he did it for an agrarian expansion, and because he believed that it was best for Americans. Both of these reasons are two of the main ideals of the Republican

Thomas Jefferson was one of the most influential expansionist in American history. He firmly believed that in order for America’s republic to succeed, democracy must expand its region and obtain new land. The United States began to idolize the Mississippi River as Americans spread west towards the Appalachians. Jefferson had many decisions to make regarding the Louisiana Purchase, and was careful to please citizens. The Louisiana Purchase is crucial to our nation’s history, and it impacts Americans today.

The Purchase of Louisiana Tianrong Chen HIST 2010 WB40 11/05/2017 The Purchase of Louisiana happened in 1803, and it was one of the most important events in the United States. In 1803, The United Stated purchased more than 529,911,680 acres (2144476 square kilometers) of land from France at the price of three cents per acre.   The land area involved is 22.3 percent of the land in the United States today, roughly the size of the original U.S. territory at that time.

Napoleon Bonaparte had just become “first Consul” in France during 1799 after the French revolution. This meant that all of France’s colonies were now under the control of Napoleon. Napoleon dreamed of creating a West Indian (Caribbean) empire which would be centred around trade and an essential part of this plan was Saint-Domingue(Haiti). Saint-Domingue was one of the main trade points for exporting coffee, sugar, indigo and cotton. Saint-Domingue also had tactical importance because by having Saint-Domingue, Napoleon now had a colony which was close to North America, more particularly Louisiana which was a large part of North America that did not belong to the USA.

President Thomas Jefferson purchased Louisiana territory from the French government for fifteen million dollars in 1803. The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the Unites States and stretched from The Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to New Orleans. Jefferson strongly believed that the key to a nation’s health was expanding westward. He believed that a republic needed an independent and virtuous citizenry for its survival, along with the belief that independence and virtue went together with land ownership, specifically the ownership of small farms. If Jefferson was to provide enough land for the yeomen, the United States would have to expand more. The most defining themes in nineteenth century American history is the westward expansion.

My topic is the Louisiana Purchase and why people wanted Louisiana, the hardships of getting the area for the USA, and what happened after the purchase. The Louisiana Purchase was a monumental change to the United States Of America, but there were struggles that you might not have known about.

In 1791, thousands of slaves rebelled and soon they were turning on each other. French soldiers tried to restore order, with Spanish and British soldiers joining in however, the slaves prevailed. In 1797, Louverture had put together an army and was in charge of most of Saint-Domingue. In 1801, he released a constitution, which awarded equality and citizenship to people living in Saint-Domingue, but he did not seek independence from France so not to anger Napoleon. Napoleon was angered and sent troops to re-establish French control, but the military was beaten back, and in 1804, Haiti was established (Bentley, et al., 2008).

At the commencement of the 17th century, successions of westward expansion had already begun to take place. In 1803, Thomas Jefferson, who was president at the time, purchased the Louisiana territory from France. Several citizens did support Jefferson’s purchase in virtue of the many