During Jefferson’s presidential term, his idea was to expand territory west for settlement. In order for Jefferson to expand the land, he had to purchase New Orleans from France. At the time, Napoleon Bonaparte had Louisiana under his control and it didn’t took too much time for Napoleon to sell the land for $15 million. Napoleon not only sold New Orleans, but all of Louisiana because France was out of money and a war between France and Britain was coming up soon therefore they needed money to get supplies and food. Not only would the Louisiana Purchase add more land to the United States, but also in New Orleans the Mississippi River was the main transportation. After purchasing the Louisiana Purchase, Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William
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.
To begin with, the United States wanted New Orleans so they could port their goods. Spain owned the Louisiana purchase at the time. Napoleon wanted Louisiana purchase back to his country. The French didn't really need the land so they sold it to Spain. Since Napoleon wanted the Louisiana purchase he sent 30,000 troops to get Louisiana purchase but they first they made a stop on a island.
The most famous territorial achievement was the Louisiana Purchase from France for fifteen million dollars. This purchase ended up doubling the size of the United States at the time. Jefferson originally planned on purchasing the city of New Orleans for ten million in order to gain control of the important trade route, the Mississippi River. Although the purchase was made, Jefferson was against the idea at first because it was not written in the Constitution about land purchases. To explore this new territory, Jefferson sent the famous Corps of Discovery in the spring of 1804.
Originally only asked for New Orleans but received the entire Louisiana Territory. It was one of the largest land deals in history. America paid $15 million for 800,000 square miles. This land purchase could be argued as Jefferson’s greatest achievement. Posed Philosophical Problem: To go through the constitution to complete the transaction, or to go straight through with the purchase and no consultation. He chose to purchase it on his own. He was lucky that Americans were happy with his decision which also proved to be an excellent move that would become a part of the country’s future. Jefferson removed the potential French threat of the West and nearly doubled the American territory at an unbeatable
Thomas Jefferson used the Mississippi River to transport goods to the port at New Orleans. At the time Spain was controlling the Mississippi River and New Orleans and was threatening to close the port. To keep Spain from closing the port in 1795 Thomas Jefferson decided to make a treaty with Spain called the Pinckney Treaty. It guaranteed them the right to use the Mississippi and the New Orleans port. They would keep their goods there until they could put them onto ships to go to the east.
Thomas Jefferson believed French control of territory, particularly the city of New Orleans would block transport on the Mississippi River which was a threat to the United States. He believed American control of the Mississippi River would provide an opportunity for independent farmers to move further west and have free transport to the sea. Thus, resulting to the Louisiana Purchase a successful attempt to double the size of the nation. Jefferson used the phrase “empire of liberty” I believe to illustrate his vision growing into effect, his plan to populate the land with free farmers and families was to guide the views of other American presidents and pioneers during the early nineteenth century.
There have been several people that have influenced our country to what it is today. All of these people are clearly important and have done significant deeds to receive recognition and to be involved with the 8th grade U.S. History curriculum. Out of all of these people there is only one that stands the most and deserves the most praise for what they have done to help make this country the best it can be. Thomas Jefferson had the longest lasting impact on America because he wrote the Declaration of Independence, he believed in being a Democratic-Republican, and he purchased the Louisiana Territory. First off, he is considered the most important for writing the Declaration of Independence.
America doubled in size in 1803 when President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for 15 million dollars. Jefferson wanted to discover this land and hoped to find a water route that would link the pacific ocean with the mississippi river. Jefferson decided to enlist the help of his personal secretary and soldier, Meriwether Lewis. Lewis knew he couldn’t go on this journey alone and he knew just the man to join him on the journey. William Clark was a draftsman who possessed knowledge of the outdoors. Among Lewis and Clark, young american soldiers and french canadian river men were hand picked to tag along with them on their journey. York, Clark’s personal slave and companion since childhood, tagged along. Another person
They were demanding that Jefferson go to war to win back their rights. The situation just go worse. Jefferson was worried and wondered what would happen when the French took over New Orleans. In 1803 Jefferson sent James Monroe to negotiate a Napoleon about purchasing the port city of New Orleans, and part of Louisiana.
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.
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.
The American government was not economically prepared to partake in expensive transactions. This Louisiana Purchase was not too long following the revolution from England. The conflict resulted in American victory and freedom for the colonies. However, the war also left the new country crippled and financially unstable without the support of England. The nation was hardly able to afford the land that France had to offer. However, Thomas Jefferson saw the economic advantages that this offer could present to the country. Jefferson was a huge supporter of farmers and the benefits that agriculture could bring the nation. Rich in gold, silver and other ores, as well as huge forestland,
Even though Jefferson was very opposed to loose interpretation of the constitution and judicial expansion under John Marshal, he did discard his strict principles from time to time when it became necessary. “Self-preservation—the first law of nature and nations—took precedence over the constitutional limitations that he scrupulously observed in peacetime.” This is especially true in the case of the Louisiana Purchase. Americans were expanding westward and needed a port for transport on the Mississippi, so Spain allowed them to use New Orleans. In 1801 Louisiana was ceded to France by Spain. France was not as cooperative as Spain and closed the port of New Orleans to the U.S. Therefore, a sudden disruption in trade was a legitimate cause for tension between the U.S. and France, and many people believed that a war would break out if the Americans did not buy New Orleans. Thomas Jefferson himself thought troubles were
The Louisiana Purchase is the biggest exchange of land in history. Jefferson’s acquisition of this big piece of land doubled the United States’ size for 15 million dollars. The Louisiana Purchase would have not happen without Napoléon’s loss of interest in the french american empire. At the time, Thomas Jefferson was in office,the president’s political beliefs opposed this to happen, what convinced him? As the United States started to expand, gaining alliance with the most powerful forces on the planet, business and influence started to flourish. New Orleans became the most diverse place in the country both socially and politically.
This was a chunk of land that they wanted to purchase, and it was bigger than America itself at the time. So Jefferson asked the French if he can buy New Orleans, so they said that they can buy the whole chunk of land. Because of this, it opened more trade routes with the Mississippi River. He also payed off some of America's debt using tariffs.