The Louisiana Purchase

“distant times, when our rapid multiplication will expand [the nation]…& cover the whole northern if not southern continent.”- Thomas Jefferson.

The Problem-Stripping the land Frontier farming

practices Hard on soil due to lack

of crop rotation Settlers to wanted

more land

Western farmers Needed access to the

Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans to get their products to market

Thomas Jefferson’s Beliefs Jefferson was strongly

anti-federalist. against a strong federal

government advocated states' rights feared tyranny of any kind only recognized the need for

a strong, central government for foreign affairs

Jefferson was also a strict constructionist. government can only use

powers explicitly given by the Constitution

The Problem-France In 1801, Spain and

France signed a secret treaty ceding Louisiana to France.

Jefferson feared that if America did not purchase the port of New Orleans from France, it could lead to war.

France was led by the powerful ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte.

Jefferson’s Fears President Thomas Jefferson wrote this prediction in letter in April 1802.

“This little event, of France's possessing herself of Louisiana is the embryo of a tornado which will burst on the countries on both sides of the Atlantic and involve in it's effects their highest destinies."

Within a week of his letter, Jefferson wrote U.S. Minister to France Robert Livingston.

"Every eye in the U.S. is now fixed on this affair of Louisiana. Perhaps nothing since the revolutionary war has produced more uneasy sensations through the body of the nation."

Thomas Jefferson & the Purchase Jefferson appointed former Sec. of State

James Monroe to join Livingston in Paris. Monroe's charge was to obtain land east of

the Mississippi. allocated up to $10 million for the purchase of

New Orleans & all or part of the Floridas

OR purchase just New Orleans

OR secure U.S. access to the Mississippi & the port

France & the New World Napoleon's plans to re-establish

France in the New World were unraveling. rebellion by slaves and free blacks in the

sugar-rich colony of Saint Domingue (present-day Haiti)

Army sent to stop rebellion decimated by yellow fever

a new war with Britain seemed inevitable. On April 11, 1803 the French Foreign

Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand told Livingston that France was willing to sell ALL of Louisiana.

Thomas Jefferson & the Congress

Congress had to ratify the treaty by October.

This type of transaction was not expressly listed in the Constitution. Some, including Jefferson, wondered if a Constitutional Amendment was necessary to ratify the purchase.

Jefferson put aside his strict constructionist principles and accepted his Cabinet‘s advice saying, “It is the case of a guardian, investing the money of his ward in purchasing an important adjacent territory; and saying to him when of age, I did this for your good."

1803

President Thomas Jefferson approved the purchase of the entire Louisiana Territory (827,000 acres) from France for $15 million. $.04 per acre

Lewis and Clark Expedition

Merriwether Lewis and William Clark were assigned the task of mapping and detailing in journals the Louisiana Territory. In May of 1804, 45 men

left the port of St. Louis to record all observations.

The effects of the Purchase1. Added all or part of 13 future states to the infant

nation. Doubled the size of the United States. 2. Gave the United States international stature.

“From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank.”-Robert Livingston

3. Removed the threat of a French attack upon the U.S.

4. Opened up the interior of the United States for the expansion of land ownership.

Increased the amount of immigrants that could enter the United States and become land owners.

5. Created a sense of national identity.

The Louisiana Purchase and Immigration in AmericaJefferson said that the Louisiana Purchase was

“land enough for our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation.”

Do you think he was right? Is there enough land?

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Settling the West-Farming the Land