Benefits Of The Louisiana Purchase

We would not be the thriving nation that has come to be today if not for the quagmire the Thomas Jefferson found himself in 1803 contemplating the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France. ”At the time of purchase, Jefferson was concerned about the constitutionality of making a land acquisition without adding a covering amendment to the U.S. Constitution. The law of the land, however, did give the president treaty-making power, and the Louisiana Purchase was ratified into law as a treaty by the U.S. Senate. The Louisiana Purchase stands as the largest area of territory ever added to the U.S. at one time.”(Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia, 2014, 1p.) Historians undoubtedly agree that the purchase of the Louisiana Territory opened …show more content…
We needed to keep control of our nation, and a treaty with France could grace our country. "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." (Andrew A. Lipscomb and Albert E. Bergh, eds The Writings of Thomas Jefferson) Jefferson wrote this forecast to Pierre Samuel du Pont when he heard rumors that France would be trying to take back the great land mass that is Louisana. When we started to expand westward, the control of both the port in New Orleans and the Mississippi were critical to the survival of our national commerce, so this action caused great concern to Jefferson. After this was sent to du Pont, Jefferson sent a document to Robert Livingston, the U.S. Minister to France: "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." (Lipscomb and Bergh, The Writings of Thomas Jefferson,) Tensions were absolutely running on high alert at this point. What was Jefferson to do now? Should he take the leap of a risk and secure the territory for our nation or should he go with the security of adhering to a strict version of the …show more content…
Jefferson had to take into discussion that people would want to move out west and settle the new land. As the population became larger in the territory, the people would wonder and question of the application of statehood. Here we see a predicament for Jefferson. With all of the new possible land, how could we divide it up to keep the peace with each slave and free state. Morally, Jefferson knew that the people of the United States would be in uproar if there was political imbalance of the states. Each section of our country, both the North and the South, believed that they were in correct range of their morals to live life the way that they were at the time. What should Jefferson do? He risked the sanctity and almost peaceful calm that had fallen over our country if we agreed to the terms set by our French