The Louisiana Purchase

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The Louisiana Purchase is an event that caused a great deal of controversy during the early 1800s. This vast tract of land was purchased by Mr. Thomas Jefferson before the government had a chance to approve it. Congress did indeed approve this purchase, but it was only after they decided not to analyze the constitution too in-depth. This is the very reason that so many Americans were split on this issue. Despite the controversy, one thing is certain, the Louisiana Purchase has opened our eyes and helped us gain a better knowledge on how our constitution works. It has also changed how we view the way our nation acquires land. A man that goes by the name of “Phocion” stated, “It is notorious that the people of the United States are at this time …show more content…
It stated that, Congress has the power “to make laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution and fore going powers, and all other powers vested by this Constitution in the government of the United States or any department…” By the framers including this clause in the constitution, it gave the government the power to do anything that they thought was essential for the United States without the need to take time and specifically write it down in the constitution. I think that this was a great thing to do because if the framers had to take the time to write down every little power that they thought the government should have, it would have taken an extremely long time to write the constitution, and our nation would more than likely not be near as strong as it is today. I think that we can all clearly see that the Constitution was not intended to be taken in a strict sense, and it is obvious that Mr. Thomas Jefferson had the constitutional right to buy the Louisiana Purchase despite the fact that he did not initially receive congress’s …show more content…
Many argued that it was unconstitutional. However, by looking at the “necessary and proper” clause, and taking into consideration that the constitution states that the government should “promote the general welfare” we can see that it was clearly constitutional. This benefited our country greatly by giving us not only vast amounts of land, but the port of New Orleans as well. Without the Louisiana Purchase, our nation would not be as powerful as it is

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