Louisiana Purchase Dbq

The Louisiana Purchase was a “land deal” made between France and the U.S. in December of 1803, where France sold America 828,000 miles of land along the west side of the Mississippi River for 15 million dollars (approximately 4 cents per acre). People regard it as Thomas Jefferson’s greatest achievement because of how drastically it changed the United States. The purchase greatly expanded America and brought many other benefits along with it. Although it was definitely a major benefit to the United States, even Jefferson had his doubts about the purchase. But despite many doubts, the U.S. made the decision to ratify the purchase, and because of that decision, America has changed for the better.

Section 1- Political Developments A) The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 doubled the territory of the United States. The land was acquired from France in a deal between Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon. This new territory increased the feeling of independence by letting settlers and yeoman farmers expand into the west.

Jefferson’s election in 1800 marked the first peaceful transfer of power between political parties in U.S. history. This showed that the country could transition power without getting into violence or conflict. Jefferson believed in limited government and states rights, which means that he thought the federal government should have less power and the states should have more. Jefferson's purchase of the Louisiana land in 1803 doubled the size of the United States and expanded executive power by allowing the President to make large land purchases without approval from Congress.

Jefferson decided to try and buy New Orleans. Why did he want to buy it? He wanted to be sure that American farmers would always be able to ship their goods through the port. Jefferson sent Robert Livingston and James Monroe to buy New Orleans and to buy West Florida from Napoleon. The president said they could offer as much as $10 million.

The Louisiana Purchase Dear Editor: I think that Thomas Jefferson and the United States Government should buy the port of New Orleans because they need the get the port so that we can trade and expand the United States. One of the vast reasons that we bought the hefty territory was that we wanted total control of the New Orleans port so we could further our trade. We wanted to be in total control of the port because they stopped our trade and we needed to import and export goods. Another reason was the we wanted the port so we could trade whenever and no one could stop out trade.

War was Jefferson's last resort as he hated conflict and moving eastward would almost guarantee bringing about it. Although Thomas Jefferson went into his presidency in 1800 with these strong ideas, he ended up pursuing many Federalist beliefs similar to those of Alexander Hamilton, his opponent of the opposing party during the election, due to certain circumstances that arose during his term. For example, he sent a naval fleet to Tripoli and also repealed the Embargo Act with France and Britain which were both against his ideals. He also kept many Federalist officials in office and even used a Federalist tax plan. On a much larger scale, Jefferson bought Louisiana and all the territory west of it from Napoleon.

I agree that Jefferson feared all southern states would be at Napoleon’s mercy if he settled in New Orleans. However, Napoleon’s intentions of the New World backfired as yellow fever, other diseases, and rebels revolting assisted in Napoleons decision to cut his losses. Furthermore, I also want to add that another reason the Louisiana Purchase came about was because Jefferson envisioned a country large enough for all descendants and felt the land of America allowed this, but Jefferson realized the nation’s current condition was too small. Therefore, he knew if he could somehow acquire rights to the land west of the Mississippi, it would provide people with enough land to prosper forever.

At the time, the United States was already going to buy land from France before Napoleon offered the entirety of the Louisiana territory: “In early 1803, Jefferson appointed James Monroe as a special envoy to France. Monroe and Minister to France Robert Livingston would try to buy land east of the Mississippi or in New Orleans itself, or, if all else failed, to secure U.S. access to the river. Jefferson authorized them to negotiate up to $10 million” (“Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase”). The Louisiana Purchase was not anything out of the ordinary. The Jefferson Administration was already planning to buy the city of New Orleans from Napoleon, but the Foreign Ministers were

Because, this purchase from France helped to magnify the nation by essentially doubling the size of it. However, Jefferson faced a serious problem against his own moral principal pertaining to the Louisiana Purchase because as someone who highly opposed of the federal government using their power over the common man by spending the nation’s money. Because the purchase of property such as land from a foreign government was not within the constitution, and to Jefferson the federal government’s rights were based on the words written within the constitution. Through this purchase he would be using his own presidency power going against the limits of what the federal governments rights according to the Constitution. Which to Jefferson was unconstitutional, his justification towards his decision to draft a treaty for the purchase against his moral principal was the reality that if not purchased then and there.

New Orleans was a port that controlled most of the economy of the US this port was found in the Louisiana Territory so Americans were talking about a future war was coming. Instead of a war, Jefferson sent James Monroe to France to help the American minister Robert Livingston in negotiating New Orleans, they got astonish when they discover that France was selling all 820,000 square miles to the United States for $15 million(4 cent the acre).Monroe signed the treaty and brought territory and peace to the nation, the thing was that this purchase from the Republicans was legally questionable, this was not in the constitution and their strict constructionism wouldn’t allowed, still Jefferson acquired

The Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana purchase was one of the biggest land purchases in history. In 1803, the United States paid around $15 million dollars for around 800,000 square miles of land. This was arguably the greatest achievement of thomas jefferson’s presidency. The louisiana territory was a wild card in the european game of imperialism.

Now on the pro side of this historical event, this would mean we would get full access of the Mississippi River which meant several things during this time period. Before Jefferson made this purchase, the New Orleans port and the southern part of the Mississippi River was owned by the French. The French were never to friendly about these ports and rumors had it that the French were going to heavily tax any goods or shipments that went through their ports, if not completely shut them down. This would make transporting merchandise from merchants on the western side of the Appalachian Mountains very hard to get to Europe. If the ports really would close, the shipping route would have to become over the Appalachians.

The Louisiana Purchase was the purchase of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. The U.S. paid fifty million dollars and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million dollars which averages to less than three cents per acre. The Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The territory contained land that forms Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, portions of Minnesota, large portions of North Dakota; large portions of South Dakota, parts of New Mexico, the northern portion of Texas, the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. The Louisiana Purchase was smart move by the United States.

The Federalists opposed the Louisiana Purchase for many practical reasons and not for practical reasons. The document, A said that Federalists thought that American Indians in the area could cause problems and kill some colonists moving into the area. Document A said that the Federalists suspected new states formed in the Louisiana Territory would be Republican. Document A said that the Federalists thought that probably no one would settle there so the land purchased would be useless. Document A said that they(the Federalists) feared that the new national government would be too powerful and thus put at risk individual liberties.

Jefferson’s dilemma in the Louisiana Purchase In April of 1803 Thomas Jefferson was faced with many moral dilemmas in the process of buying the Louisiana territory. Though the price for the territory was beyond generous, Jefferson felt that by purchasing the territory he would be going against his beliefs that the constitution should be followed word for word. The constitution said nothing of the president having the power to purchase land from another government, or to use money of the states for the same purpose (“the moral dilemma”). Another problem was once the land was purchased, there was a fear that it could have been a waste since they had no way to know the layout of the land, and what it would be useful for.