Thomas Jefferson And The Louisiana Purchase

Nathan Vang

Professor Melvin R. Earnest

History 1301

17 November 2015 Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase The $15 million dollars real estate purchase of Louisiana from the French is probably one of the greatest real estate deals in history. When Thomas Jefferson heard that Spain was giving back the Louisiana territory to the French he was worried that if the french gained control of the Mississippi River, and the ports in New Orleans the United States would no longer have access to the Gulf of Mexico, which would upset America's Plan, Therefore Thomas Jefferson ordered U.S. Minister Robert Livingston, and former governor of Virginia James Monroe to negotiate a trade with France for the Louisiana Territory. With Napoleon Bonaparte

It was a less cost than expected and for a vast amount of land. The U.S. secured the Mississippi River for free usage to transport goods to markets, and not only that this led to Jefferson authorizing and funding the Lewis & Clark Expedition, which proved to be a good thing because we learned so much about the territory they explored. The river not only made trade easier in Louisiana but all over the country. After the purchase, America had complete control of the river without interference from France or Spain. That is the major benefit of the Louisiana purchase. Then as now the Mississippi is a major waterway for the transport of goods from the mid-west and North to the Gulf of Mexico. Also, as you may know, the purchase doubled the size of the country, which allowed the U.S. to continue its westward expansion. After the signing of the Louisiana Purchase Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set an expedition to explore the vast wilderness of the west, traveling 8,000 miles they gathered up huge amounts of information on the resources, people, wildlife,

This was an important mark of U.S. History because they got to keep the ports on the Mississippi River, they gained 828,000 square miles of land for just only $15 million, and the Lewis and Clark expedition which led to the westward expansion. Thomas Jefferson Purchase of Louisiana was unconstitutional and he tried to say his actions were constitutional but didn't have enough evidence to prove it was in the constitution. Louisiana was an important historical event in U.S. history, but what Thomas Jefferson did to get it questions was it for the young growing nation or an unconstitutional act done by