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Thomas Jefferson's Contribution Of The Mississippi River To France

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In the 1760’s, Spain granted the territory west of the Mississippi River to France. This was a success for France because this territory held the powerhouse of trading along the river. New Orleans, the key city, and Louisiana rested in this territory. France began to take the United States permission to use the river for trading. This was a huge drawback for the U.S. because goods would be floated to New Orleans along the river and then shipped overseas. Thomas Jefferson knew he must gain control over the territory before France completely took over. “Jefferson in January 1803 recommended that James Monroe join Livingston in Paris as minister extraordinary” (Monticello.org). He asked Congress to fund this exploration that later came to be known as The Lewis and Clark Expedition. The …show more content…

This included approximately 827,000 square miles of land, which doubled the current size of the United Sates at the time. The treaty was ratified by October 1803, which solidified the agreement. At this time, the importance of having access to the Mississippi river was tremendous. The river could float goods to New Orleans so that they can be shipped to countries overseas. By France having this territory, that gave them control over a key part of the new world. If the United States would have never gained this territory, everything could be different now. Some say that Jefferson overstepped his constitutional authority as president. The Constitution did not grant presidents to buy and add land to the United State, but it did not say they couldn’t either. Jefferson was known for being overly strict when it came to people following the Constitution. When people found out he was making this deal to buy the Louisiana territory, they viewed him as a hypocrite. Many of those in the Federalist party (the opposing party to Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans) believed that he would have objected on Constitutional

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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.

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Dear. Editor I think that the United States, Thomas Jefferson and congress should buy the Louisiana territory because it would double the u.s in size and give us more opportunities like getting goods shipped to us from different countries. I have a few reasons why this would be a good idea one is that if they buy it, it will give us the whole territory, the New Orleans port and the Mississippi River and that is good because we will be able to get many different goods sent to us and that can help us a lot. It is a good idea because the land only coast 4 cents per Acre and it only coast $15 million for all of it and it comes with the Mississippi river and we .

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Throughout 1803, Jefferson had talked with Meriwether Lewis, a young army veteran and his private secretary, about the Louisiana Territory. Jefferson wanted Lewis to lead a group of people out into the west to explore as much land as he could. Lewis, an adventurer at heart, accepted Jefferson’s request, and in early 1804, went to Philadelphia to recruit the men he wanted to accompany him on his journey. Among the men that were recruited was William Clark, an old friend of Lewis and the man that would share command of the band of explorers with Lewis. Together, Lewis and Clark decided to call their group “The Corps of Discovery.”

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In 1803, Thomas Jefferson made the most controversial purchase regrading to the constitution. The Louisiana Purchase went against everything Jefferson believed in. Jefferson faced heat from both parties whether it was to accept or that he will be a hypocrite for accepting it. With this purchase Jefferson made the best decision of his time because of all the benefits the land gave the country. Thomas Jefferson was the direct definition of an anti-federalist.

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The Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican American War impacted westward expansionism, the slavery issue, and the eventual American Civil War. When Jefferson bought the Louisiana territories from Napoleon in 1803 “The cost of the United States was about 3.5 cents per acre” (Goldfield, 1998, p. 229). This lead to the constant debate between the United States and Mexico on where the border of Texas was. This lead to the Mexican American War. With the victory for the United States the border dispute over Texas had ended.

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