Transcript The Louisiana Purchase - Lincoln Park High School

The Louisiana Purchase
“distant
times, when our rapid multiplication
will expand [the nation]…& cover the whole
northern if not southern continent.”- Thomas
Jefferson.
The Problem-Stripping the land

Frontier farming
practices

Hard on soil due to lack
of crop rotation


Settlers to wanted more
land
Western farmers

Needed access to the
Mississippi River and
the port of New Orleans
to get their products to
market
Thomas Jefferson’s Beliefs

Jefferson was strongly
anti-federalist.

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against a strong federal
government
advocated states' rights
feared tyranny of any kind
only recognized the need for
a strong, central government
for foreign affairs
Jefferson was also a
strict constructionist.

government can only use
powers explicitly given by
the Constitution
The Problem-France

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In 1801, Spain and
France signed a secret
treaty ceding Louisiana
to France.
Jefferson feared that if
America did not
purchase the port of
New Orleans from
France, it could lead to
war.
France was led by the
powerful ruler,
Napoleon Bonaparte.
Jefferson’s Fears

President Thomas Jefferson wrote this prediction in letter in
April 1802.
“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."

Within a week of his letter, Jefferson wrote U.S. Minister to
France Robert Livingston.
"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."
Thomas Jefferson & the Purchase
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Jefferson appointed former Sec. of State
James Monroe to join Livingston in Paris.
Monroe's charge was to obtain land east of
the Mississippi.
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allocated up to $10 million for the purchase of
New Orleans & all or part of the Floridas
OR
purchase just New Orleans
OR
secure U.S. access to the Mississippi & the port
France & the New World

Napoleon's plans to re-establish
France in the New World were
unraveling.
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rebellion by slaves and free blacks in the
sugar-rich colony of Saint Domingue
(present-day Haiti)
Army sent to stop rebellion decimated by
yellow fever
a new war with Britain seemed inevitable.
On April 11, 1803 the French Foreign
Minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand
told Livingston that France was willing to
sell ALL of Louisiana.
Thomas Jefferson & the Congress
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Congress had to ratify the treaty
by October.
This type of transaction was not
expressly listed in the Constitution.
Some, including Jefferson,
wondered if a Constitutional
Amendment was necessary to
ratify the purchase.
Jefferson put aside his strict
constructionist principles and
accepted his Cabinet‘s advice
saying,
“It is the case of a guardian, investing the
money of his ward in purchasing an
important adjacent territory; and saying to
him when of age, I did this for your good."
1803

President Thomas
Jefferson approved
the purchase of the
entire Louisiana
Territory (827,000
acres) from France
for $15 million.
 $.04 per acre
Lewis and Clark Expedition

Merriwether Lewis and
William Clark were
assigned the task of
mapping and detailing
in journals the
Louisiana Territory.

In May of 1804, 45 men
left the port of St. Louis
to record all
observations.
The effects of the Purchase
Added all or part of 13 future states to the infant
nation. Doubled the size of the United States.
Gave the United States international stature.
1.
2.
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Removed the threat of a French attack upon the
U.S.
Opened up the interior of the United States for the
expansion of land ownership.
3.
4.
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5.
“From this day the United States take their place among
the powers of the first rank.”-Robert Livingston
Increased the amount of immigrants that could enter the
United States and become land owners.
Created a sense of national identity.
The Louisiana Purchase and Immigration
in America
Jefferson said that the Louisiana Purchase was
“land enough for our descendants to the
thousandth and thousandth generation.”

Do you think he was right? Is there enough land?
Settling the West-North Dakota Sod House
Settling the West-One Room School House
Settling the West-Domestic Roles
Settling the West-Farming the Land