Louisiana+Purchase,+1803

Amy Neuburger U.S History/ Nolan Period 1

The beginning of the 19th century was not a completely peaceful time in the new United States. Within the country a change in political parties occurred when the Democrat, Thomas Jefferson, was elected the third president of the United States in 1801. Internationally, Napoleon had gained control of France and Europe was thrown into a series of wars while the United States debated on whether or not to get involved. Since France and the rest of Europe were preoccupied fighting their own affairs, the United States had opportunity to double its size by purchasing the Louisiana territory from France. On April 30, 1803, the United States signed a treaty with France allowing the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, more than 2 million square miles of land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains for $15 million. When information revealed that France had gained control of the Louisiana Territory from Spain in 1800 and that the right of transit had been withdrawn, Jefferson strived for opportunity. President Jefferson saw the port of New Orleans as a vital outlet to the American western population. In order to be sure that American farmers would always be able to ship their good through in the port, President Jefferson sent Robert Livingston and James Monroe to negotiate with France to buy New Orleans and West Florida from the French for as much as $10 million. Closing the port at anytime would have catastrophic effects, similar to the halt of commerce in the port of Boston before the American Revolution. At first, the French Foreign Minister, Talleyrand, showed little interest in the idea but with the changing conditions in Haiti and in Europe caused Napoleon to alter his plans for the future. After losing Haiti, Napoleon abandoned his plans of building an empire in the Americas and had Talleyrand ask Livingston and Monroe if the United States wanted to buy all of Louisiana, not just the New Orleans, for $15 million in order for Napoleon to pay for his costly wars in Europe. Livingston and Monroe had no authority to buy all of Louisiana but after much debate they knew that Jefferson wanted control of the Mississippi so they agreed and the treaty with France was signed, giving the United States control of the Louisiana Territory. T here was a great deal of controversy attached to the Louisiana Purchase in whether or not it was constitutional that still goes on today. Since President Jefferson insisted on a strict interpretation of the constitution that spelled out the federal governments’ powers completely, Jefferson was not sure if he had the constitutional right to purchase Louisiana. Nowhere in the Constitution did it state a President’s power to buy land. In the end, Jefferson reasoned that he did have the authority to buy the Louisiana territory because the Constitution allowed the President to make treaties and the Louisiana Territory was purchased.
 * __ Louisiana Purchase __****__, 1803 __**
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The Louisiana Purchase played a major role in the history United States as it was the United States largest expansion. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States, without a war or the loss of a single American life, and set a precedent for the purchase of territory . It opened the way for the future expansion of the United States across the continent to the Pacific, and its resultant was the United States rise to a world power. Also, the Louisiana Purchase gave the United States control of the New Orleans port as well as the navigation 'rights' on the Mississippi River and Missouri Rivers. It served as a new spirit of nationalism throughout the West and opened up a vast area of natural resources as well. The division among supporters of this purchase and people who opposed it led to the further division of the Republican Party resulting in the death of Aaron Burr in a duel with Alexander Hamilton. Ultimately though, the Purchase changed America. With the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, events like the issues of slavery and the relationships between the “Americans” and Native Americans will be because of the purchase made in 1803.
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In my opinion, I would place the Louisiana Purchase as a 3 because it was the largest act of American expansion that forever transformed the course of American history. It not only doubled the United States but it brought new cultures, new citizens and a vast amount of new natural resources to the United States. I did not rate it a one, although it was important to the formation of our country today, because I feel that other issues, like the U.S. constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the things that created our country in the first place are more significant because without the formation of our government we might not have even purchased the Louisiana territory in the first place. The Louisiana Purchase and the Kansas-Nebraska Act are similar in that the Kansas-Nebraska Act is directly involved in the territory purchased. It is because of the Louisiana Purchase that the issue over slavery takes place. Without the purchase Louisiana territory, there would have been no Kansas-Nebraska Act formulated because the territory would not have existed.
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 * The Louisiana Purchase and the Kansas-Nebraska Act**

On the other hand, the Louisiana Purchase and the Kansas-Nebraska Act differed in that the Louisiana Purchase's goal was to develop a way to always be sure that American farmers would always be able to ship their goods through a port. The goal of the Kansas- Nebraska Act was to divide the Nebraska into two territories, Nebraska and Kansas, and decide by popular sovereignty whether it would be a free or slave state.

In my opinion, I believe that the Louisiana Purchase was much more significant then the Kansas-Nebraska Act because the Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed in order to help correct the issue going on during that time period which was slavery while the Louisiana Purchase altered the United States forever by expanding the United States causing it to become a huge threat to other countries.