Entire Louisiana Territory For 15 Million Dollars example essay topic

No biography of my life would be complete without a chapter on the Louisiana Purchase. As President I made many important decisions. One of the most important was the decision to make the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States and made this great country one of the largest nations in the world. Before the Louisiana Purchase, the United States was made up of thirteen colonies. Louisiana and the port of New Orleans were under Spanish rule.

The port of New Orleans was important to the United States as a place of import and export of goods. The Treaty of San Lorenzo had provided that for three years America could use the port. In a secret treaty Spain returned the Louisiana colony to France which was headed by Napoleon Bonaparte who was planning on conquering all of Equorpe. I was deeply concerned that Napoleon would create a French empire in North America and then close the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans to American shipping.

If Louisiana had been controlled by France the westward expansion of the United States would have been threatened. I needed to make sure that the United States's right to sail vessels down the Mississippi River and unload goods at New Orleans was protected. I also wanted to own the entire territory of Louisiana because so many settlers and merchants had already settled in the region. I sent my diplomats to Napoleon to offer him two million dollars for New Orleans and the area called West Florida. I instructed the diplomats that they could go as high as 10 million dollars if they needed to. Napoleon was busy using all of his military forces to fight Great Britain and he could not spare the troops to establish a French colony in Louisiana.

Robert Livingston and James Monroe were surprised that Napoleon offered to sell not only New Orleans but the entire Louisiana Territory for 15 million dollars. The entire territory included 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. This price came to about four cents per acre. I didn't know if the constitution authorized me to acquire new territory, but my vision for the future included having an empire for liberty that would stretch across the entire continent.

I decided that the benefits to the nation far outweighed the possible violation of the Constitution. When Napoleon threatened to take back the offer, I had to put my doubts aside and submit the treaty to Congress. The Senate concurred with the decision and voted for ratification. The Spanish turned over New Orleans in a ceremony on Nov. 30, 1803. The French turned Louisiana over to the United States on Dec. 20, 1803.

The purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States. The lands stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. The Purchase consisted of three agreements between the United States and France: a treaty of cession and two agreements providing for the exchange of money. The treaty allowed the U.S. to obtain an enormous tract of land that could be settled. It provided for the free travel of the Mississippi River.

I asked Captain Meri weather Lewis and William Clark to explore the Louisiana Territory. The vast territory proved to more than meet my expectations. Lewis and Clark published maps with the final reports of the expedition. The Territory proved to be a pathway to the west and provided a way for trade with the Indians.

Looking back on the two terms I served as president, I think that the Louisiana Purchase was the most important movement I had ever made. My friend General Horatio Gates said to me, "Let the Land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a Song". I didn't know if I had made a huge mistake in purchasing the Louisiana Territory or if it would prove to be as advantageous as I hoped. Looking back now, I know that history would be greatly different if the purchase had not been made. Thomas Jefferson, and the Louisiana Purchase.