WEDNESDAY IS THE 200TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.:
[HOME Edition]
Mobley, Chuck. Savannah Morning News [Savannah, Ga] 29 Apr 2003
It remains one of history's most delicious ironies. Thomas Jefferson, a tireless advocate for a small central
government, deftly used his powers to put together an astonishing deal with France - some 828,000 square miles
for $15 million, or about 2.8 cents an acre.
QUOTES (1) "Let the land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a song." Gen. Horatio Gates to Jefferson on
July 18, 1803. (2) "This sale assures forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a rival who,
sooner or later, will humble her pride." Napoleon Bonaparte.
The Louisiana Purchase roughly doubled the size of the United States, quickly making it one of the largest nations
in the world. In all, 13 states were formed from the purchase - Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, South
Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, nearly all of Kansas, Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, the portions of
Montana, Wyoming and Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains and, of course, Louisiana.
As incredible as it seems now, Jefferson faced serious hurdles in getting the transaction approved. Some of the
problems were of his own making - a strict constructionist, Jefferson was concerned about the constitutionality of
the purchase.
He also had to deal with partisan politics - his rivals, the Federalists, argued the powers of the presidency did not
include buying foreign territory. One Federalist, Fisher Ames of New York, said, "The acquiring of territory with
money is mean and despicable. As to the territory, the less of it the better."
Here's a breakdown on the purchase, and how Jefferson got it approved:
VIVE LA FRANCE, SORT OF
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte hoped to recreate a French empire in the New World. Through a secret treaty with
Spain in 1800, Napoleon and France took over the province of Louisiana.
The emperor's plans, however, were unseated by a slave revolt on the Caribbean island of Santo Domingo.
Napoleon sent troops to put down the rebellion, but yellow fever and combat ravaged the French forces, killing
some 50,000 men. The revolutionaries formed a government under General Toussaint Louveture.
The failure to control Santo Domingo made Bonaparte's plan untenable - without the island he had no base to set
up troops and supplies with which to occupy Louisiana.
Bonaparte then turned his attention to a more traditional enemy - Britain. Fearing that England would occupy
Louisiana, Bonaparte decided to at least make some money off the situation by selling the province to the United
States.
LET'S MAKE A DEAL
In 1801, Jefferson learned of the secret deal giving France control of the Louisiana province. He and most other
Americans were instantly alarmed. Western settlers depended upon the Mississippi River and New Orleans for
commerce. "The day that France takes possession of New Orleans ... we must marry ourselves to the British fleet
and nation," Jefferson wrote to the U.S. ambassador to France, Robert R. Livingston.
In 1802, the right of deposit - a privilege allowing U.S. merchants to deposit goods duty free at New Orleans
pending transshipment - was withdrawn. This, along with the French activity in Santo Domingo, prompted Jefferson
to send statesman James Monroe to Paris in early 1803 to help Livingston secure a deal for New Orleans.
But Bonaparte surprised the Americans, and many of his own officials, with a bigger offer - buy all of Louisiana.
Monroe and Livingston were not specifically authorized to make such a deal, but they went ahead with negotiations
and in early May concluded the purchase.
The price was $15 million, $11.2 of which was paid outright to France. The remainder was paid by the United
States to its citizens who had filed claims against France.
The agreement was backdated to April 30. Jefferson received word of it on July 3, 1803, and news of the pact was
published on July 4. Writing his son-in-law on Independence Day, Jefferson said, "This removes from us the
greatest source of danger to our peace."
TRADING PLACES
The deal delighted Jefferson, but it also presented him with a dilemma. His interpretation of the Constitution did
not allow any such transaction as the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson believed a constitutional amendment would be
necessary to legalize the purchase, and he set about to draw one up.
Some opposition to the president's plans were proceeding in Congress. Federalists, who took a much broader view
of the Constitution, were opposed to the purchase, mostly because it was Jefferson's idea.
In effect, the parties traded places: Jefferson and the Republicans saw the benefits of the purchase and looked for
ways to legalize it; the Federalists, who had long advocated more power for the executive, now chose the narrower
view.
Jefferson, in a marvelous display of political adroitness, got around the constitutional issue by presenting the
purchase in the form of a treaty.
On Oct. 30, 1803, the Senate approved the treaty by a 24-7 vote. The decision was largely along party lines. The
Republicans were unanimous in its favor. The Federalists were largely opposed, with a couple of notable
exceptions.
John Adams - who had lost the bitterly fought election of 1800 to Jefferson - supported the treaty, as did his son,
Sen. John Quincy Adams. The younger Adams, describing the atmosphere in Congress, wrote in his diary, "The
country is so totally given up to the spirit of party, that not to follow the one or the other is an inexpiable offence."
As often happened during this era, the last word was given by Chief Justice John Marshall.
Ruling years after the actual purchase, Marshall said, "the Constitution confers absolutely on the government of the
Union, the powers of making war, and of making treaties; consequently, that government possesses the power of
acquiring territory, either by conquest or by treaty."
LEWIS & CLARK
On July 4, 1803 - the day after Jefferson received word of the purchase - he wrote to Meriwether Lewis. The
president and Lewis, who held the post of personal secretary, had been discussing a western expedition for some
time. This correspondence was partially intended as a letter of credit for the expedition, promising payment to
"consuls, agents, merchants and citizens of any nations" who might lend supplies.
Lewis set out from the capital the next day.
President Jefferson was a walking anomaly
Kauffmann, Bruce. Telegraph - Herald [Dubuque, Iowa] 09 Apr 2006
Excerpt: . . . .
As president he overturned the unconstitutional Alien and Sedition Acts, which made it illegal to
criticize thegovernment. Yet he violated the Constitution when he engineered the Louisiana Purchase, which
doubled our nation's size.
Perhaps our most fiscally responsible president, his personal finances were so messy his heirs lost his famous
home, Monticello, to creditors.
Jefferson was a Renaissance man. He was the nation's most famous architect, a speaker of several languages, an
inventor, a botanist, an astrologist, a man of letters, a world traveler, a wine and food connoisseur and
arguably the most widely read and forward thinking man on the continent.
Yet he disliked cities (Paris excepted), hated crowds, was suspicious of industry, hostile to capitalism, and averse
to paper money. And his vision of America was anti-modernist, based as it was on an agrarian economy and a
polity in which yeomen farmers gathered in small villages to settle local matters.
Jefferson distrusted the very thought of a strong central government, preferring that the states retain most
powers. Yet he twice ran to head up that central government, and frequently used its powers to thwart thedesigns
of the states.
Also, seeing little use for the military (and wanting to save a buck) he slashed the defense budget.
Yet he sent warships to Morocco to stop the Barbary pirates (who had been extorting ransoms from America's
merchant ships), which gained America a new international respect.
In sum, Jefferson might be our most admired and studied Founding Father, and the America - and world - of today
owes much to his influence. Yet it might also be said that America today is so different from his original designs he
would hardly recognize it and might well disapprove of it. . . . .