Compare the expansionist foreign policy of President Thomas Jefferson and James Polk
Thomas Jefferson (17431826), the third president of the United States. ... Jefferson tried to avoid foreign problems, hoping the preserve Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality. ... Robert Livingston and James Monroe were sent to France by President Jefferson to help bring about an auspicious deal regarding Louisiana Territory. Napoleon’s foreign minister, Talleyrand still refused to see only the New Orleans’ area, although, he did suggest that United States must buy the whole Louisiana Territory. ... Although, Jefferson believed in the strict interpretation of the Constitution, he used the Tenth Amendment to justify the purchase of Louisiana. ... Before this treaty was ratified, Jefferson learned that Napoleon had forced Spain to sign over Louisiana to France. ... Meriwether Lewis and William Clark were sent by Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Territory. ... Jefferson issued the Embargo Act, prohibiting the merchants of the United States to trade with foreign nations. ... No American ship can leave an American port for a foreign port and no foreign Bessel can load a cargo at an American port. ... James Knox Polk (1795-1849), the eleventh president to the United States of America, one of the hardest working presidents in American history. Polk was unusually successful in accomplishing in a single four-year term his ambitious goals in both domestic and foreign policy. ... Polk endorsed and adhered to the concept of Manifest Destiny. ... Polk ran on an expansion ticket. He favored annexation of all of Oregon, admittance of Texas to the United States, and other possible expansionist actions.