Louisiana Purchase
... New Orleans on 20 December 1803. The purchase of the Louisiana territory came about as a result of concern to secure free navigation of the Mississippi River. President Jefferson sent Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe to negotiate with the government of the powerful Napoleon I for the sale of New Orleans. Jefferson knew that the French leader was fearful since he had just acquired Louisiana from the Spanish so they had to move quick. Surprisingly, Napoleon offered not only to sell New Orleans, but the entire Louisiana territory. The treaty that Livingston and Monroe sent back home worried Jefferson constitutionally. A Constitutional amendment would be extremely slow and Napoleon wanted the transaction finalized by a specific date. Since the nation was so young, issues such as the one at hand had not arisen before. Jefferson had to make a decision and that he did. He acted without hesitation and left the matter to the people to decide. With the exception of a small number of Federalists in New England, the people overwhelmingly accepted Jefferson's actions. The Louisiana Purchase was by far the greatest achievement of his presidency. Jefferson was then eager to send out people to explore this new territory. He appointed Lewis who then chose Clark to assist in this expansion exploration. They were to study the land and document the native cultures they found. They took 2 years and 4 months to complete this expedition and was an amazing success. The Louisiana Purchase was an important factor for encouraging those who were interested in agricultural expansion in the new American nation. By the late 1790's, an efficient network of interconnecting ...