Black Hawk - Research Paper Example

For the Expansion and Protection of America In 1801, Spain turned over Louisiana to France in a confidential agreement (Cummings 182). Jefferson knew that it was a critical development because it positioned France at the heart of America. It happened at a volatile era, when countries were expanding. France declaring war on America wasn’t a remote possibility. It was the biggest threat to Jefferson’s dream to expand a free America. It was a risk Jefferson didn’t want to take and he was hell bent on doing anything he could, constitutional or not, to stop Napoleon (Wayne 353).

Even when there was no money to do so, Jefferson made an offer to buy a portion of the territory from France through Robert Livingston. Livingston went to Napoleon Bonaparte with $2 million for a portion of Mississippi where a seaport may be built. Almost immediately, Jefferson asked James Monroe to go to Paris, France with $10 million in exchange of New Orleans and Florida. Jefferson didn’t know that while Monroe was en route to, the Toussaint L’Ouverture and yellow fever made Napoleon realize that Louisiana was more a burden than an asset.

He would rather concentrate on conquering Europe rather than spread his army thin. Napoleon offered the whole of Louisiana for $15 million. Jefferson went to Great Britain to borrow money at 6 percent interest. The purchase would have allowed white Americans to settle anywhere in the West. It was the greatest war prevention act. It saved America from what could have been a catastrophic threat to its independence (Montgomery 281). However, it was unconstitutional because no law indicated that America is allowed to buy lands from other countries.

Jefferson later said that he stretched his powers as President so hard “till it cracked” just to buy Louisiana. It was later on determined to be the most important act of Jefferson’s presidency, an act that may only be matched by this authorship of the Declaration of Independence. The Ousting of the Indians Jefferson wouldn’t have been able to free America and expand its territory if it wasn’t for a clear and strong vision. He knew that buying a territory is not enough to secure America.

It must be fully integrated in law, culture, and social practice, with America. He had to make sure that majority of Louisiana will be occupied by whites so he got the young governor of the Indiana Territory, William Henry Harrison, to his side by nominating Harrison as Indiana’s governor and Indian Commissioner Plenipotentiary for the United States north of the Ohio River. Jefferson started by writing Harrison a confidential letter telling him that the long term plan is to get the Indians to give up their hunting land to American farmers by making sure American goods enter the Louisiana territory.

Harrison is also to encourage Indians to go into debt with Americans by buying more goods they could ever hope to pay. It was scheming and, perhaps, selfish. It was essentially, if not deliberately, spiteful. Harrison went into a buying spree but he didn’t try to establish white Americans in every section of the state. It was too big for Harrison and he determined that the Indians made America volatile because the tribes are at war with