Changes

== Jefferson Administration ==

== Jefferson Administration ==

Jefferson encouraged westward expansion more strongly than any previous president.  To reach this goal, he made purchasing land very easy, and the population west of the Appalachians grew rapidly.  He believed that the Indians should be taught to farm, hoping that they would eventually become citizens of the United States.

Jefferson like land, and was a big supporter of the value of farming as a way of life.  He encouraged westward expansion more strongly than any previous president.  To reach this goal, he made purchasing land very easy, and the population west of the Appalachians grew rapidly.  He even believed that the Indians should be taught to farm, hoping that they would eventually become citizens of the United States.

In 1803, Jefferson appointed the former '''''anti-Federalist''''' [[James Monroe]] to negotiate terms for the purchase of New Orleans and West Florida from France, and to offer $2 million for this land but to go as high as $10 million if necessary for those two parcels of property.   

In 1803, Jefferson appointed the former '''''anti-Federalist''''' [[James Monroe]] to negotiate terms for the purchase of New Orleans and West Florida from France, and to offer $2 million for this land but to go as high as $10 million if necessary for those two parcels of property.  James Monroe was respected in France; he had even persuaded France to release the American writer Thomas Paine from prison there, where he had been convicted of treason for opposing use of the guillotine during the French Revolution.   

But by this time [[Napoleon]] had suffered a costly failure in connection with a successful slave revolt in [[Haiti]], and he had decided that France should not try to colonize the New World any further.  So France asked Monroe how much he would pay for ''all of'' France's territory on the North American continent, which included the vast tract of land northwest of Louisiana (stretching all the way along the Missouri River, to what is now Oregon on the Pacific coast).  Monroe was able to negotiate extremely favorable terms of $11.25 million to France for ''all of'' the property (which translates to only a few pennies per acre), and not merely West Florida and New Orleans.  This enormous tract of land was as large as the entire United States at the time.  The overall purchase price was $15 million because Monroe also agreed that the United States would assume nearly $4 million in debts owed by France to American citizens at the time.

By 1803 [[Napoleon]] had suffered a costly failure in connection with a successful slave revolt in [[Haiti]], and he had decided that France should not try to colonize the New World any further.  So France asked Monroe how much he would pay for ''all of'' France's territory on the North American continent, which included the vast tract of land northwest of Louisiana (stretching all the way along the Missouri River, to what is now Oregon on the Pacific coast).  Monroe was able to negotiate extremely favorable terms of $11.25 million to France for ''all of'' the property (which translates to only a few pennies per acre), and not merely West Florida and New Orleans.  This enormous tract of land was as large as the entire United States at the time.  The overall purchase price was $15 million because Monroe also agreed that the United States would assume nearly $4 million in debts owed by France to American citizens at the time.

But the Constitution does not give the President the power to buy new territory.  As a strict constructionist, Jefferson needed to violate his own principles about the Constitution in order to accept this unexpected, but extremely attractive, offer.

But the Constitution does not give the President the power to buy new territory.  As a strict constructionist, Jefferson needed to violate his own principles about the Constitution in order to accept this unexpected, but extremely attractive, offer.