Discuss the factors that led to the Louisiana Purchase. Why was Jefferson reluctant to agree to the purchase? Why did he ultimately agree to it and why was the purchase significant?
The Louisiana Purchase was a major land area that affected the US. If America acquired the land it would not only give us more land but it would double the size of the United States and it would give us the Mississippi River, along with New Orleans.
The idea of the Louisiana Purchase was all started with a man named Napolean. The French were in a war with Britain and Napolean was trying to help out because the French needed all the money they could get to finance the war. At this time, France owned the land that was the Louisiana Purchase. Napolean started talking with Thomas Jefferson about buying the land. He thought this would be a great idea because the United States was still a small, growing country. The land would help out a lot and it would help them get one step closer to the idea of Manifest Destiny, or dream that America would stretch from coast to coast. He didn’t know though if buying the land would be okay, he thought that it might be illegal. In the Constitution, which at this time was the law of the land, it said nothing about acquiring new land. That was the main reason he was first reluctant to agree to the purchase.
Jefferson then changed his mind about the Purchase and decided it was perfect. The purchase would double the size of the United States and also give them the Mississippi River as well as the major southern port, New Orleans. The Mississippi River was a major trade and transportation river. As for New Orleans, it was the major port in the South. Both would help America’s economy.
The Louisiana Purchase was the land from the Appalachian Mountains to the Spanish land and then from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.
The purchase was bought and approved in 1803. It doubled the size of the United States and helped them get one step closer to Manifest Destiny.