Within 50 years, the present-day borders of the contiguous United States would be solidified with the Gadsden Purchase.Įach expansion, though greatly increasing the size of the United States, also exposed the sectional weaknesses between the North and South, especially related to the issue of slavery. The Louisiana Purchase was the first major cession of land in a long series of expansions that span the 19th century. As Napoleon threatened to take back the offer, Jefferson squelched whatever doubts he had and prepared to occupy a land of unimaginable riches. Government (and especially the President) was authorized to acquire new territory, the desire to expand the United States across the entire continent trumped his ideological beliefs. However, when they were offered the entire territory of Louisiana – an area larger than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal combined – the American negotiators swiftly agreed to a price of $15 million.Īlthough President Thomas Jefferson was generally a strict interpreter of the Constitution who wondered if the U.S. Originally, negotiators Robert Livingston and James Monroe were authorized to pay France up to $10 million solely for the port of New Orleans and the Floridas.
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