Jefferson's Desire For Western Expansion

In 1803, during the Presidency of Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase was conducted as history’s greatest real-estate deals. The United States paid 15 million for the vast territory ranging from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. Because Jefferson believed that artisans and farmers were the backbone of the economy he advocated for the western expansion. Thomas Jefferson envisioned what he termed as the “Empire of Liberty,” the uniting of territories as states, each having equal political rights. The western expansion was met with a number of controversies. There was controversy over the expansion of slavery into the Western territories entered political debates. What about the Indians

Jefferson believed that the United could be an imperial power as an empire. The negotiations of the 1783 Treaty of Paris, between the United States and Great Britain ended the American Revolution and opened to door to western settlement. The United States acquired land that extended from Florida and Canada and east to the Mississippi River. Since, Jefferson was a The Democratic- Republic, he believed in the strict interpretation of the Constitution, claiming that the Constitution doesn’t specifically say it then you can’t do it. However, Jefferson was placed in a dilemma of whether to enforce the strict interpretation of the Constitution with the Louisiana Purchase. Yet, his desire for western expansion caused Jefferson to adopt the loose interpretation of the

Laws and policies were established to justify the removal and displacement of American Indians. Though many of the Indian tribes went peacefully, other tribes resisted. In the court case Cherokee Nation v. Georgia (1831), Chief Justice John Marshall described Indians as “wards” of the Federal government. They deserved paternal regard and protection, but lacked the standing as citizens that would allow the Supreme Court to enforce their rights. The justices could not, therefore, block Georgia’s effort to extend its jurisdiction over the tribe. Worcester v. Georgia 1832, court case was filed by Samuel Worcester a missionary lived on Indian land with the permission of the Cherokees and United States government. He argued that the state of Georgia did not have jurisdiction on Indian land. The Supreme Court ruled that Indian tribes were sovereign nations and were not subjected to state laws. Trail of Tears was the result of the Indian removal policy, General Winfield Scott and United States military forced 18000 Cherokee Indians to travel from Georgia to an area in present –day Oklahoma. One-quarter of the men, women, and children perished during the winter