Louisiana Purchase Justification

Sometimes, when people do you a favor, you don’t always appreciate it at the time, but later on, you thank them for it. Jefferson was one such person, and, while he did not always have such a loose interpretation of the Constitution as he did when he bought the Louisiana purchase, he was justified in purchasing it due to his power to make treaties with the agreement of ⅔ of Congress. This made him justified due to the fact that it decreased conflict and decreased tension in general between the United States and France. Not only this, but it was also a formally concluded upon and ratified agreement between the United States and France, which, definitionally, would make the Louisiana Purchase a treaty.

As previously stated, the president has

the power to make treaties. He only has this power, however, if ⅔ of Congress agrees with it. Both of these occurred when the president tried to buy the Louisiana purchase. Document A, the Constitution of the United States of America itself, states that the president “shall have the power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the Senators present concur”. This occurred in the case of the Louisiana purchase, Two-thirds of Congress agreed, and the president desired to make the treaty. It should be considered a treaty due to it being a ratified and concluded agreement between two countries, those countries being the United States of America and France.
Not only this, but Thomas Jefferson was justified in buying the Louisiana purchase for many other reasons.

For example, he “[believes that] Those who labour in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever he had a chosen people” This means that Thomas Jefferson believes that farmers are essentially the perfect, and an essentially model human being that everyone else should attempt to be like. Because of this, he needed more of them in the country. In order to get more of them, he would certainly need more land. To get these ideal human beings, or more specifically, the land that would lead to getting them, he bought the Louisiana Purchase. This isn’t even the root of his desire to get so many farmers. The actual reason that he wanted so many farmers is because he believed that “Corruption of morals in the mass of [farmers] is a phenomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example” Essentially, here he is explaining that farmers are unable to be corrupted. This is sufficient to show why he wants to buy the Louisiana purchase so much so that he can get more farmers. He believes that it will lead to a country full of incorruptible people. If there is a country full of incorruptible people, then they are likely to select politicians which are incorruptible. Thus, the nation will be an incorruptible nation, which leads to a generally better nation as it cannot be corrupted at

all.
Finally, Jefferson saved the country economically by buying the Louisiana purchase.

When France bought the Louisiana Purchase from Spain. This was disastrous to the United States. It was so bad for the United States because they had 3/8 of their total trade out of the US. Document D supports this when it states that “There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market, and from its fertility it will ere long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain more than half our inhabitants. France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude of defiance.” Here he is stating not only that France is blocking away 3/8 of their outward trade, but also that they are showing defiance against the United States, which they need to fix and thus improve relations with France. This is going to be fixed along with their relations when they buy the land from France since they are in a poor economic position at the time when they are willing to sell Louisiana back to the

US.
All in all, Jefferson was justified when he bought the Louisiana territory because it was part of his presidential power to make treaties. Not only that, but he also did it because he wanted to make a country of more farmers. This was for the best of the country because they would be far less corrupt, and the decisions and politicians would also be less corrupt. He also did it to save the United States’ economy as three eighths of their exports as well as about half of their other produced goods were blocked off by France not allowing them to trade through Louisiana. Sometimes, people do things that benefit others, even though they don’t know it at the time, and I believe Jefferson was one such person.