A History of the American People

frustrations at not doing anything about American slavery. It certainly aroused the envy of
Admiral Nelson, then British naval Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, who was a
passionate anti-slaver and was longing to have a crack at the beys. It was also the first example
of America's willingness to take the initiative in upholding civilized standards of international
behavior-an excellent portent for the future.
More astonishing still is the fact that Jefferson, who saw America's future as that of a medium-
sized agrarian republic with no ambitions to great-power status, succeeded in doubling the size
of the nation at a stroke. Spain's decision to transfer Louisiana back to France, which was first
rumored in Washington early in Jefferson's presidency, immediately rang the alarm-bells. Spain's
control of New Orleans and the outlet of the Mississippi was a constant irritant. But Spain was
weak and could be bullied. France was the strongest military power on earth and might be
tempted to recreate the North American empire it had ceded in 1763. Nothing since the Revolutionary War has produced such uneasy sensations through the body of the nation,' Jefferson wrote (April 1802); it wasthe embryo of a tornado.' He added, 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.' His Secretary of State, Madison, agreed. The Mississippi, he wrote, isthe Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac,
and all the navigable rivers of the United States, formed into one stream.’
Jefferson instructed Robert Livingston, his envoy in Paris, to open immediate negotiations
with the Bonapartist government to see whether there was any possibility of France's allowing
the United States to mitigate the peril, or at least insure access to the sea through New Orleans,
by some kind of territorial bargain or purchase. He sent James Monroe to Paris to assist in the
deal-if there was one. The French still held Talleyrand's view that America was a rich cow,
which could be milked, and it was the first time Washington was prepared to wave the Almighty
Dollar in the greedy faces of foreigners. But Jefferson was gloomy about the outcome; I am not sanguine,' he wrote, in obtaining a cession of New Orleans for money.' Then, in April 1803, the French Foreign Minister, on Bonaparte's terse instructions, offered America the whole of Louisiana, the entire Mississippi valley, New Orleans-the lot-for $15 million, cash down. Jefferson could hardly believe his luck and immediately set about applying to the hated banks, the masters ofartificial' property, for the money. The deal was concluded in time for the
President to announce it on July 4, 1803, the twenty-sixth anniversary of the Declaration of
Independence. Not only did it double the size of America, making it a country as large as
Europe, it also removed the last doubts about western expansion and made it virtually certain that
America would double in size again in the next few decades. Never before, or since, in history
has such an extraordinary territorial cash-bargain been concluded. The Americans were not sure
even how much land they had got, but when Livingston asked the French to indicate the exact
boundaries of their cession, Talleyrand sourly replied: I can give you no direction. You have made a noble bargain for yourselves and I suppose you will make the most of it.’ He was, of course, right. As it turned out, America got another 828,000 square miles and 1,000 million acres of good land. Jefferson's only doubt was the constitutionality of the purchase. His federal opponents indeed, reversing their usual view, claimed that the Constitution did not authorize the purchase of foreign territory. But Jefferson for once abandoned his constitutional timidity and begged Congress to accept. Jefferson admitted privately he was breaking the Constitution, justifying himself in a letter to John Breckinridge in a characteristic means-justifies-the-end manner: If the French kept Louisiana America would have tomarry ourselves to the British fleet and nation.' Hence: