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U.S. History
Name:__________________________________
Focus Question:
Was President Thomas Jefferson correct to have made the Louisiana
Purchase?
Do Now: Day 1 of Trimester 2. First, Get a folder and a tracking sheet for this class. Second, if
unaware of class procedure ask me what it is. Finally, after seeing the video, answer the
accompanying questions.
What does the word implied mean? What is meant by the phrase ‘implied powers of the
constitution’?
Why was it ironic that Jefferson took this bold, powerful act?
Write a question you still have about the Louisiana Purchase after seeing the video.
Multiple choice based on Video:
In 1790, Thomas Jefferson opposed the creation of the National Bank because
1) It was not expressly authorized by the Constitution
2) It failed to benefit his home state of Virginia
3) Treasury Secretary Hamilton refused to put Washington’s face on the $1
bill
4) It symbolized small government
When Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1800, he pledged to
1) Purchase the Louisiana Territory
2) Enlarge the size of the National Bank
3) Reduce the size and scope of the federal government
4) Fight Napoleon for the Louisiana Territory
The Louisiana Territory was initially transferred by ______________ to
_______________.
1) France – Spain
2) Spain – France
3) France – Italy
4) Italy - Spain
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U.S. History
Name:__________________________________
Thomas Jefferson ultimately justified the Louisiana Purchase as being implied in the
Constitution’s
1) Judicial power
2) General welfare clause
3) Commerce clause
4) Treaty-making power
The approximate price per acre for the Louisiana Territory was ______________.
1) 1 cent
2) 3 cents
3) 5 cents
4) 7 cents
The Louisiana Purchase
Before answering the questions, draw a compass on the map showing N, S, E, and W.
Turn page for questions corresponding to the map.
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U.S. History
Name:__________________________________
Who owned the territory west of the Mississippi River?
How do you think it became part of the United States?
Below are today’s notes. (copy what’s in RED)

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



It violated Jefferson’s __________________________________________.
Louisiana was bought from ____________________________ (a cheap price).
Why was France willing to sell the territory so cheap? It needed the money
because of European wars.
Louisiana _______________________________________ the U.S.
It gave the U.S. control of ____ ___________________________________
___________________________. This was important for transportation and
trade.
The purchase of Louisiana led to the idea of _________________________:
The idea that God ______________________________________________
_________________________________________________ from the Atlantic
Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
Summary / Discussion
 Do you believe that the Louisiana Purchase was a positive development for the
United States? Why or why not?
 In either case, the Louisiana Purchase was controversial – in making it, Jefferson
violated his own belief in limited government. He was a “strict constructionist,” and
the Constitution did not explicitly authorize the federal government to buy territory
from a foreign country. So, returning to today’s Focus Question, was Jefferson
correct in making the Louisiana Purchase?
Homework
Complete the reading “The Nation Expands” and complete the vocabulary
questions based on the reading.
.
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U.S. History
Name_____________________________________
The Nation Expands
Official Presidential portrait of Thomas Jefferson, by Rembrandt Peale,
via White House Historical Association
Under the first two American Presidents, Washington and Adams, the
Federalists had established a strong government. But sometimes they
failed to honor the principle that the American government must be
responsive to the will of the people, and they followed policies that
alienated (pushed away) large groups. Not only had the Federalists
levied (charged) oppressive taxes, stretched the meaning of the
Constitution, and established an institution of wealth and special
privilege in the new national bank, they also had undermined civil
liberties and expanded the powers of the central government at the
expense of the states.
When he was elected in 1800, Thomas Jefferson believed another
revolution was necessary to rid the nation of the Federalists’ mistakes.
He also believed that white citizens’ ownership of land and honest labor
in the earth were the firmest bases of Republican government. With the
population of the US doubling every 25 years, the country needed more
land to maintain this agrarian (farming) ideal. And so he convinced
Congress to cut the price of public lands to encouraged land ownership
and rapid western settlement.
In 1800, Spain secretly ceded (gave away) the Louisiana territory--the
area stretching from Canada to the Gulf Coast and from the Mississippi
River to the Rocky Mountains--to France, which closed the port of New
Orleans to American farmers. Westerners, left without a port from which
to export their goods, exploded with anger. Many demanded war.
The prospect of French control of the Mississippi River alarmed
Jefferson. Jefferson feared the establishment of a French colonial empire
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U.S. History
Name_____________________________________
in North America blocking American expansion. The president sent
negotiators to France, with instructions to purchase New Orleans and as
much of the Gulf Coast as they could for $2 million.
Circumstances played into American hands when France failed to
suppress (put down) a slave rebellion in Haiti. One hundred thousand
slaves, inspired by the French Revolution, had revolted, destroying 1,200
coffee and 200 sugar plantations. In 1800, France sent troops to crush the
insurrection (uprising) and re-conquer Haiti, but they met a determined
resistance led by a former slave named Toussaint L’Ouverture. Then,
French forces were wiped out by mosquitoes carrying yellow fever.
"Damn sugar, damn coffee, damn colonies," Napoleon, the French
leader, exclaimed. Without Haiti, Napoleon had little interest in keeping
Louisiana.
France offered to sell not just New Orleans but all of Louisiana Province.
The American negotiators agreed on a price of $15 million, or about 4
cents an acre. In a single stroke, Jefferson doubled the size of the
country.
Library of Congress, engraving LC-USZ62-17372 Year: 1810
To gather information about the geography, natural resources, wildlife,
and peoples of Louisiana, President Jefferson dispatched an expedition
led by his private secretary Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, a
Virginia-born military officer. For two years Lewis and Clark led some
30 soldiers and 10 civilians up the Missouri River as far as present-day
central North Dakota and then west to the Pacific.
Adapted from Digital History ID 2983 http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=2983
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U.S. History
Name_____________________________________
Vocabulary Review (after reading)
1. Many of John Adams’ policies as a president were not so popular, such as the taxes his
administration _________ on property.
a. suppressed
b. levied
c. ceded
2. Some Americans who remembered the hated taxes imposed by England in the colonial
days then became _______________ by the Federalist Party.
a. alienated
b. belabored
c. detested
3. The French were surprised by an insurrection in their colonial territory of Haiti. When
Napoleon sent troops there to suppress it, they were met by
a. celebrations
b. armed resistance
c. negotiators
4. Thomas Jefferson believed in an agrarian ideal for the young United States. His dream
included
a. A nation made up of factory workers and industrialists
b. Big cosmopolitan cities that would house most of the population
c. A majority of farm owners populating the land
5. ‘What audacity!.’ cried John Adams when Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from
France. Adams could not believe the amount of ____________ Jefferson displayed with
this action.
a. timidity
b. boldness
c. fear
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