The Louisiana Purchase: Significant Moral Dilemmas For President Thomas Jefferson

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The Louisiana Purchase posed several significant moral dilemmas for President Thomas Jefferson, among these were the disruption of Native Americans, violating his republican beliefs, and upsetting the checks and balances. Thomas Jefferson, principle author of the Declaration of Independence, had strongly voiced his aspirations of the new America. Without a doubt, Thomas Jefferson’s greatest achievement during his term of presidency was the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803.
Before Jefferson pulled off the land deal of the millennium, the French was in charge of the 828,000 miles that stretches from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. It is said that Jefferson’s first offers to France were two then ten million dollars. The first offer was denied but since the French were in need of money the second offer was approved and it included a bonus. Soon after the territory was bought he became interested in western exploration. Native Americans wasn’t a new concept to Jefferson since he has already had some small …show more content…
Just like the majority of Euro-Americans he was racist because he thought the color of his skin made him superior. “Indians, he believed, were like children; given sufficient opportunity and maturation, they would set aside their inferior pastimes and beliefs for the comforts and blessings of civilized life.” (http://www.upa.pdx.edu/) Since these Native Americans were living on the newly bought land he had to incorporate them in the formula to make a better west. . Because of his beliefs, Jefferson showed no consideration of the settled people of the west. He gave them two choices: either they were to abide by the United States laws or they had to leave. Essentially, Thomas Jefferson is the founding father of the Indian removal
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The purchase of the Louisiana Territory was to be for the bettering and the growth of the United States, however, this purchase did not come easy. Thomas Jefferson was elected president in 1800. Arguably, many would say that his most significant decision as president was the Louisiana Purchase (Dudley 95). Jefferson had always “pledged to adhere strictly to the limits of power expressed in the constitution” (Dudley 95). Therefor, Jefferson had a difficult time convincing himself to purchase the territory…

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