The Louisiana Purchase

Although President Thomas Jefferson was extremely strict about being constitutional, and was against the Alien and Sedition acts, he overstepped his bounds as president more than once. Spain had unofficially given all their holdings in North America to France, and Napoleon Bonaparte, who had given up on colonies after his failed conquest of Haiti, offered the territory known as the Louisiana Purchase for $15,000,000. He made the offer to the president. However, within the constitution, it was not the duty of the executive, but of the legislative branch to decide the matter. Constitutional or not, Jefferson snatched up the deal, half-heartedly presenting it before both houses after the fact. He claimed that his actions came from necessity rather than principle. In truth, it seemed wise to do, and there are probably not many who would have not acted the same way in Jefferson's position, but we must stop and ask ourselves whether he was fulfilling his obligation to the people and the constitution under which he held office. Even though it gave America a great deal of land and opportunity to expand, it was a violation of the constitution, the document each president is bound to obey.