$15 Million to Shape America's Future

Jefferson's Western Expansion

        Only 27 years after independence, President Thomas Jefferson made “the most important and beneficial [real estate] transaction…since the declaration of Independence” (Wulf, 181).  A fifteen million dollar purchase from the French in July of 1803 would ultimately be the catalyst to America’s success as a nation: politically, economically, and socially.   Jefferson’s passion for western expansion was nothing new, even before the signing of the declaration of Independence, Jefferson and his fellow political colleagues such as Ben Franklin had promoted western expansion: “Jefferson believed that the West would assure the agricultural and therefore republican future of the United States” (Wulf, 186). 

         Jefferson and other political figures of his generation, such as Franklin, Washington, and James shared the same enthusiasm for expansion.  In their eyes this was an essential keystone for the future of their beloved republic.  As Wulf states:

“Early interest in exploring the west was fired by more than just a yearning for knowledge.  Basic economic concerns played their part- Franklin, Washington, and Madison, for example, had all invested and speculate in huge tracts of lands in the western territories-but so too did the overriding feeling that the United States was to be an agrarian republic” (Wulf, 186). 

Jefferson’s thought that it was America’s responsibility as a nation to occupy the land west of the Appalachians did not go unchallenged.  Not surprisingly, the Federalist had much to say of their opposition for western expansion, one Federalist newspaper claimed that they were being asked to spend money they did not have “for land of which we already have too much” (Wulf, 186).  The federalist’s also had political worries: “[they] feared that the expansion westward would result in a sprawling, ungovernable country so enormous in size that no central government would be able to control it” (Wulf, 186). 

Regardless of opponents and their many doubts, Jefferson enlisted the help of his secretary-also a former U.S. solider-Meriwether Lewis.  Lewis was given the task of embarking on a journey to not only explore this newly acquired territory, but to find a suitable trade route that would span across the entire continent.  Wulf describes the itinerary of the mission as well thought out and organized by Jefferson. 

In May 1804, Lewis, along with his expedition partner, William Clark, and a party of more than 40 men, set out for this monumental exploration.  Lewis and Clark kept journals throughout their adventure, as requested by Jefferson, to tell of all the new nature and species they would come upon.  Additionally, William Clark drew a series of detailed maps of the landscape they encountered.  Jefferson was pleased with the variety of discovery the men had made: "Some of them are curious, some ornamental, some useful, and some may by culture be made acceptable on our table" (Wulf, 196).