Jefferson's Impact on the Western Expansion of the United States

Chapter 7 “Empire of Liberty” addresses one of the most pivotal and significant part of American history with Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase. At the bargain price of 10 million dollars, a mere 3 cents an acre) Thomas Jefferson bought over 800,000 square miles of territory from France. This purchase would create infinite possibilities and a new national pride, very different from Europe. With the new territory the United States essentially had a vast empire in North America that would later be settled and utilized by immigrants and western bound Americans. The untouched natural land would spark a new form of American pride found in the natural beauty and undeveloped land. No ancient buildings, churches, or cities were to be found in the new land. Essentially, Americans were free to create and develop an entirely new continent. Never again will a new nation be able to create its own destiny in a new continent. This new nation would become an empire built on the doctrinal freedoms and liberties the Founding Fathers had envisioned.

            I could not imagine better political leader to be in office at the time of the Louisiana Purchase than Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was a true philosopher.  He may, in fact, be the closest political leader in history to what Plato envisioned as the ideal “philosopher king” in his philosophy regarding who would make the ideal political leader in his iconic writings found in the Republic. With Jefferson in office, the author of much of our political philosophy we still embrace, could extend his philosophical ideals and wisdom into the early development of our new nation. His own passions as a botanist and farmer would be instilled in our government and cultural development as a completely independent agricultural republic. This would allow the new nation to achieve nearly complete independence from foreign nations in regards to food and agriculture. More importantly, it would allow the United States to become a global economic power.

Jefferson turned the Lewis and Clark expedition into a revolutionary means of advancing science, agriculture, social and political infrastructure, and western expansion of the United States. The expedition would change the patriotism of the current and future generations of Americans. The “Manifest Destiny” and period of rapid western expansion was a direct result of Jefferson’s support and funding of the Lewis and Clark Expeditions. No longer was the vast land in the west useless and empty. It became the future of the nations growth and success.

Personally, I believe that Jefferson’s successful efforts in the western expansion of our country were much more vital to the United States than his failed attempt to build a modest capitol city. Although Washington D.C. serves as an iconic symbol of a new nation, the Louisiana Purchase and western expansion would serve as the foundational building blocks of the new nation. The new American pride in our rugged untouched frontier would serve as the inspiration and motivation our development and emergence as a world power.