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The Purchase: Louisiana Territory
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If the territory included all the tributaries of the Mississippi on its western bank, the northern reaches of the Purchase extended into the equally ill-defined British possession—Rupert's Land of British North America, now part of Canada. The Purchase originally extended just beyond the 50th parallel. However, the territory north of the 49th parallel such as the Red River Basin, Milk River, and Poplar River watershed was ceded to the UK in the Anglo-American Convention of 1818.
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With the purchase of this new territory, the land area of America nearly doubled. However, the exact southern and western boundaries were not defined in the purchase. America would have to deal with Spain to work out the specific details of these boundaries. Meriwether Lewis and William Clark led a small expeditionary group called the Corps of Discovery into the territory. They are just the beginning of America's fascination with exploring the west. Whether or not America had a 'Manifest Destiny' to span from 'sea to sea' as was often the rallying cry of the early to mid 19th century, the desire to control this territory cannot be denied.
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The purchase treaty had to be ratified by the end of October, which gave Jefferson and his Cabinet time to deliberate the issues of boundaries and constitutionality. Exact boundaries would have to be negotiated with Spain and England and so would not be set for several years, and Jefferson's Cabinet members argued that the constitutional amendment he proposed was not necessary. As time for ratification of the purchase treaty grew short, Jefferson accepted his Cabinet's counsel and rationalized: "It is the case of a guardian, investing the money of his ward in purchasing an important adjacent territory; and saying to him when of age, I did this for your good."
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The Gadsden Purchase was intended to allow for the construction of a southern route for a transcontinental railroad. On December 30, 1853, U.S. Minister to Mexico James Gadsden and Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna agreed on the price of $10 million for the Gadsden land, which valued the included territory at around $340 per square mile ($130/km²) or about 53 cents per acre.
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Though the transaction was quickly sealed, there were those who objected to the purchase on the grounds that the Constitution did not provide for purchasing territory. However, Jefferson temporarily set aside his idealism to tell his supporters in Congress that "what is practicable must often control what is pure theory." The majority agreed.
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James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston traveled to Paris to negotiate the purchase in 1804. Their interest was only in the port and its environs; they did not anticipate the much larger transfer of territory that would follow.
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Louisiana Territory