Jefferson Vs Polk Expansionism Compared Essay Research

Jefferson Vs. Polk: Expansionism Compared Essay, Research Paper

Jefferson versus Polk:

Expansionism Exemplified

and Failed

In the span of some fifty years, the United States of America almost tripled the area of its territory. In two separate acquisitions, one by Thomas Jefferson in 1803, and the other by James K. Polk in 1848, not only did the size of the U.S. increase, but also the administrative nightmares associated with territorial expansion. Still just a maturing nation, Jefferson faced a host of difficulties in governing such a vast expanse of land, but adeptly turned the Louisiana Purchase into one of the United States’ greatest accomplishments. Polk, on the other hand, procured his territory through devious means, and failed to see the consequences that would eventually envelop the Union in bitter civil war. It is in the great expansion of the United States that we see two examples of leadership; the masterful, bold practices of Thomas Jefferson, compared to the risky, and hasty actions of James K. Polk.

When Thomas Jefferson came into the presidential office in 1801, he had already demonstrated that he was leader with vision, and he carried his concept of republican democracy into executive administration. Having being elected on the slimmest of margins, Jefferson recognized that the nation was in danger of collapsing either internally or externally. He immediately set upon a course to try and unify the Republican and Federalist camps through lofty ideals of American greatness. Jefferson detested the idea of patronage, and sought to appoint and dismiss government employees not through political affiliation, but on merit and nationalistic posture. This led to Jefferson’s first triumph: the appointments of James Madison as Secretary of State, and of Albet Gallatin as Secretary of the Treasury. It would Gallatin who would engineer the successful reduction of the national debt, of which Jefferson viewed to be a mortgage which had to be paid off immediately. Along with Gallatin, Jefferson embarked on a course of spending cuts and reducing taxes. He repealed the hated tax on whiskey, making him, as Samuel Eliot Morrison wrote, “immortal in the mountains”.

An early test of Jefferson’s character as President was the declaration of war between the U.S. and the Bashaw of Tripoli on May 14, 1801 over the payment of “tributes”, or bribes to protect American shipping off the coast of North Africa. Displaying great initiative, the Republican president embarked upon a course of forceful diplomacy, abetted that resolved the Tripoli crisis with a favorable treaty for the United States. Surprised by Jefferson’s boldness, many of his opponents became placated, and his popularity soared.

Another issue distressed the President, that of Napoleonic France. Although a diplomatic agreement had been signed earlier, known as the Convention of 1800, Jefferson feared that Napoleon would acquire Louisiana for the purpose of checking American expansion and for the creation of a French empire in North America. Under Spanish authority at the time of his election, Spanish Louisiana had long been a thorn in the side of American interests. The port of New Orleans was the only viable access for western American trade, and those interests were at the mercy of the Spanish authorities, who could cut off American trade at whim. Yet as bothersome as the Spanish, were the prospect of French control disturbed Jefferson to no end. “The day that France takes possession of New Orleans… we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation” wrote Jefferson to his minister in France Robert Livingstone on April 18 1802. Jefferson was convinced that if any foreign country controlled the mouth of the Mississippi, the U.S. would be drawn into every European conflict, something that he and his predecessors deemed would cause the destruction of the United States of America.

Later that year, the port of New Orleans was closed to American trade by the still-in-power Spanish governor. This act, along with Napoleon’s dispatch of an expeditionary force of some 30,000 to Santo Domingo to suppress a slave revolt, forced Jefferson into action. In probably one of the most decisive acts ever by an American president with regard to chartering a new course for the United States, Jefferson authorized James Monroe as a special envoy to France in order to secure the American purchase of rights to New Orleans. What followed was an extraordinary chain of events that led to the American purchase of the entire Louisiana Territory from France for fifteen million dollars. The vast area included present-day Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, the Dakotas, and parts of Texas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Expecting only to bargain for the port of New Orleans and the Floridas, the thought of the entire Louisiana area incorporated into the Union presented Jefferson with a monumental problem that tore Jefferson to the core: how could he, as an ardent follower of the Constitution’s word, supersede it’s limits and act beyond Congressional provisions.

In order to understand the significance of Jefferson’s actions we must look at the implications of the options available to him. The Constitution made no provisions for any President to acquire new tracts of land, let alone incorporate them into the Union. This action would set