Name: 【TED-Ed】The historical audacity of the Louisiana Purchase - Judy Walton
Uploaded: 2015-02-01T11:36:25.000Z
Duration: 3 min 39 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

Have you heard the one about Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson, author of The Declaration of Independence,

was not a fan of the new constitution presented in 1787.

that The Constitution gave too much power

Jefferson only reluctantly agreed to support it

promised to propose a bill of rights after it was ratified.

But Jefferson's fears about big government did not go away.

For example, Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton,

and Jefferson knew there was no provision in The Constitution

Hamilton claimed some sort of implied powers mumbo-jumbo.

Sure, it wasn't written in The Constitution,

but The Constitution implied that it could be done.

When Jefferson was sworn in as President in 1801,

But, of course, things didn't go exactly as he had planned.

Spain secretly transferred the Louisiana Territory to France

they quickly began discussions with France

along the Mississippi River for about $2 million.

in The Constitution to buy foreign territory.

So what was a strict constructionist to do?

First, he tried to get an amendment to The Constitution passed

that would expressly permit the purchase,

Then, without permission, the U.S. negotiators in France

That new land doubled the size of the nation!

He knew that the territory would be a great acquisition for the country,

providing lots of new land for farmers and other settlers,

but how could he constitutionally justify it?

In the end, Jefferson turned to the argument

He claimed that the power to purchase the territory

is implied in The Constitution's treaty-making power.

that he had mocked openly a decade before,

so it must have crushed his pride to have to use it.

he may have committed the biggest big government play ever!

that one of the biggest opponents of big government

and did so while openly questioning its constitutionality?

Subtitles ListPlay Video

【TED-Ed】The historical audacity of the Louisiana Purchase - Judy Walton

know

claim

territory

argument