Foreign Affairs


 The Louisiana Purchase
When Jefferson learned that Spain had secretly ceded Louisiana to France in 1800, he instructed his ministers to negotiate the purchase of the port of New Orleans and possibly West Florida. Jefferson strategically made this move in order to insure that American farmers in the Ohio River Valley had access to the Gulf of Mexico via the Mississippi River—the river was a key to the farmers' economic well-being, as they needed a vent for their surplus grain and meat. Even before the French took over Louisiana, the Spaniards had closed the Mississippi River in 1802. While Jefferson was known to be partial to the French, having the Emperor Napoleon's driving interests for world domination next door was not an attractive prospect; thus, Jefferson acted swiftly.
To his surprise, Napoleon, needing funds to finance a new European war with England, offered to sell Jefferson most of the land from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. His price of $15 million amounted to approximately four cents per acre for 828,000 square miles, doubling the size of the nation.

Domestic Affairs

In Thomas Jefferson's mind the first order of business for him as President was to establish a "wise and frugal Government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another" but which would otherwise leave them alone to concentrate on their own affairs. He wanted a government that would respect the authority of individual states, operate with a smaller system, and cut its debts. Jefferson also felt that the country should terminate Hamilton's army by relying on a "disciplined militia" for national defense against invasion. Most importantly, he believed that a good government would promote "the encouragement of agriculture." In his mind;The nation should be the "handmaiden" of agriculture rather than its driving force.

Accordingly, he reduced, though not substantially, the 316 employees subject to presidential appointment while leaving intact most of the nation's 700 clerks and 3,000 postal workers.