Beginning of Essay
, born April 13, 1743 in Shadwell, Virginia, was a man of many accomplishments (Brodie, p.3). He was the third President of the United States from 1801-1809, the first Secretary of State, and the principle author of the Declaration of Independence. He was also a ....

Middle of Essay
.... the west bank of the Mississippi River to the crest of the Rocky Mountains. After Spain ceded the immense area of land to France, they tried to sell it back to Spain. Spain, nonetheless, didn’t have use for this massive piece of land (Boorstin, p.94). Jefferson, however, felt that if the United States owned the land, farmers west of the Appalachian Mountains could use the land strictly for agricultural purposes. If the Treaty of 1795 had not been signed, the United States would have gone to war with France to gain control of the territory. Initially, Jefferson, through his minister of France, Robert R. Livingston, offered Napoleon $2 million fo ....