How the Louisana Purchase Was Aganist the Constitution...

Through the Louisiana Purchase a lot of problems with how Thomas Jefferson dealt with the Constitution can be found. Jefferson was the third president of the United States and the leader of the Democratic-Republican Party. Even though he believes in a strict interpretation of the Constitution his actions during the Louisiana Purchase violates this avowed Constitutional principle of his and it also went against his principal of low government spending. Jefferson believed in a strict interpretation of the Constitution. In â€Å"Opinion on the Constitutionality of a National Bank† Jefferson says, â€Å"all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦show more content†¦Other than this there was nothing about the purchase of new territory in the Constitution. Jefferson had to use implied powers again to justify the purchase. Jefferson in his second inaugural addre ss said, â€Å"I know that the acquisition of Louisiana had been disapproved by some from a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union. But who can limit the extent to which the federative principle may operate effectively?† Jefferson basically said that there are some cases in which to keep the federal government operating effectively some rules need to be broken when necessary. He abuses the fact that the Constitution isn’t clear about the purchase of new lands to buy Louisiana and doing so he goes against his strict view of the Constitution. There is one last major way that Jefferson violates his Constitutional Principals, and that is by going against his principal of low government spending. Jefferson, in the Jeffersonian Cyclopedia, wrote, â€Å"I am for a government rigorously frugal and simple, applying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the discharge of the national debt.† Jefferson believed in spend ing as little money as possible to keep the national debt low. For the most part he keeps true to this, but the Louisiana Purchase shows once again how he goes against his principals. In transcription of the Louisiana Purchase it says, â€Å"The Government