Jefferson only wanted New Orleáns


Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale.






When Thomas Jefferson became the third president of the United States of America he received a nation that was heavily in debt. The U. S. was at the time smaller in territory and in many way was still struggling to find a common identity. Jefferson was quite an honest man and prudent also; therefore, he believed that one of the priorities of his government was to reduce the amount of the national debt, but an unexpected development would promptly make him change his mind. That event was the cession of the Louisiana territories to France. That event was a problem for the U.S. because in that land there was New Orleans. This city was at the time the principal port of North America in the Caribbean Sea and until it was ceded to France it had been part of the Spanish empire. The Spaniards had granted a Right of Deposit to the U.S. meaning they could store their products in New Orleans to later send their merchandise to other parts of the world. The city was then really important to the U.S. but because the French took that territory from Spain in 1800 they also cease the agreement that gave the U.S. Right of Deposit. It was only then that Jefferson offered money to buy the city but the French insisted they were only interested in selling all of that territory. Reluctantly, Jefferson complied and the U.S. government paid   The rest is  History.

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