THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY 1801 1825
WAR OF 1812
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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He wanted to stop trade up and down the Mississippi River.
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He wanted America to increase trade up and down the Mississippi River.
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He really liked French people.
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He wanted to keep the USA small.
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Detailed explanation-1: -President Thomas Jefferson wanted the territory to secure the U.S. from threats from Great Britain, France, and Spain, who all still maintained territory west of the Mississippi and down to New Orleans, the most important port for southern international trade.
Detailed explanation-2: -The Original Goal: Buying New Orleans To him, New Orleans was key: Whoever owned it would be America’s natural enemy because that nation would control the channel through which produce from more than a third of the United States had to pass.
Detailed explanation-3: -Jefferson sent James Monroe in 1803 to France to join Robert R. Livingston in an attempt to buy some part of the territory from the Napoleon regime, in order to head off a potential armed conflict.
Detailed explanation-4: -The President was concerned that French control of New Orleans, in contrast to Spanish control, might pose a threat to western Americans seeking to send trade through the port. To assure that it would remain open, Jefferson decided to try to buy it from the French.
Detailed explanation-5: -New Orleans was a port city with stores of supplies that could be seized. Control of the Mississippi River would have given the British the upper hand in the war. They would have controlled waterways throughout the Louisiana Territory as well as the Port of New Orleans and access to the Gulf of Mexico.