USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -On this date, President Thomas Jefferson approved and signed an act to pay France $11 million dollars for the Louisiana Purchase. The House discussed and approved the payment with a 90 to 25 vote on October 25, 1803.

Detailed explanation-2: -Jefferson drafted an amendment that would authorize the purchase of Louisiana retroactively. But Jefferson’s cabinet members argued against the need for an amendment, and Congress disregarded his draft. The Senate ratified the treaty in October of 1803.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Louisiana Purchase encompassed 530, 000, 000 acres of territory in North America that the United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million.

Detailed explanation-4: -Jefferson and his supporters in the Senate therefore devised an argument that the constitutional provision for governing a territory presupposed the right to acquire that territory. They had the votes to approve the treaty and appropriate the funds to pay for it. The Supreme Court later upheld their reasoning.

Detailed explanation-5: -Jefferson’s envoys in Paris, without awaiting any direction from their President (which would have taken two months), accepted the deal and on April 30, 1803, signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty.