One foreign policy action that the US was involved in was during the early 1800s when France was at war and in desperate need of money, Napoleon offered the United States the Louisiana territory for $15 million. Thomas Jefferson, decided to accept the deal and bought the Louisiana Territory. Jeffersons decision caused numbers of disputes amongst the people of the United States. However, Jeffersons decision resulted in differences of opinion among the American people. Many people supported the decision Thomas Jefferson made because it doubled the size of the US, but many thought it was a waste of money. Most of the people who resided in the United States were happy with the idea of the US gaining more territory. This land was twice the size of what the US originally was and it was sold for a fairly cheap price. The Louisiana Purchase had many positive effects on the US as negative. For example, the Louisiana Purchase gave the US more trading routes and more access to resources like minerals, whole control of the Mississippi River, and more wood. This deeply helped the US because now that they owned the Mississippi River because they can have access to all the fish and have the whole river for trading. Having the whole river for trading meant that the US could get more imports and export whatever they wanted. Also they didnt have to deal with the disputes for the river. Another example of a benefit from purchasing the Louisiana territory was fulfilling manifest destiny. This was a concept where American settlers believed that it was destined America would expand west and grow the country. Due to the Louisiana Purchase, this came true and the United gained land and expanded west. After the purchase, Thomas Jefferson put Lewis and Clark in charge of exploring the new land. After many months, they mapped uncharted land, rivers, and mountains. They also wrote about the Natives, new plants, new animals, and about the land(like if there were rich soil, mining areas, etc). Most people supported the Louisiana Purchase because
the US grew in size, there were more trading routes, and the US had full control of the Mississippi River. In this case being involved in the foreign affair had many beneficial outcomes. These may all seem good, however, people like Federalists opposed the purchase of the Louisiana territory. They believed that the president did not have the power to buy territory and spend money on land that could be useless. To further explain this, when President Jefferson bought the land, he didnt know what the terrain was like. He didnt know if it had rich soil, rocky terrain, minerals, mountains, etc. This disturbed many people because for all they know, this could be a worthless piece of land and the US just wasted $15 million. To add on to that, many people believed that a piece of land that large would be harder to govern and look over. This would be due to the fact that the president or governor wouldnt be able to see the whole country without travelling many miles. Also it would take a long time to get to each state because it is such a big piece of land. Some people opposed the Louisiana Purchase because it was not the presidents position to buy land, it had a possibility of being worthless, and it would be hard to govern. Another reason why many people didnt approve of this was because they didnt want the US to be involved in foreign affairs because this could show favoritism and cause disputes. Disputes on who America helped would cause trouble because other nations could think that the US was only helping France. Also the US barely helped out other nations because of Washingtons speech, so this wouldnt pass by the other nations. Although people had their differences on the Louisiana Purchase, it had a big impact in the history of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase had many benefits in the US. Even though there were positive and negative aspects of the Louisiana Purchase, in the end, this foreign policy action was worth all the trouble. So this foreign policy action ended peacefully and with everyone satisfied.