It was a fact of life that every American had experienced during this period" (Eric pp). During this era, technological innovations opened a whole new frontier (Hooker pp)
Chief Justice Rehnquist has called the Louisiana Purchase, "a breathtaking extension of the implied powers of the federal government" (Hawkins pp). As early as 1783, Jefferson had proposed an exploration into the Northwest, yet was frustrated by a lack of support to carry out the project and by the fact that Spain and France governed the territory (Kipp pp)
Gary Lawson and Guy Seidman, authors of "The Constitution of Empire: Territorial Expansion and American Legal History," state that the Louisiana purchase is the foundational act of territorial expansion, that acquisition of territory is not an incident of sovereignty that all governments possess, but rather a means of "implementing a textually enumerated power" (Belz pp). Chief Justice Rehnquist has called the Louisiana Purchase, "a breathtaking extension of the implied powers of the federal government" (Hawkins pp)
Thus, the plan would keep America out of the French conflict with Britain and keep France out of North America (Louisiana1 pp). Gary Lawson and Guy Seidman, authors of "The Constitution of Empire: Territorial Expansion and American Legal History," state that the Louisiana purchase is the foundational act of territorial expansion, that acquisition of territory is not an incident of sovereignty that all governments possess, but rather a means of "implementing a textually enumerated power" (Belz pp)
com). An article in the peer-reviewed Presidential Studies Quarterly (Balleck, 1992) points out how delicate the decision was for Jefferson in terms of the politics of his day