Jefferson Presidency: Beyond the Constitution

•Warmup Question: How did the Hamilton-Jeffersonian economic debates (LoH pgs, 90-92) inform and/or impact the Louisiana Purchase?
•Primary Source Reading: The final 1/2 of Jefferson's letter to John Breckinridge (12 August 1803) concerning the President's anxieties over purchasing Louisiana (URL to the National Archives provided).
•Narrate: Recite Jefferson's plans for using the land in the Louisiana purchase and the reasons for why he was anxious.
•Discuss: If Breckenridge was a Kentuckian frontiersman, how might he have perceived the benefits of the Purchase? As Senate floor leader, how he might have perceived the difficulties? Who would need to ratify the "treaty" (purchase) and what would they need to "cast behind" them in order to do so? What role did the Executive branch play in this acquirement? How did Jefferson anticipate this action's effect on the Constitution?
•Activity: Simulate a debate on the floors of Congress between the Republicans and Federalists over whether or not the purchase should be ratified.
•Exit Thoughts: How were the agendas of the Republicans and Federalists becoming reversed?