Answer: 1. President Jefferson decided to purchase the Louisiana Territory from France.
Explanation: In 1795, the United States signed the Pinckney's Treaty with Spain, allowing US ships to sail on the Mississippi and to New Orleans. However, in 1800, Spain had also made a secret agreement with France to transfer its land in the trans-Mississippi West, as well as giving control of the Mississippi River and New Orleans, to France. This was bad news for the US because:
• the treaty with Spain would no longer protect American access to the Mississippi and New Orleans
• France's presence in North America could prevent US expansion to the west
President Thomas Jefferson, however, decided to use diplomacy instead of war to secure access to the Mississippi River.
→ In 1802, Jefferson sent James Monroe and Robert Livingston to France and authorized the men to offer to buy New Orleans and parts of Florida from France.
→ France’s foreign minister, Charles de Talleyrand, countered with a surprise exchange: France would sell all of the Louisiana Territory, including the Mississippi River, to the United States for $15 million.
(This was a much better deal they had expected, motivated by France's need for the money and inability to defend the Territory after losing a strategic base in 1791.)
→ Monroe and Livingston reached an agreement with the French on April 30, 1803, which modern historians call the Louisiana Purchase.
The following are the impacts of the Louisiana Purchase:
→ The country nearly doubled in size.
→ The US now controlled the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans.
However, there were some legal problems surrounding the purchase:
→ Livingston and Monroe had gone beyond their authority in spending more for the larger smaller territory and been unable to notify Jefferson until two months after the deal was reached. Communication wasn't fast then, so the news at most times wouldn't come until months after an event has happened.
→ The US Constitution did not directly state that a president had the power to purchase land.
• Despite not involving the Senate, Jefferson used Article II of the Constitution, which was that a president can make treaties with foreign countries if two-thirds of the Senate agree to justify the purchase.
Hope this helps! :)