"We are to give money of which we have too little, for land of which we already have too much... By adding an unmeasurable tract of wilderness to our empire, we shall commit the folly of the man who should buy a second estate when he was too poor to build a house on the first... This transaction will hasten the dissolution of our Union. The inhabitants of the new territory will not remain long under our government, and the Atlantic states will be ruined by the drain of their population and wealth."
— Fisher Ames, Federalist politician, letter to Thomas Dwight, October 1803
Based on the excerpt, Ames’s arguments against the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory best reflect which of the following concerns?
- ADemocratic-Republican arguments that the purchase was justified under a strict constructionist view that explicitly authorized the federal government to charter a national bank to purchase foreign lands.
- Federalist concerns that the addition of new western states would dilute the political influence of the Northeast and shift power to the South and West.Answer
- CThe Marshall Court's subsequent ruling that declared the acquisition of the territory unconstitutional under the principle of judicial review.
- DFears that the purchase violated the Monroe Doctrine by allowing European powers to maintain territorial influence in North America.
Answer
Federalist concerns that the addition of new western states would dilute the political influence of the Northeast and shift power to the South and West.
The correct option is correct because the Federalist Party, concentrated in New England, feared that the addition of vast new western territories would lead to new states that would support the agrarian Democratic-Republicans. This would ultimately dilute the political and economic power of the northeastern states.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
The domestic political debates and sectional tensions resulting from territorial expansion during the Jeffersonian presidency.