User:CoolerBrian/Louisiana Purchase

After Monroe and Livingston had returned from France with news of the purchase, an official announcement of the purchase was made on July 4, 1803. This gave Jefferson and his cabinet until October, when the treaty had to be ratified by, to discuss the constitutionality of the purchase. Jefferson considered a constitutional amendment to justify the purchase, however his cabinet convinced him otherwise. Jefferson justified the purchase by rationalizing, "it is the case of a guardian, investing the money of his ward in purchasing an important adjacent territory; & saying to him when of age, I did this for your good." Jefferson ultimately came to the conclusion before the ratification of the treaty that the purchase is to protect the citizens of the United States therefore making it constitutional.

The purchase of the Louisiana Territory led to the debate over the idea of indigenous soil rights leading all the way into the mid 20th century. The many court cases and tribal suits for historical damages following the Louisiana Purchase in the 1930s led to the Indian Claims Commission Act (ICCA) in 1946. Felix S. Cohen, Interior Department Lawyer who helped pass ICCA, is quoted as saying, "practically all of the real estate acquired by the United States since 1776 was purchased not from Napoleon or any other emperor or czar but from its original Indian owners.” He has also argued that Indians had received twenty times as much as France had for the Territory bought by the United States.