The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1903-05-07

EIbhOlN w n VII h1N NJ
AS the Constitution was then almost
universally construed, and Mr.. Jeffer-
sou was the leader of the strict con-
struction school, it was plain that the
government would have no power to
acquire foreign territory by purchase,
but to give the required authority an
amendment of the Constitution would
be necessary and this would be slow
process which might not be accomplish
ed in time to meet the emergency. Had
he delayed and hesitated until form
al sanction could have been given to
his resolve Great Britain must have
wrested all that huge expanse of ter
ritory away from French control; and
today the United States, instead of
stretching unbrokenly from the At
lantic to the Pacific and from the
Great Lakes down to the Gulf, would
have been hemmed in, with the Mis-
sissippi river as its western boundary
and with a greater Canada barring
it's expansion toward the Pacific.
The great majority of the Federal
lists opposed this increase of the ter
ritory of the Union with much vehem-
ence. The Federal view of the Con-
stitution was perfectly legitimate but
the Federalists in general took mar
row and partisan views, and in order
to embarrass the administration re-
sorted to bubbles which were alto
gether unworthy of a party which
boasted of Washington as its chief.
Alexander Hamilton was a notable ex-
ception to this rule, however, and
Notwithstanding his general opposition
to the administration and a personal
enmity for Jefferson himself, he warm
ly supported the President in this in
stance.
1t is interesting to note in this con-
nection that opposition to expansion
was as warm in Massachusetts as at
the present day, and no less person
age. than Josiah Quincy argued
that Jefferson's act was in effect
dissolution of the Union, and many
Federal leaders insisted that they
were at liberty to plan for a final dis
ruption.
But it is fortunate for America that
a strong man was at the helm o. the
ship of state at this critical time, and
that the walls of obstructionists were
of as little avail as they have been dur
ing more recent crisis.
But Jefferson md his associates
little dreamed of the richness and i'm
portance of the territory they had ac-
quired. True, they understood the
vastness of the area in square miles,
but it was the common belief that
west of the Missouri all was hopeless
ly arid and inhabitable. Beginning
of Mexico it stretched northward
along the Mississippi and beyond its
source to the border of Canada, and
its western line ever inclining west
ward until it joined Canada fal
toward the Pacific. Out of this vast
area have been carved the States OF
Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa,
Nebraska, South Dakota, North Da.
kota, Montana, nearly all of Kansas,
the greater portions of Wyoming and
Minnesota, about third of Colora
do Indian Territory and practically
all of the territory of Oklahoma. From
a few thousand French settlers in the
south and fewer traders at the posts
in the more northerly portions the
population has increased until now
about Is, 600, 600 people find a habita
ton there, and the supposed desert:
have been turned into fields of un
equaled fertility. In place of few
trading posts stand hundreds of popu
lous and prosperous cities, among thu
hills the mines are yielding theiI
treasure and on the plains where the
red man and the buffalo roamed, cat
tie now Craze by the millions, and al
yet the old Louisiana territory ha
scarcely emerged from its infanc.
period.