Document 5
… to acquire an empire of perhaps half the extent of the one we possessed, from the most
powerful and warlike nation on earth, without bloodshed, without the oppression of a single
individual, without in the least embarrassing the ordinary operations of your finances, and all this
through the peaceful forms of negotiation, and in despite too of the opposition [despite the
opposition] of a considerable portion of the community, is an achievement of which the archives
of the predecessors, at least, of those now in office, cannot furnish a parallel.…
source: senator john c. breckenridge, november 3, 1803
according to senator john c. breckenridge, what is one reason he supports the purchase of the louisiana
territory? [1]