4.4Jefferson in power

Once in office, Jefferson governed more pragmatically than his rhetoric suggested. He cut taxes and shrank the government, yet in 1803 he seized the chance to buy the Louisiana Territory from France, doubling the nation's size—a bold use of federal power that strained his own strict-constructionist principles.

He dispatched the Lewis and Clark expedition to explore the vast new lands. But foreign troubles mounted as Britain and France, at war, seized American ships and sailors. Jefferson's trade embargo, meant to pressure both powers, mainly harmed American merchants. His successor, Madison, would inherit a drift toward war.