Editor’s note: This is the 38th in a series of essays on the history and meaning of the American political tradition. The Louisiana Purchase (1803), concluded by Thomas Jefferson, marks the beginning of the age of American territorial expansion. By 1850 it was nearly complete; the United States of America had become a continental power extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans, “from sea to shining sea.” This is a fact that most Americans tend to take for granted. It is enshrined in the well-known a … (read more)
