The Louisiana Purchase was generally regarded at the time as a great triumph for Thomas Jefferson, a masterly example of far-sighted statesmanship. The purchase of such a vast tract of land from France greatly extended the territory of the United States, giving the country the chance to develop in the direction that Jefferson and his supporters had long desired.

Even in his moment of triumph, however, Jefferson was far from feeling a sense of jubilation. As a strict constitutionalist, he still had serious qualms about the constitutionality of the Purchase. He worried that the powers granted to the President under the Constitution did not allow the executive branch to acquire land through international treaties.

Members of Jefferson's cabinet, most notably James Monroe, one of the architects of the Constitution, tried to assure the President that the Purchase was perfectly legal and above board. But Jefferson was so obsessed with the constitutional implications of the Louisiana Purchase that he even went so far as to draft a constitutional amendment, which he believed would give the executive explicit authority to acquire land through international treaty.

In the event, however, this proved unnecessary. Jefferson's cabinet managed to talk him out of his plans for a constitutional amendment. In any case, the word from France was that Napoleon would pull out of the deal if the Purchase were not ratified by the 31st of October. All things considered, then, Jefferson could no longer delay the inevitable, and he had to accept the legality of the Purchase, whatever misgivings he may have had.