Jefferson, Napoleon, and the Louisiana Purchase.

• Author: Cooke, Victoria
• Position: Museums Today

ONE OF THE most-significant events in American history, the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the country, adding all or part of 13-17 states from Louisiana to North Dakota. (The number varies according to different historical views of the original territorial boundaries.)

The words of Thomas Jefferson--who was president when the U.S. bought the territory from France--promoting liberty, justice, and religious freedom, have left a permanent mark on the American consciousness. His thoughts were fueled by the ideas of the French thinkers of the European Enlightenment, such as Francois-Marie Voltaire. Jefferson even bought a bust portrait of the philosopher from sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon to include in a gallery of heroes at his Monticello estate. Jefferson's role in the American Revolution was not that of a soldier, but a statesman, and his eloquence and vision prompted the Continental Congress to ask him to draft the Declaration of Independence.

Jefferson was a lifelong Francophile. He was sent to France asa trade commissioner in 1784 and succeeded another Founding Father, Benjamin Franklin, as American minister to that country from 1785 to 1789 at the court of King Louis XVI. His strongly held belief in the fundamental right of citizens to liberty and self-governance inspired the French revolutionaries, including Jefferson's lifelong friend, the Marquis de Lafayette, who had helped the Americans win their freedom. In 1777, at the age of 20, Lafayette had outfitted a ship named La Victoire (Victory) at his own expense and left for the New World to fight on the side of the American revolutionaries. Lafayette brought the ideals of democracy home to France when the war ended. He and other French revolutionaries could be found plotting an end to the monarchy while enjoying the hospitality of Jefferson's table at his elegant house in Paris.

Jefferson left Paris shortly after witnessing the fall of the Bastille and the beginnings of the French Revolution. His dream of a sister republic in France would not come to pass, though, as the optimism of the French Revolution degenerated into the Reign of Terror and, eventually, the autocratic monarchy of Napoleon Bonaparte. Jefferson returned to the U.S. and continued his role as one of the founders of American democracy. He served as vice-president to his political rival, John Adams--who succeeded George Washington as president--and was elected the nation's third president in 1800. Jefferson often...