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]