How Jefferson doubled America with a check (and what it cost) | AMERICA AT 250 Part 2 of 8

History Onion · 2:46

April 30, 1803. Paris. Robert Livingston signs a treaty using an ear trumpet. $15 million in gold. 828,000 square miles. Thomas Jefferson has just doubled the United States — and his own party can't find the constitutional authority for him to do it. He does it anyway. Within 35 years, the federal government will ignore a Supreme Court ruling and march 16,000 Cherokee a thousand miles west. 4,000 die. Within 45 years, the country reaches the Pacific. Within 57 years, it's at war with itself. Part 2 of 8 in AMERICA AT 250 — counting down to the 250th anniversary of American independence.