Agrarian Republic as Expansion Doctrine

"Turning these ideas into policy kept Washington and his cabinet busy, especially his new secretary of state. Jefferson was a paradoxical politician, a practical visionary. He saw the world in timelines and tools, and he was constantly refining his use of both. Still, his goal remained the same. Jefferson wanted to expand. He wanted even more land, even if it was far in the future. This land, he believed, would support independent farmers and American ideals—an agrarian republic, an agrarian empire."

"This book attempts a more accurate account of their expedition by emphasizing two ideas. The first is that, in the nineteenth century, life was shaped by land. Native people wanted it to farm and fish and trap and hunt. American people wanted it for the same reasons. Elites like Jefferson added more angles and desires—partisan quarrels, international intrigues, and legal concepts like preemption and the “right of soil.” It’s easy to think of land as the obstacle Lewis and Clark had to overcome, the mountains and rapids and rain. But land was also their motivation, along with everyone else’s. Their story was man versus nature, but it was also man versus man."