Debt Leverage to Dissolve Native Land Holdings

"Jefferson pursued expansion more aggressively than Washington or Adams had. Trading posts, for instance, switched from a way to preserve peace to a way to leverage Native land. The government, Jefferson wrote, should “be glad to see the good and influential individuals among them run in debt”—because then Native leaders would be more willing to sell."

"Jefferson borrowed the next part of his plan from Gallatin. For only the second time in his presidency, he wrote a secret message to Congress. This choice hinted at his urgency, but Jefferson focused the text on a popular and bipartisan policy, a policy he wanted Congress to continue: Native trading posts. These posts, he wrote, provided America with a peaceful way to acquire land, “which the rapid increase of our numbers will call for.” They could even help with New Orleans by lining the Mississippi’s American side with “the means of its own safety.”"

"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."