Preemption Rights Before Permanent Settlement

"ON JULY 3, 1803, the news reached Washington—and this time, it was good. Indeed, it was astonishing. Monroe and Livingston had bought not just New Orleans but the entire Louisiana territory, for $15 million. That price tag, and the idea that America had instantly doubled in size, distorted more than it revealed. America had not purchased France’s land; it had purchased France’s preemption rights. Louisiana still teemed with Native nations, and any before-and-after map missed the people who lived there, owned most of the land, and held most of the power. The Louisiana Purchase was only the first chapter in an uncertain story, and it would take decades—and more than $400 million in 1803 dollars—for the federal government to acquire the actual land. Still, the news transformed the expedition into that story’s second chapter. Jefferson grasped this, instantly and ecstatically. Louisiana’s preemption rights were one tool he could use. The expedition was another. In both cases, the goal remained constant. Only the timeline had changed."

"Jefferson went first. He remained tall and thin, though his red hair was going gray. In a quiet voice, he restated the government’s position, under the law of nations, to honor Native autonomy. Americans needed to remember, he argued, “that the Indians had the full, undivided, and independent sovereignty, as long as they chose to keep it; and that this might be forever.” Jefferson had always excelled at declaring independence. But this time there was a catch. The law of nations did not grant Natives full equality. Instead, it conveyed shades of sovereignty through a knotty but essential concept, what Jefferson called “our right of preemption.”"

"Outsiders began using a different name: the Oregon country. Over the next few decades, various empires angled for this rich territory. Lewis and Clark became a key basis for America’s claim, joining Fort Astoria and Robert Gray in their law of nations briefs. But the bigger factor was a mountain pass discovered by one of Astor’s men. It made it easier for settlers to migrate to the Willamette Valley, the northern tip of which, Lewis had noted, could support “forty or fifty thousand souls.” This route became known as the Oregon Trail."