The Boundless West

Someone once said, “Shakespeare has tragedies, the rest of us just have messes.” Fortunately for President Thomas Jefferson, his vision of a continental nation from the Atlantic to the Pacific did not end in multiple military tragedies against the British, French and Spanish Empires for control of North America between 1801 and 1809. Rather, he satisfied his Western ambitions with a series of challenging, diplomatic engagements that avoided war with the three Empires, a foreign invasion or l