This event may be looked upon as a revolution in the direction of
unification and the impairment of the powers of the several States,
brought about by the very party which had undertaken to oppose such
tendencies. The territory gained stretches over a million square miles
equal in area to the territory previously comprised in the Union,
and twice as large as that actually occupied by the original thirteen
States. Compared with this innovation, the plans of the Federalists for
strengthening the Central Government were inconsiderable. A new nation
was engrafted on the old, and neither the people of the several States
nor their immediate representatives were questioned; but by a treaty the
President and the Senate changed the whole structure of the territory
and modified the relations of the States. Thenceforth, the Louisiana
purchase stood as a repudiation by their own champions of the strict
construction fallacies. Thenceforth, the welfare of the country stands
above party allegiance. The right to make purchases was thereafter, by
general acquiescence of all political parties, within the powers of the
Federal Government. Indeed, it became manifest that implied as well as
expressed powers accrued to the National Government.
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