Source 2

Excerpt from a Letter from President Thomas Jefferson to Robert Livingston, American Ambassador to France, April 18, 1802

There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural & habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three eighths of our territory must pass to market, and from its fertility it will long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain more than half our inhabitants. France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude of defiance.

(1) indispensable: vital, needed
(2) conciliatory: gaining goodwill, reducing hostility

Using Source 2, what position does President Jefferson take towards the French presence in the Louisiana Territory?


A Jefferson does not want France to retain control of New Orleans.
B Jefferson desires Spanish help in driving the French out of New Orleans.
C Jefferson believes a union with England can drive the French from the Louisiana Territory.
D Jefferson prefers England have control of Louisiana than allow England to control Louisiana.