Excerpt from A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 1789 1897, Vol. 4 It was exceeded only by the purchase by President Jefferson of the Louisiana Territory, in which was laid so deep the foundation of the country's growth and grandeur. If our country had not already attained that rank by the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, the fur ther additions made by Mr. Polk's Administration advanced it at once to a continental power of assured strength and boundless promise. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.