omposed of solid
rock salt, without any trees or even shrubs on it." One Federalist wit
insisted that this salt mountain must be Lot's wife; another sent an
epigram to the United States Gazette which ran as follows:

Herostratus of old, to eternalize his name Sat the temple of Diana all
in a flame; But Jefferson lately of Bonaparte bought, To pickle his
fame, a mountain of salt.

Jefferson was too much of a philosopher to be disturbed by such gibes;
but he did have certain constitutional doubts concerning the treaty.
How, as a strict constructionist, was he to defend the purchase of
territory outside the limits of the United States, when the Constitution
did not specifically grant such power to the Federal Government? He had
fought the good fight of the year 1800 to oust Federalist administrators
who by a liberal interpretation were making waste paper of the
Constitution. Consistency demanded either that he should abandon the
treaty or that he should ask for the powers which had been denied to
the Federal Government. He chose the latter course and submitted to his
Cabinet and to his followers in Congress a draft of an amendment to the
Constitution conferring the desired powers. To his dismay they treated
his proposal with indifference, not to say coldness. He pressed his
point, redrafted his amendment, and urged its consideration once again.
Meantime letters from Livingston and Monroe warned him that delay was
hazardous; the First Consul might change his mind, as he was wont to do
on slight provocation. Privately Jefferson was deeply chagrined, but he
dared not risk the loss of Louisiana. With what grace he could summon,
he acquiesced in the advice of his Virginia friends who urged him to let
events take their course and to drop the amendment, but he continued to
believe that such a course if persisted in would make blank paper of
the Constitution. He could only trust, as he said in a letter, "that the
good sense of the country will correct the evil of construction when it
shall produce its ill effects."

The debates on the treaty in, Congress make interesting reading for
those who delight in legal subtleties, for many nice questions of
constitutional law were involved. Even granting that territory could be
acquired, there was the further question whether the treaty-making power
was competent irrespective of the House of Representatives. And what,
pray, was meant by incorporating this new province in the Union? Was
L