he federal government (docum.B) Madison asserted his contribution to Republicans by vetoing the Internal Improvements Bill, a proposal that would allow Congress to make changes in the Constitution (docum. H) On the other hand, Jefferson seemed to favor loose construction and believer of a strong federal government on notable occasions. The Louisiana Purchase was one of the circumstances, where Jefferson was on the side of the Federalist’s loose construction. On April 30, Monroe and Livingston signed the Louisiana Purchase with France, acquiring 827,000 square miles of land for 15 million dollars. However, the Constitution did not authorize the president to acquire new territory and incorporate it into the nation. Jefferson proposed a constitutional amendment to allow the purchase, stating that he was exercising the president’s implied powers to protect the nation. Furthermore was the embargo act, which was intended to prevent confrontation between American merchant ships and British and French warships, but was not clearly authorized in the Constitution, turning Jefferson into a broad constructionist (docum. C). The embargo punished Britain and France, but ended up hurting the United States, especially New England. There was also the Tariff of 1816, which levied taxes on imported woolens, cottons, and iron, in effect raising their prices in the United States. According to Republican John Randolph, the revenue-raising tariff was not outlined in the Constitution and violated Republican ideologies (docum. F).On the other side of the debate were the Federalists. They loosely interpreted the Constitution, stating that they had the action to do anything, not specifically prohibited in the Constitution. Their broad construction of the Constitution was seen in many court cases, which were supervised by Chief Justice John Marshall. In the case of Marbury vs. Madison, the Supreme Court exercised the power to declare an act of C...
