During his presidency, Thomas Jefferson cut prices on land and encouraged westward settlement. What was Jefferson's motive for doing these things?
He was seeking to cut military spending.
He had a vision of a more agrarian society.
He wanted to increase taxes to reduce government debt.
He was trying to encourage more people to move to the U.S.
He had a vision of a more agrarian society.
he had a vision of a agrarian society
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The motive for Thomas Jefferson's actions of cutting prices on land and encouraging westward settlement can be attributed to his vision of a more agrarian society and his aim to encourage more people to move to the United States.
To understand Jefferson's motive, we can look at his broader political and philosophical beliefs. Jefferson, a firm advocate of agrarianism, believed that a nation's strength and prosperity lay in its agricultural sector rather than industrialization. He favored a decentralized society of independent farmers, as he believed it would promote individual liberty and prevent the concentration of power. Encouraging westward settlement was a way to achieve this vision, as it would help distribute the population across the expanding frontier and promote the expansion of agriculture.
Cutting prices on land was a means for Jefferson to make land ownership more accessible to ordinary Americans. By reducing the cost, Jefferson aimed to make land ownership more affordable and attainable for farmers, who were the backbone of the agrarian society he envisioned. This approach would also encourage more people to move to the United States from other countries and from eastern states, thereby increasing the settlement of new territories and the population growth of the nation.
Therefore, Thomas Jefferson's motive for cutting land prices and encouraging westward settlement was driven by his vision of a more agrarian society and his desire to encourage more people to move to the United States.