Federal writers all over the land were vieing with each other in attempts to show the people what an exceedingly great sum of money $15.000.000 was. Some affected to consider the purchase of foreign territory unconstitutional in the extreme. and even President Jefferson was first inclined to take that narrow view. until his common sense got the better of his political scruples. Others were worried lest the East should become depopulated. lest a great emigration should set in. lest old men and young men. abandoning homes and occupations. should cross the Mississippi and perhaps found there a republic of their own. Some. again. feared that mere extent of territory would rend the Republic apart. that no common ties of interest could ever bind together under one government men who fought Indians and trapped bears around the head waters of the Missouri and men who built ships and caught fish in the harbors of the Atlantic coast. Statistics and arguments. most happily. were of no avail.
Identified stereotypes
Generalizations about immigrants abandoning homes and occupations and forming their own republic.