%243. Republican Reforms.%--True to their promises, the Republicans now proceeded to repeal the hated laws of the Federalists. They sold all the ships of the navy except thirteen, they ordered prosecutions under the Sedition law to be stopped, they repealed all the internal taxes laid by the Federalists, they cut down the army to 2500 men, and reduced the expenses of government to $3,700,000 per year--a sum which would not now pay the cost of running the government for three days. As the annual revenue collected at the customhouses, the post office, and from the sale of land was $10,800,000, the treasury had some $7,000,000 of surplus each year. This was used to pay the national debt, which fell from $88,000,000 in 1801 to $45,000,000 in 1812, and this in spite of the purchase of Louisiana. [Illustration: Thomas Jefferson] %244. The Purchase of Louisiana.%--When France was driven out of America, it will be remembered, she gave to Spain all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, together with a large tract on the east bank, at the river's mouth. Spain then owned Louisiana till 1800, when by a secret treaty she gave the province back to France.[1] [Footnote 1: Adams's _History of the United States, _Vol. I., pp. 352-376.] For a while this treaty was really kept secret; but in April, 1802, news that Louisiana had been given to France and that Napoleon was going to send out troops to hold it, reached this country and produced two consequences. In the first place, it led the Spanish intendant (as the man who had charge of all commercial matters was called) to withdraw the "right of deposit" at New Orleans, and so prevent citizens of the United States sending their produce out of the Mississippi River. In the second place, this act of the intendant excited the rage of all the settlers in the valley from Pittsburg to Natchez, and made them demand the instant seizure of New Orleans by American troops. To prevent this, Jefferson obtained the consent of Congress to make an effort to buy New Orleans and West Florida, and sent Monroe to aid our minister in France in making the purchase. When the offer was made, Napoleon was about going to war with England, and, wanting money very much, he in turn offered to sell the whole province to the United States--an offer that was gladly accepted. The price paid was $15,000,000, and in December, 1803, Louisiana was formally delivered to us. %245. Louisiana.%--Concerning this splendid domain hardly anything was known. No boundaries were given to it either on the north, or on the west, or on the south. What the country was like nobody could tell.[1] Where the source of the Mississippi was no white man knew. In the time of La Salle a priest named Hennepin had gone up to the spot where Minneapolis now stands, and had seen the Falls of St. Anthony (p. 63). But the country above the falls was still unknown.