Mr. Gallatin's counsel was sought, and his opinion deferred to, on subjects which did not fall directly within the scope of administration. Even on questions of fundamental constitutional law his judgment was not inferior to that of Madison himself. In one notable instance he differed from Mr. Lincoln, the attorney-general, whom he held in high esteem as a good lawyer, a fine scholar, "a man of great discretion and sound judgment." This was in 1803, when the acquisition of East Louisiana and West Florida was a cabinet question. Mr. Lincoln considered that there was a difference between a power to acquire territory for the United States and the power to extend by treaty the territory of the United States, and held that the first was unconstitutional. Mr. Gallatin held that the United States as a nation have an inherent right to acquire territory, and that, when acquisition is by treaty, the same constituted authorities in whom the treaty power is vested have a constitutional right to sanction the acquisition, and that when the territory has been acquired Congress has the power either of admitting into the Union as a new State or of annexing to a State, with the consent of that State, or of making regulations for the government of the territory. Mr. Jefferson concurred in this opinion, while at the same time he thought it safer not to permit the enlargement of the Union except by amendment of the Constitution. Mr. Gallatin's view was practically applied in the cases named, and later in the annexation of Texas, although he disapproved of the latter as contrary to good faith and the law of nations. He advised Jefferson, also, not to lay the treaty by which Louisiana was acquired before the House until after its ratification by the Senate, taking the ground that until then it was not a treaty, and urging that great care should be taken to do nothing which might be represented as containing any idea of encroachment on the rights of the Senate. He personally interested himself in the arrangements for taking possession of New Orleans, and, considering the expense as trifling compared with the object, urged the dispatch of an imposing force of not less than fifteen thousand men, which would add to the opinion entertained abroad of our power, resources, and energy; five thousand of these to be active troops; ten thousand an enrolled reserve. The acquisition of Louisiana was the grand popular feature of the foreign policy of the first term of Jefferson's administration. The internal management left much to be desired.