It is interesting to note that John Marshall was as strong a Federalist as his cousin, Thomas Jefferson, was a strong "States' Rights" man. While Jefferson as President was solving national problems, his home state was solving problems, too. In August 1800, Virginia had its first organized slave insurrection. Led by Gabriel, approximately one thousand slaves in the area around Richmond decided to march on Richmond and massacre the white inhabitants there. However, at the scheduled time for the march to begin, a severe rainstorm delayed the march. During the delay, Pharaoh, one of the Negroes, decided to warn the Richmonders of their impending disaster. In spite of the heavy rains and the fact that it became necessary for him to swim certain swollen streams without being caught by one of his own group, he continued to Richmond and warned the authorities in time. He informed them of the proposed plan to kill the male inhabitants, capture the women inhabitants, seize the public arms and create a general slave insurrection. Consequently, the conspirators, including Gabriel, were caught, convicted and executed. The Virginia Assembly rewarded Pharaoh for his courageous act by giving him complete freedom. While the State of Virginia was increasing its counties, the United States was beginning to expand beyond its original boundary established after the Revolutionary War. President Jefferson had heard rumors that Spain had ceded Louisiana back to France in secret diplomatic relations. If true, such a condition could ruin American trade along the Mississippi River and could suggest a possibility of a French empire in America. Jefferson decided to have the government of the United States purchase the Island of Orleans, near the mouth of the Mississippi River. After the United States Ambassador to France had been unable to purchase only the Island of Orleans, Jefferson sent James Monroe, a native of Westmoreland County, to assist the Ambassador. In 1803, the treaty making the purchase of Louisiana, that vast area of land west of the Mississippi, official was ratified by the United States. This purchase added 827,000 square miles to the area of the land under the jurisdiction of the United States government at the cost of $15,000,000.