The American nation began its work of territorial expansion with the purchase of Louisiana. Jefferson, who had been elected on a platform of strict construction of the Constitution, hesitated at an act which he regarded as "beyond the Constitution." (Jefferson's "Works," Vol. IV, p. 198.) Quite different was the language of his more imperialistic contemporaries. Gouverneur Morris said, "France will not sell this territory. If we want it, we must adopt the Spartan policy and obtain it by steel, not by gold."[51] During February, 1803, the United States Senate debated the closing of the Mississippi to American commerce. "To the free navigation of the Mississippi we had an undoubted right from nature and from the position of the Western country,"[52] said Senator Ross (Pennsylvania) on February 14. On February 23rd Senator White (Delaware) went a step farther: "You had as well pretend to dam up the mouth of the Mississippi, and say to the restless waves, 'Ye shall cease here, and never mingle with the ocean,' as to expect they (the settlers) will be prevented from descending it."[53] On the same day (February 23rd) Senator Jackson (Georgia) said: "God and nature have destined New Orleans and the Floridas to belong to this great and rising Empire."[54] God, nature and the requirements of American commerce were the arguments used to justify the purchase, or if necessary, the seizure of New Orleans. The precedent has been followed and the same arguments presented all through the century that followed the momentous decision to extend the territory of the United States. Some reference has been made to the Mexican War and the argument that the Southwest was a "natural" part of the territory of the United States. The same argument was made in regard to Cuba and by the same spokesmen of the slave-power. Stephen A. Douglas (New Orleans, December 13, 1858) was asked: "How about Cuba?" "It is our destiny to have Cuba," he answered, "and you can't prevent it if you try."[55] On another occasion (New York, December, 1858) Douglas stated the matter even more broadly: "This is a young, vigorous and growing nation and must obey the law of increase, must multiply and as fast as we multiply we must expand. You can't resist the law if you try. He is foolish who puts himself in the way of American destiny."[56]