The following paragraph contradicts itself:

"the idea of the War of 1812 being front for a "land grab" never made much sense... though, admittedly there were the "war hawks" who made as much sense as our current "tea party" a-holes. After all, our western border was the Mississippi River until 1803 when Jefferson authorized the Louisiana Purchase - almost a million square miles bought & paid for and open for settlement once you got past the Native peoples."