Jefferson's first inaugural address?

Question

he said that the US was "kindly separated by nature and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one quarter of the globe"

what does that mean, briefly?

i then have to answer whether if i agree or not, concerning the Louisiana Purchase, and if the Purchase further isolated the US from Europe or brought the two worlds closer

i dont know how to answer it because i dont understand what he said

Answer 1

Jefferson meant the US was fortunate to have the Atlantic Ocean separating it from Europe, where so many conflicts/wars had gone on and were going on.

As for the Louisiana Purchase, I'd say it further isolated the US ferom Europe since it allowed westward expansion and focused American minds on that, rather than on what was happening in Europe.

And this web page agrees with me:

"During this same era America negotiated with Britain for the territory that would later become the states of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and parts of Montana and Wyoming. In less than a decade the United States had grown geographically by half again as much. Each time America expanded, people moved west. As more people spread out to settle new territories, immigrants from Europe filled the gap. During this rapid expansion America remained in many ways an isolated nation, a country that had turned its back on Europe and the rest of the world and tried to stay out of complicated and dangerous world affairs. Ironically, this strategy was possible largely because of the Pax Britannica, the British peace imposed on the world by the supremacy of the Royal Navy and the strategic global dominance of British territories."