Jefferson's AmericaBy: Julie M. Fenster The surprising story of how Thomas Jefferson commanded an unrivaled age of American explorationand in presiding over that era of discovery, forged a great nation. At the dawn of the nineteenth century, as Britain, France, Spain, and the United States all jockeyed for control of the vast expanses west of the Mississippi River, the stakes for American expansion were incalculably high. Even after the American purchase of the