The Louisiana Purchase

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The Louisiana Purchase and Westward Exploration Although America was not planning on the Louisiana Purchase, it proved to be a very important turning point in American history and greatly impacted the nation. It ended several crises in the country and laid the foundations for its westward expansion. When Americans explored their new western territory, they learned much about the natural world, established their claim there, and paved the way for later settlers to move west. The Louisiana Purchase was a significant event in the history of the United States that proved valuable to the young country primarily due to knowledge gained through the exploration of the newly acquired territory. The Louisiana Territory was originally explored and then …show more content…

When French sovereignty of the island was overturned due to a slave revolt there, Louisiana became useless to Napoleon. He knew about the United States ' Mississippi Crisis and he needed money to fund other endeavors, so he figured that the sale of Louisiana to the United States would be a win-win for both parties (Kastor; "Louisiana Purchase"). Negotiations then started between representatives of the two …show more content…

perfectly skilled in botany, natural history, mineralogy, astronomy, with at the same time the necessary firmness of body and mind, habits of living in the woods and familiarity with the Indian character [qtd. in Corrick]." Jefferson knew that to find all this in one person was unrealistic, but he knew that Meriwether Lewis was trainable and a great outdoorsman, so he chose him to lead the planned mission and sent him to America 's top scientists for training in their work. In 1803, Lewis began to prepare for the trip, buying weapons in Harper 's Ferry, Virginia. He also designed and had built a portable iron-frame boat for the expedition. He went to various cities and was instructed in mathematics; science; health care and medical supplies; botany, zoological identification, classification, and preservation; anatomy, fossils, and classifying flora and fauna. He bought supplies for the trip, some of which included navigational tools, tents, cooking gear tin horns, medicines, surgical tools, etc. He didn 't have to buy food for the entire during the expedition since the Corps of Discovery (which the expedition was to be called) were intended on living off the land, but he did end up buying 193 pounds of canned soup for the men. Another important category of things that he purchased was gifts for any Indians they encountered, continuing the tradition of giving gifts to Indian

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    This was something that was really important for trade and the extension to westward. In the 1800s, the Louisiana Purchase is still considered the most important occurrence in the westward being spread out of the U.S. and is a trial to include a different ethnic group. This was the starting point of the encounter with multi-ethnicity boarders. The Louisiana Purchase the way that the nation used to be and had a intense result on what the nation would become later on. The new regions of the purchase demonstrated a notable obstacle to the essentially Anglo-Protestant, young nation known as America. The more south part of the purchase was in result an overseas region. Many the people residing there's origin was African, Mediterranean, and Caribbean. Most of them had a divergent viewpoint of race, law, and government. Admittedly the Louisiana Purchase began the nation's experience with a variety of races that went on and on across the next couple centuries and is still going on to this

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    This transaction would come to be known as the Louisiana Purchase and nearly doubled the size of the new nation. While George Washington and John Adams made efforts at westward expansion, Thomas Jefferson secured the Louisiana Purchase and initiated the Lewis and Clark expedition. According to Wulf, “maybe Lewis would find the huge mastodon roaming across the plains; discover profitable crops, flowers in exotic shapes and sizes, and trees that would soar even higher than those already encountered. Jefferson planned this expedition in the name of science, but it would also be the beginning of a distinctly American glorification of the wilderness” (Wulf, 157). The Lewis and Clark expedition and the Louisiana Purchase had such a significant impact on America’s identity.

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    The Louisiana Purchase 1803 and the Proclamation Line of 1763 were documents that changed the course of the United States. The Proclamation Line was one of the several attempts to keep the peace between Native Americans and white settlers. The intention of the imaginary line was to reduce conflict between the two cultures living in the border zone. Louisiana Purchase was done to ensure western expansion and to kept the United States of America from pursuing a war with France.

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    The Louisiana Purchase stands as an iconic event today that nearly doubled the size of America, ultimately introducing the United States as a world power. In 1762, during the Seven Years’ War, France ceded its control of the Louisiana Territory to Spain (Britannica). However, when Napoleon Bonaparte assumed control of France in 1799, France rallied as a world power once more. Bonaparte’s interest in the Louisiana Territory spiked, and he pressured Spain’s king, Charles IV to relinquish his control of the land on October 1, 1800. This was known as the Treaty of San Ildefonso (Britannica). In view of the transfer between France and Spain, president Thomas Jefferson sent Robert R. Livingston to Paris in 1801. Jefferson became worried, because

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    ...ion with the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803, and furthered it with the expedition. Some instant ramifications were present after the expedition: it led to the northern plains fur trade from 1806-1812 that came out of Lewis and Clark’s focus on improving trade. 33 In a broader sense, the expedition promoted further expansion goals for the United States as a whole later on in American history. The idea of manifest destiny later on in the 19th century reflects a continued goal of the United States to expand. Thus, the “land hungry” attitude that Jefferson himself exhibited went on to influence later American goals of expansion out west. Lewis and Clark’s expedition thus was only the beginning, as it was the first American expedition out last, but nevertheless was surely not the last based on the benefits that the United States reaped after its completion.

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    The Louisiana purchase was a very significant event in the United States of America that changed the country we live in today. Since, “1762, Spain had owned the territory of Louisiana, between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains” (Office of the Historian). This purchase led to many great things due to the French now having possession over it. Even though the French sold major land in the Louisiana Purchase, the money gained by France and the land acquired by America was a win for both sides of the deal.

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    The changes will be no less profound for European Americans. President Jefferson's orders were far-reaching. While Lewis and Clark did not discover a Northwest Passage or start the western fur trade or overland immigration, they certainly influenced the latter two movements. They provided valuable information about the topography, the biological sciences, the ecology, and ethnic and linguistic studies of the American Indian. The mysteries of the vast area known as the Louisiana Purchase quickly disappeared after Lewis and Clark.

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    There wasn’t much issue surrounding the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. A war wasn’t even required to acquire the land as document 5 explains. The major problem was that the Federalist Party argued that the Louisiana Purchase was a worthless dessert, and the constitution did not provide for the acquisition of new land or negotiating treaties without the consent of the Senate (Document 5).

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    The Louisiana Purchase was the most influential and important land purchases in American history. The acquired land in this historical purchase proved to far outweigh what most Americans at the time could imagine. The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States, and lead to many great discoveries and societal benefits. Some of the major and most prominent ways that the Louisiana Purchase influenced the evolution of American were the expeditions of Louis and Clark on the newly acquired westward territory, increase in the countries resources, which in turn increased in trade and resulted in a richer, more economically stable country, and it also played a very pivotal role in the relationship with African Americans, which still is remembered and prevalent in today's society.

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    After Thomas Jefferson have made the Louisiana Purchase from France in 1803, Jefferson wanted to have exploration to the expansion of unknown, foreign land and mostly importantly to find a water route to the Pacific. He setup an expedition by borrowing 2,500 dollar from Congress to record and verify the unknown land and rivers. Though the Louisiana ...

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    Louisiana Purchase Negotiation The Louisiana Purchase was the result of Manifest Destiny by Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson wanted to build a bigger nation than what it was. This was one of the biggest and most famous negotiations in U.S. history. However, there was deceit and war in this negotiation between France, Spain, and the United States. All the nations mentioned own a part of the United States but the real question was who wanted it more?

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    Though initially his decision was criticized, Thomas Jefferson 's pursuit of the Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States, as well as impacted the economy, religion, and race of the nation.

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    The first step in Napoleon’s failed effort was to regain the French colony of Sainte-Domingue, which was being ruled by Toussaint L’Ouveture, a leader of the rebel military. Bonaparte’s motivation to recover the island of Sainte-Domingue stemmed from two key factors. His principal reason for wanting to salvage the island was to restore the sugar industry and slave labor in the region. If Napoleon was successful, with regards to this objective, he could successfully launch the Louisiana Territory as his North American empire. The rebellion at Saint-Domingue is essential to the Louisiana Purchase because each phase of Napoleon’s plan was met with resistance from the natives and the generals. Furthermore, a correlation exists as a result of Bonaparte’s failure to accomplish his goal of restoring Saint-Domingue to its days under French rule where slavery was a cornerstone; the defeat of the French during this revolt was the turning point at which Napoleon realized he needed money more than an empire in America. These objectives can be corroborated with an excerpt from “Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase: A Special Presentation from the Geography and Map Division of the Library of Congress” which

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    In 1803 the United States would make the largest and possibly most controversial land purchases in American history, the Louisiana Purchase. During the years leading up to this event the United States was still trying to solidify a national identity. There were two subjects that were causing for division of the new national identity, one being westward expansion. The Northern states and Federalists opposed the idea of westward expansion while the Southern States and the Jeffersonians backed this purchase. Although there was a struggle for a single national identity and this controversial purchase did not aid in finding that single identity, it was still the right decision for the United States. By purchasing this land from the French the United States would not share a colonial boundary with the French who were continuing to gain power under Napoleon. Purchasing the Louisiana Territory would prove to be beneficial for the United States for more reason than one.

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    One action taken by the United States government that was influenced by geographic factors was the Louisiana Purchase. There were many historical circumstances that resulted in the government’s action. Louisiana was originally owned by the French until France sold it to the United States. Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana in 1803. The influence of this geographic factor occurred because as the United States had expanded westward, navigation of the Mississippi River and access to the port of New Orleans had become critical to American commerce. The purchase of the Louisiana territory, including New Orleans, was for $15 million. The acquisition of approximately 827,000 square miles would double the size of the United States. This also gave the United States control of the Mississippi River. This had a lot of impacts on the United States. It increased western expansion which was included in the Manifest Destiny. The Manifest Destiny was a 19th-century doctrine that the United States had the right and duty to expand throughout the North American continent. But, this expansion did lead to conflicts...

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