US I
NOTES: Chapter #10, Section #2
The Louisiana Purchase
Key Terms:
Pinckney Treaty
Louisiana Purchase
Expedition
Continental Divide
Control of the Mississippi:
 Pinckney Treaty- 1795 treaty between the US and Spain which gave the US rights
to use the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans.
o 1 million western farmers relied on the Mississippi River to ship goods to
New Orleans and to ports along the Atlantic coast.
 1800- Spain signed a treaty giving New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana back to
France.
o Jefferson was worried Napoleon might try to take over North America.
Louisiana Purchase:
 1803- Jefferson sent Robert Livingston and James Monroe to Napoleon to buy
New Orleans and West Florida
o French foreign minister Talleyrand offered Livingston and Monroe ALL
of Louisiana for $15 million
 France had lost their colony in Haiti and needed money to pay for
their wars
 Was it constitutional?? (president CAN made treatiesLOOSE interpretation)
o The nation had now DOUBLED in size
Lewis and Clark Expedition (May 1804-November 1806):
 Meriwether Lewis (personal secretary to Jefferson) and William Clark
 GOALS:
1. Map a route to the Pacific
2. Study the geography of the territory
3. Learn about the Native Americans who lived in the Louisiana purchase
4. Encourage the Native Americans to become friends of America
 Corps of Discovery- about 50 men who joined the expedition, including one
African American man, York.
1. Sacagawea was a Shoshone woman who served as a guide to the Corps of
Discovery
 Very dangerous expedition but only one person died, from appendicitis
1. One of the most challenging parts of the trip was the crossing of the Rocky
Mountains
 Lewis and Clark brought back lots of information but Americans did not start
moving into the rugged western lands for a number of years.
Zebulon Pike’s Exploration (1805-1807):
 Explored the upper Mississippi River, the Arkansas River, and parts of presentday Colorado and New Mexico
o Pikes Peak in the Colorado plains is named for him
o Pike and his men were captured by Mexican authorities and many of their
journals were taken but he brought back a lot of information about the
Spanish Southwest