What was the importance of the purchase and exploration of the Louisiana Purchase?

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By 1800 more than one million settlers lived between the
Appalachian Mountains and Mississippi
Most settler were farmers and relied on
Mississippi to ship their crops to the port at New
Orleans

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In 1795 U.S. negotiated the
Pinckney Treaty
• Guaranteed
Americans’ rights to ship goods down the
Mississippi and store goods in New Orleans

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In 1801, Spain secretly gave New
Orleans and the
Louisiana Territory to France
• Jefferson worried about how Napoleon
Bonaparte would rule the area

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1802 the Governor of New Orleans stopped allowing Americans to ship their goods through New Orleans
Americans wanted to go to war
Jefferson decided to send James Monroe to Paris to buy New Orleans from the
French

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Meanwhile in Haiti, a revolution led by
Toussaint L’Ouverture had driven the
French out
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Without Haiti, the French would not be able to defend Louisiana during a war
In France, another war between France and Britain was about to begin and the
French needed money to fund it

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France offered to sell ALL OF THE
LOUISIANA TERRITORY for $15 million (about 4 cents an acre)
Because it would take months to get Jefferson’s advice, Monroe accepted the offer
This agreement would almost double the size of the country and give the U.S. control of the
Mississippi

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The Constitution nowhere states that the
President has the power to buy land from a foreign country

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Jefferson decided he could purchase the land because the Constitution said the president could make treaties
The Senate approved the treaty and
Congress voted to pay for the land

?
Costs Benefits

Was Goal
Accomplished?

http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/inside/idx_corp.html
Corps Members
Meriwether Lewis
Role
William Clark
Toussaint Charbonneau
Sacajawea
York

http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark/into/index.html
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Follow the online directions and stay together as a team.
Make decisions of where you want to go TOGETHER and do not work ahead of one another!
If you make it to the end, tell Mrs. Hoachlander.

Please color and label the following:
-The United States
(As of 1804)
- Spanish Territory
-The Louisiana
Purchase
-Oregon Country
Please trace the path of:
-Lewis and Clark
Please trace and label the following rivers:
-Missouri
-Columbia