By a treaty signed on Apr. 30, 1803, the United States
purchased from France the Louisiana Territory, more
than 2 million sq km (800,000 sq mi) of land extending
from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The
price was 60 million francs, about $15 million;
$11,250,000 was to be paid directly, with the balance
to be covered by the assumption by the United States
of French debts to American citizens. In 1762, France
had ceded Louisiana to Spain, but by the secret Treaty
of San Ildefonso (1800) the French had regained the
area. Napoleon Bonaparte (the future Emperor
Napoleon I) envisioned a great French empire in the
New World, and he hoped to use the Mississippi Valley
as a food and trade center to supply the island of
Hispaniola, which was to be the heart of this empire.
First, however, he had to restore French control of
Hispaniola, where Haitian slaves under TOUSSAINT
L'OUVERTURE had seized power (1801; see HAITI).
When the spring of 1805 brought high water and
favorable weather, the Lewis and Clark Expedition set
out on the next leg of its journey. They traveled up the
Missouri to present-day Three Forks, Montana, wisely
choosing to follow the western-most tributary, the
Jefferson River. This route delivered the explorers to
the doorstep of the Shoshone Indians, who were skilled
at traversing the great rock mountains with horses.
Once over the Bitterroot Mountains, the Corps of
Discovery shaped canoe-like vessels that transported
them swiftly downriver to the mouth of the Columbia,
where they wintered (1805-1806) at Fort Clatsop, on
The Issue
No issue has been more controversial and divisive in the first 100 years
of the American republic than that of slavery. The Bill of Rights in 1865,
our national leaders had fought over various aspects of slavery since
the Constitutional Convention.
Description
When the Constitutional Congress met in 1787, the delegates found
that they could not avoid discussing the issue of slavery. Already one
could see the diverging interests of the North and the South, conflicts
between slave states and free states. The Constitution as a whole can
be viewed as document that tried to merge the various interests of
different groups, in the soon-to-be United States into a workable
system.
The War of 1812 is one of the forgotten
wars of the United States. The war lasted
for over two years, and ended in stalemate.
The offensive actions of the United States
failed to capture Canada.