0
The Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was a deal between the United States and France. The United States purchased 827,000 square miles of land for $15,000,000 in 1803.
672 Questions
Was the Louisiana purchase bigger than the Alaskan purchase?
However, Alaska was cheaper, at about 2 cents an acre, compared to 4 cents per acre for Louisiana.
Why is the Louisiana purchase change the US?
The Louisiana Purcahse gave the U.S access to the port of the Mississippi River and more land out west doubling their size.
What was jeffersons reaction to the Louisiana purchase?
Despite having qualm about the constitutionality of the purchase, Jefferson pushed for its completion. After it was made, he commissioned Lewis and Clark to explore it and make notes of what they found.
Why did people move westward after The Louisiana Purchase?
because there were so many people in america at the time, people started to immigrate westward to find less populated areas.
What river maker the eastern boundary of the Louisiana purchase?
The Mississippi River was an important boundary in the Louisiana Purchase. The United States paid about $15 million for the Louisiana territory, which only worked out to about 4 cents per acre.
What states were part of The Louisiana Purchase in 1803?
All of present day Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma. Most of North and South Dakota, some of Minnesota and New Mexico, some of Colorado, Montana and Wyoming as well as the western part of Louisiana, and a small part of Texas. It also included a part of present day Alberta and Saskatchewan in Canada.
When were Lewis and Clark chosen to lead the exploration of the Louisiana Purchase?
After finally purchasing the Louisiana Territory, and two weeks before inauguration day Jefferson asked Lewis, in January of 1803, to go on the journey. Lt. William Clark would offer to join Lewis on the expedition weeks later on October 13, 1803 at Camp Dubois (in present-day Indiana). They then named their team the "Corps of Discovery."
What impact did the Louisiana Purchase have on the young nation?
For the young nation of the United States, the impact of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 was that the country's land mass was nearly doubled. This helped this nation expand its territories for a growing population.
Why was Napoleon so eager to get rid of the territory in the Louisiana Purchase?
France was short on cash and he was willing to sell in order to continue the War in Europe.
Where did most Americans live before The Louisiana Purchase?
In 1803, the year that la Louisiane changed hands from Napolean Bonaparte's France to Thomas Jefferson's U.S.A., most Americans lived on the strip of land between the Atlantic Coast and the great wall of the Appalachian Mountains. In other words, most still lived in the original 13 states of the U.S.
By 1803, enough hardy pioneers had made their way west of the Appalachians to thinly populate Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio which were now states. The old "Indian Territory" was now called Indiana Territory (present-day Indiana, Michigan and Wisconsin) and was essentially unsettled wilderness, as was present-day Alabama and Mississippi). Florida and West Florida belonged to Spain, although practically no Spaniards lived there; the sparse population was mainly a handful of Americans. Massachusetts included most of present-day Maine, and Virginia included all of present-day West Virginia.
Meriwether Lewis who had been appointed to the rank of Captain, was designated as the expedition "scientist". Prior to the expedition, Lewis went to Philadelphia for intense training by physician Benjamin Rush, astronomer-surveyor Andrew Ellicott, botanist Benjamin Barton, anatomist Casper Wister, and mathematician Robert Patterson. For three months he was tutored in the spring of 1803.
Jefferson's instruction to Lewis were:
"Beginning at the mouth of the Missouri, you will take observations of latitude and longitude at all remarkable points on the river, & especially at the mouths of rivers, at rapids, at islands & other places & objects distinguished by such natural marks & characters of a durable kind, as that they may with certainty be recognized hereafter....The variations of the compass too, in different places should be noticed."
(considering the Native Americans) "...You will therefore endeavor to make yourself acquainted, as far as diligent pursuit of your journey shall admit with the names of the nations & their numbers, the extent & limits of their possessions; their relations with other tribes or nations; their language, traditions, monuments, their ordinary occupations in agriculture, fishing, hunting, war, arts & the implements for these, their food, clothing, & domestic accommodations, the diseases prevalent among them, & the remedies they use, moral and physical circumstance which distinguish them from the tribes they know, particularities in their laws, customs & dispositions, and articles of commerce they may need or furnish & to what extent."
"Other objects worthy of notice will be the soil & face of the country, it's growth & vegetable productions, especially those not of the US; the animals of the country generally & especially those not known in the US; the remains & accounts of any which may be deemed rare or extinct; the mineral productions of every kind, but more particularly metals, limestone, pit coal & saltpetre, salines & mineral waters, noting the temperature of the last & such circumstances as may indicate their character; volcanic appearances; climate as characterized by the thermometer, by the proportion of rainy, cloudy & clear days, by lightening, hail, snow, ice, by the access & recess of frost, by the winds, prevailing at different seasons & the dates at which particular plants put forth or lose their flower or leaf, times of appearance of particular birds, reptiles or insects."
What was the northern boundary of the Louisiana Purchase?
On the east, the Lousiana Purchase was bordered by the Mississippi River.
On the Southwest, the border was with what was then Spanish Mexico. Mexico then included Texas (which then extended into what is now Wyoming).
On the Northwest and North, the border was the land area that drains into the Mississippi River (which includes the land area that drains into the Missouri River, among others). This border was very ill-defined at the time, and part of the mission of the Lewis and Clark Expedition was to find that border. As it turns out, that would have included certain areas in Canada (north of Montana) and excluded certain areas of North Dakota and Minnesota.
A later treary with the British "traded" some of that land, and established the border as 49 degrees North Latitude west of the Lake of the Woods in Minnesota.
What was the constitutional debate concerning The Louisiana Purchase?
Thomas Jefferson, a strict Constructionist, was the president who purchased the territory from France. In his point of view, he was not allowed to make land purchases for the country, but he did it anyway because it was a great deal.
What was eastern boundary of The Louisiana Purchase?
inbetween the oregon country, spain territory and illinois territory and mississippi territory.
Why did France offer the Louisiana Purchase to the US?
At the beginning of the 19th century, France had owned the territory now know as the Louisiana Territory. Napoleon was the emperor of France and was planning his campaigns to conquer all of Europe. His army was strong, but his navy could not compete with the British navy. Since France owned New Orleans and a vast territory that was the same size of the existing USA, he did not believe he could defend it against the British. The USA, however, would be staunch defenders of New Orleans and its vast Louisiana Territory. Napoleon did not want his rivals, the British, to control the city and its vast territory.
Over the objections of his brothers, Napoleon believed his ministers could make a deal with US President Jefferson and his representatives in Paris.
The real estate deal known as the Louisiana Purchase was arranged in 1803. At only 3 cents per acre, the US doubled its size and now stretched from New Orleans all the way to the vast western frontiers.
How much bigger in size did the United States get from the Louisiana Purchase?
The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States.
What resulted from The Louisiana Purchase?
we got the louisiana territory from france (Napoleon sold it to Lincoln).
What are economic benefits of the Louisiana purchase?
the economic benefits of the Louisiana purchase are that we double our government and amount of land
What are the costs and benefits of Louisiana purchase?
- some pros were that it double the size of US and it only cost 15 million dollars.
- Big step towards getting the french out of this hemisphere.
- Early inspiration for our manifest destiny
- Bad for Native Americans (but then again when isn't it bad for them)
- Mexico still had California and other western lands. We want it all.
What states were added to the union by the Louisiana purchase?
The Louisiana Purchase gave land that would eventually help to form the following states (states entirely included in the Louisiana Purchase are bolded):
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
- Texas
- Oklahoma
- Missouri
- Kansas
- Iowa
- Minnesota
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Nebraska
- New Mexico
- Colorado
- Wyoming
- Montana
Did The Louisiana Purchase triple the size of the US?
Yes, the 1803 Louisiana Purchase from France more than doubled the size of the territorial area of the United States.
What was president Jefferson's personal dilemma when purchasing The Louisiana Purchase?
saving money and limiting the size of the govenment
How did the United States acquire the Louisiana Purchase?
Louisiana was first claimed by the French. During the Seven Years' War between the French and the British, Louisiana was traded over from France to their ally, Spain, so the British would not acquire the territory if they won, which they did. After the Seven Years' War, France was basically booted out of the North American mainland by the British. The territory remained Spanish until Napoleon came to power, in which France then took the territory back in hopes of building an empire in North America. However, as time went by they saw that this wouldn't happen. France had hoped to use this land with their slave company in Haiti, in which the slaves would produce crops such as sugar or tobacco. Haiti's revolts ruined this plan and the French were stuck with a useless chunk of land. Here's where the US comes in. The US had its eyes on New Orleans, the major French trading post in Louisiana, which is still present today. The US went to France to purchase New Orleans and its surrounding land. France agreed but threw in a little bonus: the whole territory of Louisiana. The US agreed and paid a total of $11,250,000. The unintended purchase of Louisiana really kicked off the Manifest Destiny idea as well.
