Louisiana Purchase Essay
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,...show more content...
The journey of Louis and Clark traversed through a great deal of the territory west of the Appalachians, and following the Missouri River through present day "Kansas City, Missouri, Omaha, Nebraska, crossed the Rocky Mountains and descended by the Clearwater River, the Snake River, and the Columbia River, past Celilo Falls and through what is now Portland, Oregon until they reached the Pacific Ocean in the December of 1805" (www.wikipedia.org). During their journey, Louis and Clark faced many obstacles that they had to overcome. On August 20, 1804 the Corps crew suffered its first death. Sergeant Charles Floyd died from acute appendicitis. Sergeant Floyd would be the only death that the crew would experience. In the winter of 18041805 they posted camp at Fort Mandan, relatively close to present day Washburn, North Dakota. Shoshone/Hidatsa native woman Sacagawea and her husband,
French Canadian Toussaint Charbonneau, joined the group at Fort Mandan and guided them even further into the west. Sacagawea and her native tribe lived to the west of Fort Mandan and were planning on traveling in that direction anyways. Lewis and Clark felt that Sacagawea would be very beneficial to the crew in several ways. Not only would she be able to aid them in translation and communication, but they reasoned that when they arrived to the ending point of their journey, she could take them to her
The Louisiana Purchase Essay examples
Module 3 – The Formative Years of the New Nation, 1820–1860
The Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the largest land transaction for the United States, and the most important event of President Jefferson's presidency. Jefferson arranged to purchase the land for $11,250,000 from Napoleon in 1803. This land area lay between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. The purchase of this land greatly increased the economic resources of the United States, and proved Jefferson had expansionist dreams by doubling the size of the United States. Jefferson believed that the republic must be controlled by ambitious, independent, property–holding farmers, who would form...show more content...
In view of the threatening crisis, President Jefferson immediately sent Mr. Monroe as envoy extraordinary to the French court, with instructions to negotiate the purchase of Louisiana from France.
In April 1803, the negotiation was concluded and the entire region of Louisiana was ceded to the United States for the sum of $11,250,000 dollars (LeFeber 182). The American negotiators seized the favorable circumstances to urge the claims of American merchants on the French government for $3,750,00. This important acquisition more than doubled the territory of the United States. The great majority of the nation received the treaty with jubilation, but there were some particularly in the eastern States that disclaimed strenuously against it. They saw in the great enlargement of our territory and was nogthing more thatn a great waste, a wilderness unpeopled with any beings except wolves and wandering Indians. We are to give money of which we have too little for land of which we already have too much (LeFeber 183).
When the treaty arrived from France; the Jefferson requested that Congress convene at the earliest day practicable for its ratification and execution. The Federalists in both houses declaimed and voted against it, but they were now so reduced in numbers as to be incapable of serious opposition. The question on its ratification in the Senate was decided by twenty–four to
The Louisiana Purchase Essays
The Louisiana Purchase was done in the year 1803. In this purchase the United
States of America paid fifteen million dollars to get all the land west of the Mississippi
River and east of the Rocky Mountains. This transaction was done between Thomas
Jefferson and the great Napoleon. The benefits that the United States of America
experienced from this purchase were numerous. For one, it gave the U.S. complete
control of the Mississippi, which in tern helped many farmers with transporting
goods. Second, it more than doubled the size of the United States. With this huge
amounts of land, the government could set up more farms to feed the young but
growing nation. Despite these benefits, however, many people believe...show more content...
When the ambassadors have arrived in Paris, they quickly began to negotiate with
Napoleon and his advisors. Napoleon then offered the American ambassadors a deal of a
lifetime–the whole Louisiana lands for only fifteen million dollars. Now why would
France want to sell all this land? For one, there was a civil war in the Island of Haiti.
There the slaves have revolted and won independence from France. Napoleon tried
hopelessly to get the Island of Haiti back under control, but it was to no avail. Without
control of Haiti the lands of Louisiana were useless to France, and thus Napoleon decided
to sell it to the Americans. Moreover, Napoleon was planning to conquer all of Europe,
this meant war with Great Britain. Since Napoleon knew that Britain would easily
gain France's overseas lands, he decided to sell them for fifteen million dollars. Robert
Livingston and James Monroe contacted Jefferson, who only wanted to get New Orleans,
for advice, and the final decision. Jefferson, seeing it as an opportunity, agreed to pay
fifteen million dollars to get all of the Louisiana lands. "This land sale, probably the
largest in history, was negotiated early in 1803." (Curti 247).
Napoleon's offer to sell land pleased Jefferson, but it also troubled him, for he
believed that the Constitution did not allow him to buy huge amounts of land. This was
Louisiana Purchase Essay
Louisiana Purchase
I believe that the Louisiana Purchase was one of the greatest impacts on
American society because of the large amount of land and how it helped our economy. In this report you will see how lucky that the United States is to have obtained this large piece of land from France.
Their are many reasons why Napoleon had to sell this large piece of land.
Napoleon thought that this land could be a great asset to the French if they knew what to do with it. He didn't want to sell the Louisiana territory because he still had dreams of having a French empire in America. At this point in time...show more content...
With New Orleans and Florida included in the Louisiana Purchase gave the Americans many different ports for trading. This also helped the United States Navy, with all these new ports the Americans could strengthen their defense and improve the navy. At this time the French were very poor and needed the money so Jefferson knew he would get this piece of land for a very cheap price. For fifteen million dollars the United States acquired Florida, the Mississippi river, New Orleans, Rocky Mountains, sea ports , and the miles and miles of rich farmland all came with the Louisiana Purchase. All in all everything went smoothly, but there was one minor problem with this treaty. The problem was that Jefferson still did not how much land that he actually purchased. He knew it was a lot but, did not know the exact specifications or were it started and ended.
Spain and the United States disputed over what land each one of them would get. The main issue in this dispute was, who would get Florida and who would get Texas.
Eventually United States gave up claims to Texas so Spain could claim Texas. After
Spain gained Texas they gave up claims to Florida. The United States, right away claimed Florida. All this was called the Adams Onis Treaty of 1819.This had a great a great impact on the American society.
The Louisiana territory was purchased by Thomas Jefferson from