Transcript Chapter 8, Section 2 - Crown Point Community School

Chapter 8, Section 2
The Louisiana Purchase
American Settlers Move West
• Early 1800’s
– Thousands of American settled in the area
between the Appalachian Mountains and the
Mississippi River
– Kentucky, Tennessee, and Ohio granted
statehood
– Settlers depended on the Mississippi River to
move their goods east
– New Orleans was a very important port
American Settlers Move West
• New Orleans and Louisiana under
Spanish control
– Region from the Mississippi River to the vast
Rocky Mountains
• Spanish officials found it impossible to
keep American settlers out of the area
• In a secret treaty, Spain passed Louisiana
to France
Louisiana
• 1802
– Just before passing Louisiana off to France,
Spain closed the port of New Orleans,
angering Americans and hurting the American
economy
• President Thomas Jefferson asked the
U.S. Ambassador to France (Robert R.
Livingston) to try to purchase New Orleans
– President Thomas Jefferson sent James
Monroe to help Livingston negotiate terms
Napoleon and Louisiana
• Napoleon Bonaparte
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Powerful ruler of France
Conquered most of Europe
Wanted to rebuild France’s empire
Strategy
• Use French colony of Haiti (in the Caribbean) as a supply
base
• From there, send troops of Louisiana
– Enslaved Africans in Haiti revolted and freed
themselves from French rule
• Napoleon tried to crush the rebellion on the island but his
forces were defeated in 1802, ending his hopes of rebuilding
a North American empire
Jefferson Buys Louisiana
• The American ambassador got a surprising offer
during his negotiations with French Foreign
Minister Charles Talleyrand
– When the Americans tried to buy New Orleans,
Talleyrand offered to sell all of Louisiana to America
• With his hopes of a North American empire
dashed, Napoleon turned his attention to Europe
– At war with Great Britain
– In need of money and military supplies
– Hoped that a larger United States would challenge
Great Britain’s authority on the world stage
Jefferson Buys Louisiana
• Knowing a bargain when presented with one,
Livingston and Monroe accepted the French
offer for $15 million
• President Thomas Jefferson was pleased but as
a strict constructionist, he was troubled
– The Constitution did not mention the purchase of
foreign lands
– He hated spending large amounts of public money
• Louisiana Purchase
– Approved by Senate on October 20, 1803
– Doubled the size of the United States
Explorers Head West
• Americans knew very little about western
Native Americans
• Americans were unfamiliar with western
land
• President Thomas Jefferson wanted to
learn more about the people and land west
of the Mississippi River
• Jefferson also hoped to find a river route
to the Pacific Ocean
Lewis and Clark Expedition
• 1803
– President Thomas Jefferson asked Congress to fund
an expedition to explore the West
• Selected former army captain Meriwether Lewis
• Lewis then chose his friend William Clark to co-lead the
expedition with him
• Lewis spent weeks preparing for the journey by
studying with experts about plants and surveying
– This helped him to take careful notes on the journey
of what he saw
• With Clark, Lewis selected 50 skilled
frontiersmen to join the Corps of Discovery
Lewis and Clark Expedition
• Lewis and Clark Expedition
– Began in May of 1804
– Long journey to explore the Louisiana Purchase
– Traveled up the Mississippi River to the village of St.
Charles
• Once past St. Charles, the expedition would receive no more
letters, fresh supplies, or reinforcements
• Lewis and Clark navigated the Missouri River
into unknown lands
Contact with Native Americans
• The Lewis and Clark expedition traveled
more than 600 miles up the Missouri River
without encountering any Native American
peoples
– When the expedition spotted large buffalo
herds the in the distance, they smartly
guessed that Native Americans would be
nearby
• Buffalo was a source of food for Native Americans
Contact with Native Americans
• Lewis utilized interpreters to communicate with
the Native Americans that the expedition
encountered
– Relied on the goodwill of the Native Americans
– Sacagawea
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Shoshone from the Rocky Mountains
Accompanied the group with her French fur trading husband
Helped the expedition by naming plants and animals
Helped identify edible fruits and vegetables indigenous to the
west
• Brother provided horses and a guide to lead the expedition
across the mountains
Contact with Native Americans
• After crossing the Rocky Mountains, Lewis and
Clark followed the Columbia River and met the
powerful Nez Perce along the way
– The Nez Perce people provided the expedition with
food
• Lewis and Clark reached the Pacific Ocean in
November of 1805 and remained in the Pacific
Northwest for the remainder of the winter
– Began journey home in March of 1806
• Lewis and Clark did not find a river route to the
Pacific Ocean, but they learned much about
Western Lands and paths across the Rockies
Pike’s Exploration
• Zebulon Pike
– Young army officer
– 1806, sent on a mission into the west
• Ordered to find the starting point of the Red River
– Explored into Colorado and tried to reach the summit
of the mountain now called Pike’s Peak
– 1807, traveled into Spanish territory until his arrest
• Suspected Pike was a spy
– Released and returned to the United States
– Offered many Americans their first description of the
Southwest