A History Of The United States : The Territory of Louisiana | Discussion

1. In 1803 the territory of Louisiana was purchased by America from France for fifty million francs, in addition the debts for eighteen million franks were cancelled. Totally the territory of Louisiana was made up of fifteen states of present America and two Canadian provinces. Starting from 1699 the territory of Louisiana was under the power of the Kingdom of France, later in 1762 it was ceded to Spain. Napoleon had the plans to return the empire in North America and gained the ownership of this territory again in 1800. The further plans of Napoleon were changed greatly by the revolt in Saint-Domingue, in addition there was again warfare with Britain and the best idea seemed to sell the territory to America. The initial intention of the Americans was to purchase only the port of New Orleans, however they accepted another version of the bargain. At the moment of the Louisiana Purchase the third President of America was Thomas Jefferson. Before this decision was taken the Federalist Party opposed it, as they stated it was not a constitutionally correct step to acquire new territories, but Jefferson assumed that his constitutional power for negotiating treaties was enough.

2. In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson sent a confidential message to Congress, in which he asked for the permission to send an officer with ten men to check the whole line to the West, maybe even the Western Ocean. Due to the fact the Jefferson had the intention to establish trade relations with the Native American people in the West, he needed water route to the Pacific. Moreover he was interested in nature and science and he wanted to explore the geography of those locations in the West, culture and language of the Native Americans, their soils, the weather there, plants and animals and the whole natural world of the West, which was definitely different from that in the Eastern part. The request of the President was followed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. It was not clear only, why Jefferson, who was so much interested in the American West, waited for around two years before asking for official sponsorship for this expedition. The idea to study West rooted from his childhood years, when he grew up in the Virginia Piedmont and his father was one of the four settlers in that region and was interested in surveying of the southwestern boundary of Virginia.

3. When the territory of Louisiana was purchased by the US from France, it was even more important to organize a journey in order to explore the lands, belonging to America. The instructions, which were received by Lewis from President Jefferson as for the Expedition, were really difficult to fulfill. Still the Expedition was generally a success. There were a lot of discoveries made during this expedition and they contributed to building an absolutely new picture of the young country. They did not manage to find the water route to the Pacific, but they managed to bring accurate maps. The intention of Thomas Jefferson was to establish good relations with Native American people and this was done in order to establish trade relations on the basis of these contacts. The Indians had already had peaceful agreement with English and French-Canadian traders. One of them was actually on board with Expedition as an interpreter. The plans for the future after this expedition were rather peaceful and included intentions for further trade cooperation. The expedition was finished only in 1806, although initially President Jefferson planned to send them for a year. They spend more than two years in order to travel across the western part of the continent and come back.

Works cited:

Carnes, M. C., Garraty, J.A. The American Nation: A History of the United States, 2015

The terms offer and acceptance. (2016, May 17). Retrieved from

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016.

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

freeessays.club (2016) The terms offer and acceptance [Online].
Available at:

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]

"The terms offer and acceptance." freeessays.club, 17 May 2016

[Accessed: March 29, 2024]
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