The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE AND THE LEWIS AND CLARK EXPEDITION the country’s size adding to it an area larger than today’s Spain Portugal France Italy Germany the Netherlands Switzerland and Great Britain combined combined All or parts of thirteen states would be created from it The United States was immediately elevated in stature among world powers An expedition to study the land and hopefully find a navigable water route west to the Pacific Ocean began in 1804 Headed by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark the Lewis and Clark Expedition was a remarkable journey of nearly 8,000 miles 13,000 kilometers across North America and back Over two years the courageous group created maps collected notes and specimens of previously unknown plants and animals and named geographic locations after expedition members peers loved ones and even their dog They also made contact with numerous American Indian peoples who called the Louisiana Territory home The hardships including hunger dysentery boils tick bites and injuries were balanced by incredible encounters with unspoiled beauty The explorers were astonished by natural wonders and huge herds of elk antelope and bison Their discoveries discoveries opened a new frontier for Americans who were already looking westward for new adventures and opportunities 6
INTRODUCTION But Lewis and Clark’s journey would not have been as momentous if the United States had not just acquired the Louisiana Territory And that acquisition acquisition occurred because the world stage was precisely set for an extraordinary agreement The United States benefited greatly from the tense atmosphere in Europe during the rise of soon-to-be French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte 7
CHAPTER ONE AN ASTOUNDING AGREEMENT Facing certain defeat at the hands of the British in the Seven Years War France secretly ceded its North American lands west of the Mississippi River the Louisiana Territory to Spain in 1762 Months later in the treaty that ended the war France transferred virtually all its remaining land in North America to Great Britain This arrangement however proved temporary French power recovered under the military leadership leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte On October 1 1800 Napoleon persuaded King Charles IV of Spain to agree to cede Louisiana back to France under the Treaty of San Ildefonso The treaty would reestablish French control of the commercially significant port of New Orleans as well as the mouth of the Mississippi River Reports of this deal were received by the US government government with great concern about its implications for the future of American commerce These were the circumstances circumstances in which the Louisiana Purchase took shape 8
The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries an 1812 oil painting painting by Jacques-Louis David is found today in the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC 9
