The Louisiana Purchase

1. The Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark Expedition

2. Louisiana Territory switches hands • 1800- Napoleon Bonaparte convinces Spain to return the Louisiana Territory to France • Jefferson fears French presence in US will force alliance with Britain

3. Why did Jefferson want to purchase Louisiana? • To prevent war with France over control of the Louisiana Territory and secure American commerce • Give the United States control over the Mississippi River • Acquire a port to provide an outlet for western crops • Hoped to preserve an agricultural (agrarian) society by making abundant lands available to future generations

4. Jefferson wants New Orleans • Jefferson sends James Monroe and Robert Livingston to Paris to negotiate for New Orleans • Napoleon gives up his idea of expanding his empire to America by the time Monroe gets to France in 1803 • Decides to sell the entire Louisiana Territory

5. The Louisiana Purchase • April 30, 1803 • Robert Livingston & James Monroe signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in Paris • The United States paid $15 million for the land, roughly 4 cents per acre • The purchase added 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi to the United States • July 4 the Louisiana Purchase is publicly announced

6. Maps of the Louisiana Purchase

7. Jefferson conflicted over purchase • Jefferson is strict constitutionalist • Must used implied powers to be able to purchase Louisiana Territory • Federalists attack Jefferson for stretching the Constitution

9. Lewis and Clark Expedition • January 18, 1803 • Jefferson asks Congress for funds to explore the land west of the Mississippi • His goal is to find a water route to the Pacific • May 1804 • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark depart on the expedition Map of Lewis and Clark’s route

10. Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804-1806 • Ascended the Missouri River and crossed to the Pacific • Survey the land and establish relations with Native Americans • Sacajawea served as guide for the two men