Louisiana Purchase Research Paper

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“An integral part of the economic life of the age, the greatest colony in the world, the pride of France, and the envy of every imperialist nation” ~ Thomas Jefferson President Jefferson had a very important and interesting decision to make. One that was worth over 15 million dollars. The effort, time and money spent on the Louisiana Territory altered America’s future for the better. The Louisiana Purchase was one of the biggest purchases in world history. The purchase added thirteen states to our union and Louisiana was the first state to join the union from a purchase. The Louisiana Purchase started in 1803 and actually was not planned to happen. America owned a small portion of Louisiana which helped them supply goods through the Mississippi…show more content…
Jefferson decided to send a group of men to the Louisiana territory to explore the land. After bringing the idea before Congress, Congress finally agreed to spend two thousand five hundred dollars on the expedition. Jefferson picked soldiers, and leaders, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. Lewis and Clark were to scout the land and check for Native Americans, and hopefully to make friends with them. Another reason for them to go was to find out if there was a waterway between the Mississippi River and the Pacific Ocean. Lewis and Clark assembled a team of fourteen other soldiers, nine frontiersmen, two French boatmen, and Clark’s personal servant York. Lewis and Clark’s team otherwise known as the Corps of Discovery, set out on their journey from St. Louis, Missouri on May 14, 1804. The team sailed up the Missouri River, by winter they reached the Dakota Territory and built a fort to stay there for the winter. After winter passed the group progressed and ran into a Shoshone Indian named Sacagawea. She became a guide and interpreter for Lewis and Clark. At one point they met a group of Shoshone warriors. Sacagawea helped and it turned out that the chief was her brother. It took several years for the group to explore the entire Louisiana Territory, but they found an easier path to follow. On September 23, 1806 Lewis and Clark reached the same spot they had started from those two years

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