Louisiana Purchase
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The Louisiana Purchase was the most influential and important land purchases in American history. The acquired land in this historical purchase proved to far outweigh what most Americans at the time could imagine. The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States, and lead to many great discoveries and societal benefits. Some of the major and most prominent ways that the Louisiana Purchase influenced the evolution of American were the expeditions of Louis and Clark on the newly acquired westward territory, increase in the countries resources, which in turn increased in trade and resulted in a richer, more economically stable country, and it also played a very pivotal role in the relationship with African Americans, which still is remembered and prevalent in todays society.
With the Louisiana Purchase (1803), the United States more than doubled its size. Now that the U.S. was in control of all of the new territory, Americans were free to roam and explore the newly acquired lands. Not to long after the purchase, President Thomas Jefferson had the U.S. Congress provide $2500, “to send intelligent officers with ten or twelve men, to explore even to the western ocean” (www.wikipedia.org). The main objectives of the crew were to study the western terrain, Indian tribes, geology, botany, and wildlife in the Louisiana territory. Another objective of the crew was to evaluate the interference of British and French trappers who were already well established in the newly
purchased territory. Meriwether Lewis (depicted on the left) was selected
by Jefferson to lead the expedition, and Lewis then selected William Clark (depicted on the right of page two) as his partner.
The expedition of Lewis and Clark officially started on May 14th, 1804. Louis, Clark, and their 33 member exploration crew set out from Hartford, Illinois, to embark on a historic journey that would be remembered for centuries to come. The journey of Louis and Clark traversed through a great deal of the territory west of the Appalachians, and following the Missouri River through present day “Kansas City, Missouri, Omaha, Nebraska, crossed the Rocky Mountains and descended by the Clearwater River, the Snake River, and the Columbia River, past Celilo Falls and through what is now Portland, Oregon until they reached the Pacific Ocean in the December of 1805” (www.wikipedia.org). During their journey, Louis and Clark faced many obstacles that they had to overcome. On August 20, 1804 the Corps crew suffered its first death. Sergeant Charles Floyd died from acute appendicitis. Sergeant Floyd would be the only death that the crew would experience. In the winter of 1804-1805 they posted camp at Fort Mandan, relatively close to present day Washburn, North Dakota. Shoshone/Hidatsa native woman Sacagawea and her husband,
French Canadian Toussaint Charbonneau, joined the group at Fort Mandan and guided them even further into the west. Sacagawea and her native tribe lived to the west of Fort Mandan and were planning on traveling in that direction anyways. Lewis and Clark felt that Sacagawea would be very beneficial to the crew in several ways. Not only would she be able to aid them in translation and communication, but they reasoned that when they arrived to the ending point of their journey, she could take them to her native home. A couple of years later the crew had reached the end of their exploration. They departed home, full of useful and important knowledge, on March 23, 1806 and arrived on September 23, 1806.
From the Corps of Discovery, name later given to the crew of Louis and Clark, came many beneficial findings. Their findings include over 175 newly documented plant species, over 120 new documented animal species, and an abundance of untapped natural resources. These discoveries are very important, but there is one major finding that can not go unmentioned. One of the greatest accomplishments that the Corps of Discovery are credited with is “providing the U.S an extensive knowledge of the geography of the American West in the form of maps of major rivers and mountain ranges” (www.wikipedia.org). This knowledge that Louis and Clark were able to document was very crucial to the U.S. at the time. With the area being clearly documented, the U.S. was able to get a feel of who lived there, what the basic layout and terrain was, if the area contained good farming land, and how to divide the area into separate states. If the Louisiana Purchased had not occurred, neither would the expeditions of Louis