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UNIT 6: Young Nation
UNIT 6: Young Nation
Lesson: The Louisiana Purchase
Lesson: The Louisiana Purchase
Tennessee State Standard:
Tennessee State Standard:
8.30 Explain the major events of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, including: Conflict with the Barbary Pirates & the Embargo Act; the Lewis and Clark Expedition & the Louisiana Purchase.
8.30 Explain the major events of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency, including: Conflict with the Barbary Pirates & the Embargo Act; the Lewis and Clark Expedition & the Louisiana Purchase.
THE EVENTS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON'S PRESIDENCY
THE EVENTS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON'S PRESIDENCY
Thomas Jefferson served as President of the United States for two terms from 1801 to 1809. Jefferson had doubts about increasing the power of the federal government. However, once in office, he pursued policies that benefited the long term future of the growing country, even if those policies strengthened the power of the federal government and the office of president.
THE BARBARY WAR
THE BARBARY WAR
For hundreds of years, the Mediterranean Sea had been the center of important trade routes between Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. The United States needed access to those trade routes for its own economy to grow. When an American ship sailed into the Mediterranean, though, it had to deal with the Barbary Pirates of the Barbary States.
The Barbary Pirates demanded tribute (money) from merchant ships passing along the Barbary Coast. Ships that did not pay would be attacked, have their cargo seized, and their crews enslaved.
TRIPOLI DECLARES WAR
TRIPOLI DECLARES WAR
Jefferson believed in free trade and found the situation with the Barbary States intolerable. The Barbary Pirates, however, were protected by the local rulers.
In 1801, the ruler of one of the Barbary States, Tripoli, declared war on the United States, claiming that US ships had failed to pay tribute. President Jefferson responded by sending the U.S. Navy to set a blockade in Tripoli´s harbors.
Beginning in 1802, a fleet of US naval war ships fought Tripoli´s pirate fleet. In April 1805, the United States launched a successful combined sea and land attack on the Barbary States.
The government of Tripoli agreed to sign a peace treaty and permit the United States to trade freely in the Mediterranean Sea. President Jefferson proved that the United States was capable of protecting its own interests.
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
In the early days of his presidency, Thomas Jefferson worried about what might happen if New Orleans, a port city linking the Gulf of Mexico with the Mississippi River, remained in foreign hands. He wanted New Orleans to be part of the US.
France had established Louisiana but lost the territory at the end of the the French and Indian War. Great Britain won Louisiana but traded it to Spain in exchange for Florida in the First Treaty of Paris.
But when the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, the new United States decided to give Florida back to Spain. The US was a brand new nation and did not want any issues with Spain. The Second Treaty of Paris gave Florida back to Spain.
Thomas Jefferson3rd President of the United States
In 1801, Spain joined France to fight the British. Spain and France secretly signed a treaty returning the Louisiana Territory to France, which included the city of New Orleans.
President Jefferson was worried that Britain may win the war and take control of New Orleans. Jefferson decided to send to diplomats to France to try to purchase the city.
On July 3, 1803, Jefferson learned from James Monroe, one of the diplomats, that the French had not only agreed to sell New Orleans, it had agreed to sell the entire Louisiana Territory. James Monroe and his partner signed a treaty purchasing the territory on behalf of the United States for $15 million. The transaction became known as the Louisiana Purchase.
The United States now had approximately 530,000,000 acres of new land. The territory stretched from the Mississippi River westward to the Rocky Mountains and reached from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. It offered the United States growing population vast resources, including timber, game, fish, first, and farmland.
President Jefferson was excited about the purchase but also apprehensive. He did not know whether the Constitution granted the president the power to authorize the purchase of so much new territory.
When the United States acquired the Louisiana Territory, Americans knew little about the land west of the Mississippi River. American Indians lived there, but few European Americans had traveled into the region.
President Thomas Jefferson had always been fascinated by natural history and science. Almost as soon as the Louisiana purchase was complete, he asked Congress to find an expedition through the territory.
Led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, the expedition called itself the Corps of Discovery. President Thomas Jefferson asked the Corps of Discovery to do three things:
he wanted them to meet the indian tribes living in the territory
produce a map of the new territory
keep a record of any interesting plants and animals they found
The Lewis and Clark expedition left St. Louis on May 14, 1804. Accompanying Lewis and Clark was a young bilingual Indian woman named Sacajawea. Sacajawea served as a guide, a translator, and a liaison to any American Indian tribes the explorers encountered. Amazingly, Sacajawea did this while caring for her newborn baby. Over the next two years, the expedition covered more than 7,000 miles as they traveled to the west coast and back.
Lewis and Clark kept detailed journals in which they described buffaloes, grizzly bears, and other animals that most US citizens had never seen. They brought back thousands of specimens of plant and animal life.
Lewis & Clark encountered more than fifty American Indian tribes and established peaceful relations with most of the tribes on their route. In addition, they produced the first detailed map of the Louisiana Territory and beyond!
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