Activities: Guided Readings/Secondary
The Best Land Deal in History:
Louisiana Purchase
Back during the early 1800s, the Mississippi River was a lifeline for the
people living on the Western frontier. Its waters allowed farmers in the West to
transport their goods to Eastern markets. Without use of the Mississippi, these
farmers could not efficiently transport their products to market. The Mississippi
River also was important because the country that controlled it would control the
central region of North America. New Orleans was the key to the Mississippi
River. Its location at the mouth of the river on the Gulf of Mexico made it vital for
defending access to the river. Because of its strategic importance, United States
ambassadors went to France in 1803 and offered to buy New Orleans. They were
willing to offer the French government $10 million for the city. This original
American offer was rejected, but events in the French colony of Haiti soon caused
French officials to reconsider.
Napoleon Bonaparte, the leader of France, rejected the Americans’ offer to
buy New Orleans because he had to send French colonists into the Louisiana
Territory to establish French settlements. To accomplish this,
the French planned to use their Caribbean colony of Haiti as
a staging area for colonists and supplies. However, a slave
named Toussaint L’Ouverture led a slave revolt on Haiti,
freed the Haitian slaves, and expelled the French.
Napoleon’s dream of French settlements in central North
America was dashed, and he was faced with a war brewing
in Europe. As a result, Napoleon made a remarkable offer to
the Americans. France would sell New Orleans and the
entire Louisiana territory to the United States for $15
million.
In the United States, the reaction to this real estate offer was divided.
Debates raged. What would be the division of slave and free states? Did the
president have constitutional power to make such a deal? Would the addition of
more Western states lead to conflicts between Western farmers and Eastern
merchants? Despite the debates, the United States Senate approved the land
purchase on October 30, 1803. The transaction doubled the geographic size of the
United States.
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Activities: Guided Readings/Secondary
Even before the treaty was signed, President
Thomas Jefferson began planning an expedition to travel
into this new territory. The expedition would map the
land and form relations with American Indian tribes
living in the territory. Jefferson asked his secretary,
Meriwether Lewis, and William Clark to lead a Corps of
Discovery west and to return with details of the land and the people they
encountered. The Corps of Discovery’s mission lasted more than three years. When
Lewis and Clark returned, they reported news of the many Indian tribes who lived
in the region, and tales of unknown creatures such as grizzly bears and prairie
dogs. The Lewis and Clark expedition’s reports of this vast wilderness captivated
the imagination of the young nation and inspired further exploration of the
territory.
The following states were a part of the Louisiana Territory: Louisiana,
Arkansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Iowa,
Missouri, Minnesota, Wyoming, Kansas and Nebraska.
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Activities: Guided Readings/Secondary
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Activities: Guided Readings/Secondary
Name: ______________________________
Date: __________
The Best Land Deal in History:
Louisiana Purchase
Discussion Questions:
1. What river was a lifeline to people living on the Western frontier? Why was it
important?
2. What city guarded the entrance to the important river? Who controlled it?
3. Why did France first reject the American offer to buy New Orleans? Why did
France later sell the land?
4. What issues were raised in debates about the Louisiana Purchase?
5. What group was sent to map the Louisiana Territory?
6. What states were included in the Louisiana Territory?
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