Transcript Southern Colonies

The Louisiana Purchase
Chapter 9, Lesson 2
Western Territory
►
During the 1800s many Americans moved west into
Kentucky and Tennessee and the less settled areas of the
Northwest Territory.
 They used Conestoga Wagons (sturdy vehicles topped with a
white canvas.)
 The most precious tools to them were they rifle (protection and
hunting) and an axe (hack their way through the dense forest.)
►
►
In 1800 the territory for the U.S. extended only as far as
the Mississippi River.
Louisiana Territory – land that extended west of the
Mississippi River belonging to Spain.
 It was anchored to the south by the city of New Orleans and
extended west to the Rocky Mountains.
 It did not have defined northern boundary.
► Many
Western Territory
farmers settle along rivers that feed into the
Mississippi River.
 The river was their way of shipping crops to markets.
 The Spanish allowed for use of the lower Mississippi
River and trade in New Orleans and was vital for
western farmers.
 From New Orleans they were unloaded and sent by ship
to markets on the East Coast.
► In
The French Threat
1802, the Spanish suddenly changed their
policy.
 American goods were no longer allowed into or past
New Orleans.
 Jefferson finds out that Spain and France made a secret
agreement transferring the territories ownership to
France.
 Napoleon Bonaparte not only wanted to have
Empires in Europe but in America as well.
 Jefferson authorizes Robert Livingston to offer as
much as $10 million for New Orleans and West Florida
in order to control the territory believing that France
had also gained Florida as part of the secret deal.
Revolt in Santo Domingo
► Napoleon
intended to use Santo Domingo
as a naval base to control an American
Empire.
► A revolt inspired by the French Revolution
and led by Toussaint-Louverture (TOO-SALOO-vuhr-TYUR) allowed the colony to
become independent.
 It involved slaves and laborers.
 In 1802, Toussaint is captured by troops sent
by Napoleon but they could not regain control.
 By 1804, the French were driven out and the
country regained its original name of Haiti.
The Nation Expands
►
►
Without Santo Domingo, Napoleon has little use for
Louisiana.
The French needed money to fund Napoleon’s plan for war
with Britain and immediately show interest in selling it to
us.
 French foreign minister Charles de Talleyrand informed the
American diplomats that the entire Louisiana territory is up for
sale.
 Livingston and James Monroe (Jefferson’s new special
representative) were taken by surprise.
 They accepted the offer that went far beyond what they were
authorized to do but the offer was too good to pass up.
► It
►
was purchased for $15 million.
Jefferson was pleased by the purchase as the new territory
would provide cheap and abundant land for farmers for
generations to come.
The Nation Expands
► However,
Jefferson was concerned whether
the purchase was legal. (What authority did
he have to make the purchase?)
 He is urged by Livingston to accept the deal
before Napoleon changes his mind.
 Jefferson decided his treaty-making powers
allowed for the purchase and the Senate
approved in 1803.
► With
the purchase of the Louisiana Territory
the size of the United States doubled.
Lewis and Clark
►
Jefferson persuaded Congress to sponsor an expedition to
learn more about the Louisiana Territory (even before it
was bought) thinking it a scientific venture.
 Congress approved but more so for its commercial interest.
 Meriwether Lewis, 28, and William Clark, 32, were to lead the
expedition west and kept a journal documenting what they saw.
 They had a well rounded group and were eventually joined by
Sacagawea, who served as a Native American guide.
 They gathered information on people, plants, animals, and the
geography to the west.
 They made it all the way to the Pacific Ocean (18 months and
nearly 4,000 miles later) and returned using different routes by
1806.
 They provided inspiration to a nation of people eager to move
westward.
► Zebulon
Pike’s Expedition
Pike was another man Jefferson
sent to explore the wilderness.
 He led two separate expedition in 105 and
1807.
 He traveled along the Mississippi River valley
into the region that is now the state of
Colorado.
 He finds a mountain and names it Grand Peak
(Today, known as Pike’s Peak)
► He
gets captured by the Spanish during his
expedition but was eventually released.
► The
Federalists Plan to Secede
Federalist opposed the Louisiana Purchase.
 Believed the new states carved out of the territory
would become republican, reducing their power.
►A
group of Federalists from Massachusetts began
plotting to secede (withdraw) from the Union.
 They wanted New England to form a separate “Northern
Confederacy.” but in order to succeed needed all of
New England including New York.
 They turned to Aaron Burr, who had been cast aside by
Republicans for refusal to withdraw from the election of
1800.
 They gave him their support when he ran for governor
of New York in 1804.
► Alexander
Burr and Hamilton
Hamilton never trusted Aaron Burr.
 Now he became concerned of rumor’s concerning Burr
leading New York out of the Union and accuses him of
plotting treason.
► This
may have caused Burr the election, and so he
challenges Hamilton to a duel.
 In 1804, both men armed with pistols, met at
Weehawken, New Jersey.
 Hamilton hated dueling and pledged not to shoot at his
rival, but Burr did not feel the same way.
 Burr fires and hits Hamilton, seriously wounding him,
and as a result dies the next day.
 Burr wanting to avoid arrest flees.