The Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana purchase was when the United States of American bought the territory

of louisiana in 1803. The U.S. paid 11,250,000 plus cancellation debts of 3,750,000. For a total sum of 15million dollars less than 3 cents per acre for the Louisiana territory. The land purchased contained all of the present day Arkansas,Missouri, Iowa,Oklahoma,Kansas , and Nebraska. The purchase was a vital moment in the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. On Saturday April 30, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed
by Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Barbe Marbois in Paris. Jefferson announced the treaty to the American people on July 4. After the signing of the Louisiana Purchase agreement in 1803, Livingston made this famous statement, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives...From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first Rank. The United States Senate ratified the treaty with a vote of twenty-four to seven on October 20.

The Lewis And Clark Expedition. The Lewis and Clark Expedition was the first transcontinental expedition to the pacific coast by the United States It was led by two Virginia born veterans of Indian wars in the Ohio valley, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark the expedition had several goals.The goals were both scientific and commercial, to study the areas plants, animal life, and geography, and the discover how to region could be exploited economically. According to Jefferson himself, one goal was to find a direct and practicable water communication across the continent. Reports about geography, plant and animal life, and Indian cultures filled their daily journals. Although Lewis and Clark failed to find a commercial route to Asia, they demonstrated the possibility of overland travel to the Pacific coast. During the journey, Lewis and Clark drew about 140 maps. There were 33 people, including 29 participants in training at the 18031804 Camp Dubois winter staging area in Illinois Territory, near present day Hartford, Illinois. They left on May 14, 1804, and met up with Lewis in Saint Charles, Missouri. The U.S. mint prepared special silver medals with a portrait of Jefferson and had a message of friendship and peace, called Indian Peace Medals or peace medals. The soldiers were to distribute them to the nations they met. These symbolized U.S. sovereignty over the indigenous inhabitants. The expedition also prepared advanced weapons to display their military firepower. In the winter of 180405, the party built Fort Mandan, near presentday Washburn, North Dakota. Sacagawea, was an indigenous woman who accompanied her husband Toussaint Charbonneau on the expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Her son Jean Baptiste Charbonneau was born in 1805 with the help of the expedition. Zebulon Montgomery Pikewas an American officer and explorer for whom Pikes Peak in Colorado is named. As a United States Army captain in 1806-1807 he led the Pike Expedition to explore and document the southern portion of the Louisiana Purchase and to find the headwaters of the Red River, during which he recorded the discovery of what later was called Pikes Peak. Captured by the Spanish while wintering in presentday Colorado after his party got confused in its travels, Pike and his men were taken to Chihuahua, present-day Mexico and questioned by the governor. They were released later in 1807 at the border of Louisiana.