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The Battle Of The Louisiana Purchase

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The Louisiana Purchase was a territory at first that stretched from New Orleans to the British Columbia and from the New Spaniards eastern border to the Ohio river. The land was 909,000 square miles but 4 cents an acre. The area was first owned by France then moved from France to Spain around 1762 and finally after 40 years back to France, then sold to us.The reason it was so important too many people was the Mississippi river's entrance to the Gulf of Mexico.

After France showed they were selling this territory, an opening showed up for America. While Thomas Jefferson was president at the time; he wanted to make a presidential move and buy this important land. But there was a problem with this; Jefferson didn’t know if this purchase could be constitutional since there was nothing about it. So after talking to congress they decided to come up with the 1803 Treaty of the Louisiana Purchase. After purchasing this land the United States doubled in size but also lost $15 million dollars. The purchase was made May 2nd but the land wasn’t possessed until December 20, 1803.
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But he would need an exploration of the west. So Jefferson hired a acquaintance of his secretary a U.S army member Meriwether Lewis to do this; who later hired William Clark to be a co captain of the trip. After the trip they gathered maps of the land, climate observations, food vegetation in the area, and Indians and other people.After learning of the Louisiana Purchase it was Pike’s dream too set off on such an adventure. Pike covered 5,000 miles in 9 months gathering information on Spanish territories and army locations, British activity going against the John Jay treaty, and finally Indian treaties like the Friendship
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