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In-Depth Resources: Unit 3
CHAPTER 8
Section 1 Interest in Texas Grows Among Anglo Americans
Skillbuilder: Map & Geography
8.1
Pupil’s Edition,
pp. 168 –172
The Louisiana Purchase and the Adams-Onís Treaty, 1803–1819
O
n April 30, 1803, the United States purchased
Louisiana from France. The Louisiana Purchase,
as it was called, was approved for $15 million—
about three cents per acre. This purchase doubled the
size of the United States and extended its western
boundaries. At the time, Americans knew little about
this new territory, and much of it was still unexplored. Because the boundary lines were not exact,
Americans in western Louisiana and Spaniards in
eastern Texas soon disagreed on the ownership of
certain areas.
U.S. relations with Spain remained tense for
years. The two countries continued to disagree on
their common border. Finally, the United States and
Spain negotiated a treaty to set the exact boundaries
between Spanish Texas and the United States. John
Quincy Adams, the U.S. secretary of state and later
the sixth U.S. president, and Don Luis de Onís y
Gonzales, the Spanish minister to the United States,
negotiated what were to be the western limits of the
United States.
In February 1819, the Adams-Onís Treaty was
signed. It defined the exact boundaries between
Spanish territory and the United States. The boundary
line began at the mouth of the Sabine River and followed it upstream to the thirty-second parallel. From
there the boundary went north to the Red River. From
the Red River the boundary continued westward until
the hundredth meridian. Then it went north to the
Arkansas River and followed the river west to its
headwaters. At this point a line was drawn to the
forty-second parallel. The territory was then extended
west to the Pacific Ocean. The treaty also stated that
Spain would cede Florida to the United States. In
exchange for Spain ceding Florida and establishing
exact western boundary lines, Spain received $5 million to pay American claims against Spain.
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Copyright © Lone Star Publishing J. V.
O RE G O N
C O U N TRY
Louisiana Purchase, 1803
Ceded to U.S. by Adams-Onís Treaty
Gulf of Me x i co
Adams-Onís Treaty border, 1819
Present-day state boundaries shown
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Anglo American Colonization of Texas ✯ 7
The Louisiana Purchase and the Adams-Onís Treaty, 1803 –1819 continued
Interpreting Maps and the Text
1. Where was the eastern boundary between Texas and Louisiana before the Adams-Onís Treaty was
signed?
2. How did the eastern boundary between Texas and Louisiana change after the Adams-Onís Treaty
was signed?
3. Which two rivers were used to mark the northern boundary between Spanish territory and the United
States in 1819?
4. Which river was an important boundary in the Louisiana Purchase?
5. Did Texas gain or lose territory as a result of the Adams-Onís Treaty? Explain your answer.
6. Which rivers, meridians, and parallels were important factors in the Adams-Onís Treaty?
Copyright © Lone Star Publishing J. V.
7. Why did the Adams-Onís Treaty use rivers, meridians, and parallels to set the boundaries between the
United States and Spanish territory?
8 ✯ UNIT 3 CHAPTER 8