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Building Blocks for History Lab:
SS.5.A.6.1 Describe the causes and effects of the Louisiana Purchase.
Essential Question: How did the United States expand in geographic area under President
Thomas Jefferson?
Before introducing this history lab to students, they must be familiar with the general details
surrounding the events leading up to the Louisiana Purchase. In general students will need to
understand the events that led to President Thomas Jefferson making the decision to make the
Louisiana Purchase.
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Geographical size of United States prior
The order of expansion of the United States from the Atlantic Colonies towards Mississippi
River
The birth of the United States from colonization to the new nation
Name _____________________________________________
Period _____
Date _____________________
SS.5.A.6.1 Describe the causes and effects of the Louisiana Purchase.
Relevant to Seventh Grade End of Course Exam Tested Benchmark.
Essential Question: How did the United States expand in geographic area under President Thomas
Jefferson?
Source
Main Idea / Message / Important Details
How does this document answer the
essential question?
Source 1
Quotations from
senate debates
regarding Louisiana
Purchase
Source 2
Photograph of
Thomas Jefferson
approving Louisiana
Purchase
Source 3
Excerpt of Thomas
Jefferson’s 3rd annual
message to congress
Source 4
Map of United States
with Louisiana
Purchase
Summary Statement:
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Prior Knowledge
Louisiana Purchase concluded-1803
On April 30, 1803, representatives of the United States and Napoleonic France conclude negotiations for the
Louisiana Purchase, a massive land sale that doubles the size of the young American republic. What was known
as Louisiana Territory comprised most of modern-day United States between the Mississippi and the Rocky
Mountains, with the exceptions of Texas, parts of New Mexico, and other pockets of land already controlled by
the United States. A formal treaty for the Louisiana Purchase, antedated to April 30, was signed two days later.
Beginning in the 17th century, France explored the Mississippi River valley and established scattered
settlements in the region. By the middle of the 18th century, France controlled more of the modern United
States than any other European power: from New Orleans northeast to the Great Lakes and northwest to
modern-day Montana. In 1762, during the French and Indian War, France ceded its America territory west of
the Mississippi River to Spain and in 1763 transferred nearly all of its remaining North American holdings to
Great Britain. Spain, no longer a dominant European power, did little to develop Louisiana Territory during the
next three decades. In 1796, Spain allied itself with France, leading Britain to use its powerful navy to cut off
Spain from America.
In 1801, Spain signed a secret treaty with France to return Louisiana Territory to France. Reports of the
retrocession caused considerable uneasiness in the United States. Since the late 1780s, Americans had been
moving westward into the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys, and these settlers were highly dependent on free
access to the Mississippi River and the strategic port of New Orleans. U.S. officials feared that France,
resurgent under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, would soon seek to dominate the Mississippi River and
access to the Gulf of Mexico. In a letter to Robert Livingston, the U.S. minister to France, President Thomas
Jefferson stated, “The day that France takes possession of New Orleans…we must marry ourselves to the
British fleet and nation.” Livingston was ordered to negotiate with French minister Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand for the purchase of New Orleans.
France was slow in taking control of Louisiana, but in 1802 Spanish authorities, apparently acting under
French orders, revoked a U.S.-Spanish treaty that granted Americans the right to store goods in New Orleans. In
response, President Jefferson sent future president James Monroe to Paris to aid Livingston in the New Orleans
purchase talks. On April 11, 1803, the day before Monroe’s arrival, Talleyrand asked a surprised Livingston
what the United States would give for all of Louisiana Territory. It is believed that the failure of France to put
down a slave revolution in Haiti, the impending war with Great Britain and probable Royal Navy blockade of
France, and financial difficulties may all have prompted Napoleon to offer Louisiana for sale to the United
States.
Negotiations moved swiftly, and at the end of April the U.S. envoys agreed to pay $11,250,000 and
assumed claims of its citizens against France in the amount of $3,750,000. In exchange, the United States
acquired the vast domain of Louisiana Territory, some 828,000 square miles of land. In October, Congress
ratified the purchase, and in December 1803 France formally transferred authority over the region to the United
States. The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was
Thomas Jefferson’s most notable achievement as president. American expansion westward into the new lands
began immediately, and in 1804 a territorial government was established. On April 30, 1812, exactly nine years
after the Louisiana Purchase agreement was made, the first of 13 states to be carved from the territory–
Louisiana–was admitted into the Union as the 18th U.S. state.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/louisiana-purchase-concluded
Source 1
Senate Debates on the Louisiana Purchase
In this 1803 speech, Senator Samuel White of Delaware expressed his strong opposition to the Louisiana Purchase. Although White
believed that the United States needed access to the port of New Orleans, he thought that buying so much additional territory in the
West was both unnecessary and unconstitutional.
“We have already territory enough, and when I
contemplate the evils that may arise to these States from
this intended incorporation of Louisiana into the Union, I
would rather see it given to France, to Spain, or to any
other nation of the earth, upon the mere condition that
no citizen of the United States should ever settle within its
limits, than to see the territory sold for a hundred
millions of dollars...”
“But as to Louisiana, this new, immense, unbounded
world, if it should even be incorporated into this
Union...I believe that it will be the greatest curse that
could at present befall us; it may be productive of
innumerable evils...”
https://seaofliberty.org/
Source 2
President Thomas Jefferson approving the acquisition of Louisiana Purchase
In April 1682, the Louisiana territory was born, when Robert Cavelier, Sieur (Lord) de La Salle,
erected a cross and column near the mouth of the Mississippi and solemnly read a declaration to a
group of bemused Indians. In April 1803, a treaty was signed for the United States to purchase
Louisiana. Jefferson felt that the land was valuable to the country. I think it is important because it
gives a bigger understanding as to how America’s economy changed after the purchase. If that
territory wasn’t purchased the western world would be different and the United States wouldn’t be
known as one of the greatest countries today. Finding the research I needed was kind of a challenge,
but overall, it was fun learning about the Westward Expansion and what Louisiana means to this
county.
https://sites.google.com/a/email.cpcc.edu/westward-expansion/the-louisiana-purchase
Source 3
Authority Given to the President to Take Possession of the Territory of Louisiana
http://www.newsprepper.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/1356.jpg
An Act to enable the President of the United States to take possession of the territories ceded by
France to the United States, by the treaty concluded at Paris, on the thirtieth of April last; and for the
temporary government thereof.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in
Congress assembled, That the President of the United States be, and he is hereby authorized to take
possession of, and occupy the territory ceded by France to the United States, by the treaty concluded
at Paris, on the thirtieth day of April last, between the two nations; and that he may for that purpose,
and in order to maintain in the said territories the authority of the United States, employ any part of
the army and navy of the United States, and of the force authorized by an act passed the third day of
March last, intituled "An act directing a detachment from the militia of the United States, and for
erecting certain arsenals," which he may deem necessary: and so much of the sum appropriated by
the said act as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated for the purpose of carrying this act into
effect; to be applied under the direction of the President of the United States.
And be it further enacted, That until the expiration of the present session of Congress, unless
provision for the temporary government of the said territories be sooner made by Congress, all the
military, civil and judicial powers, exercised by the officers of the existing government of the same,
shall be vested in such person and persons, and shall be exercised in such manner, as the President
of the United States shall direct for maintaining and protecting the inhabitants of Louisiana in the free
enjoyment of their liberty, property and religion.
APPROVED, October 31, 1803.
http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/2us245.asp
Source 4
After the Louisiana Purchase
With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States purchased approximately
828,000,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young
republic. What was known as Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in
the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to
the Canadian border in the north. Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the
land deal.
The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three
cents an acre was among Jefferson’s most notable achievements as president. American
expansion westward into the new lands began immediately, and in 1804 a territorial
government was established. On April 30, 1812, exactly nine years after the Louisiana
Purchase agreement was made, the first state to be carved from the territory–Louisiana–
was admitted into the Union as the 18th U.S. state.
http://www.history.com/topics/louisiana-purchase