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Locating the Site
Map 1: The United States in
1800.
Map 2: The United States in
1810.
Key: Maps 1 &
2.
(Maps 1 & 2, and the Map Key were adapted from the 1800 and 1810 U.S. territorial growth maps
in the National Atlas of the United States of America, U.S. Department of the Interior Geological
Survey, Washington, D.C. 1970. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.)
Before the purchase of the Louisiana Territory from France in 1803, the United States of
America much more closely resembled the shape and size of the original 13 colonies with
the Mississippi River as the western boundary of the United States. After the Louisiana
Purchase, the U.S. became a dominant landholder in North America. With the French
now preoccupied with strengthening their claims in Europe and the Spanish claims
limited mostly to the Southwest and Central America, the U.S. was eager to lay claim to
the disputed Oregon Country that both Great Britain and the U.S. coveted. The Lewis and
Clark expedition helped cement that claim.
*Note on U.S. Territories:
According to the Northwest Ordinance legislation of 1787, land would remain in
territorial status until the population reached 60,000. At that time, the territorial
legislature would submit a state constitution to Congress and, upon its approval, the state
would enter the Union.