1. Unit 8: A Strong Start for America
Note Packet 8-4
Coach Styles

2. Unit 8: A Strong Start for America—NP 8-4
Thomas Jefferson’s first term as President was crowned by an achievement of tremendous importance—but started with a great crisis.
Following the French and Indian War, France ceded the Louisiana Territory to Spain.
However, by way of a secret treaty in 1800, Napoleon Bonaparte regained this territory that stretched from the Mississippi River westward to the Rocky Mountains.

3. Unit 8: A Strong Start for America—NP 8-4
Both Spain and France tried to keep this land exchange a secret from the rest of the world, but when rumors of the deal reached the U.S. government, American leaders became very alarmed.
When the Spanish (relatively weak nation) had control of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the U.S. was not especially concerned.
But when France (a powerful and aggressive nation) gained control, America was at serious risk.
What was so important about the mouth of the Mississippi River?
French control of the Mississippi River and the Louisiana Territory would have 3 NEGATIVE EFFECTS on the United States:
Severely limit the trade of frontier farmers.
France would charge for use of the river
Stop American expansion into the interior of North America
Napoleon’s plans for a North American empire would mean the United States had maxed out in terms of size
It would place France, a powerful and aggressive nation, on the western border of the United States.
Compare to Cuban Missile Crisis

4. Unit 8: A Strong Start for America—NP 8-4
None of these effects were acceptable to President Jefferson.
President Jefferson sent James Monroe to France to purchase the port city of New Orleans and Florida from the French.
Monroe was given a ceiling of $10 million for the purchase—but as it turns out, he was in just the right place at just the right time.
One of Napoleon’s armies was bogged down in the disease-infested West Indies and he was fearful that he would lose all of his forces there to illness—Napoleon was ready to get out of the Western Hemisphere.
As a result of Napoleon’s decision to abandon this hemisphere and focus his conquests in Europe, France was ready to present the United States with an even better deal.
Even as Monroe was crossing the Atlantic, French minister Talleyrand asked U.S. foreign minister to France, Robert Livingston, if Jefferson would be interested in dealing on a much larger tract of land.
In April 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France.

5. Unit 8: A Strong Start for America—NP 8-4
In what is known as the Louisiana Purchase, the United States paid $ 15 million for the 830,000 square miles of territory—effectually doubling the size of the country.
At about 4 cents/acre, this was an extremely good real estate bargain for the U.S.

6. Unit 8: A Strong Start for America—NP 8-4
Jefferson now wanted to explore to find out just how good a bargain was made.
With the purpose of finding a Northwest Passage connecting the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, President Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on an expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory.
They were accompanied by a Shoshoni woman, Sacajawea, who served as their translator and guide.
The expedition explored the Rocky Mountains and reached the Continental Divide (The series of mountain ranges extending from Alaska to Mexico that forms the watershed of the North American continent) on August 12, 1805, and the Pacific Ocean in November 1805.

7. Unit 8: A Strong Start for America—NP 8-4
Lewis and Clark returned to St. Louis in September 1806 as national heroes.
No Northwest Passage (does not exist), but a wealth of information about territory that had previously been a blank spot on the map of North America.
While Lewis and Clark explored the Northwest, another explorer, Zebulon Pike, pushed into the American Southwest, giving Americans their first knowledge of the area beyond the Mississippi River.
While in what is now Colorado, Pike was the first white man to discover the peak that now bears his name (Pike’s Peak)

8. Unit 8: A Strong Start for America—NP 8-4
Jefferson’s second term began with great promise—The Louisiana Purchase was an overwhelmingly popular move and in contrast to the election of 1800 that ended in a tie, the 1804 election resulted with Jefferson sweeping every state with the exception of Connecticut and Delaware.