The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition

The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition — page 1
INTRODUCTION The Louisiana Territory was an object of great interest to European nations during their explorations explorations of North America This vast tract of land in the continent’s interior stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico Explorations and scattered scattered settlements in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries gave France control over the river and title to most of the Mississippi valley In 1762 France ceded the territory to Spain By 1800 the young and expanding United States was pushing up against the eastern edge of the Louisiana Territory Great Britain held the territory of Canada to the north and Spain owned Florida to the south Spain allowed Americans to use the Mississippi River as well as the port of New Orleans at the river’s mouth In 1800 however Spain ceded Louisiana back to France leaving the United States uncertain about the future of transportation transportation and trade on the Mississippi and uneasy about a 4