Washoe County Library System

Explains the events that led Napoleon Bonaparte to sell the Louisiana Territory and the difficulties that Thomas Jefferson had in making the purchase that doubled the size of the United States.

Looks at the political and economic history of the region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains which, when purchased by Jefferson in 1803, doubled the size of the United States and led the way to further expansion.

Uncharted Territory In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana territory from the French for $15,000,000. The purchase made President Jefferson's dream of extending the U.S. west of the Mississippi River come true. Now the much larger United States had difficult questions to answer: How would Louisiana be governed? How would it be divided into states? Would those states be free states or slave states? What would happen to the Native Americans?...