Jefferson, Louisiana Purchase, Lewis & Clark

1. pp. 200-211

2.  Napoleon named “first
consul” of France in 1799
 Empirical ambitions
 France claimed Louisiana
from Spain in 1800
 Hoped to est. French empire
in America

3.  French empire in West
Indies
 Guadeloupe, Martinique,
Santo Domingo (Haiti today)
 Sugar plantations brought
wealth
 Slaves revolted in Santo
Domingo & created a
republic
 Led by Toussaint L’Ouverture

4.  The Adams
administration/Federalist
party had typically been
pro-British
 Jefferson
administration/Republican
Party=pro-French
 French & British were at
war nearly non-stop from
1792-1815
 Jefferson finds out in 1802
that New Orleans/lower
Mississippi River is off
limits to Americans
 Westerners are
unhappy/limits their trade
 Jefferson instructs Robert
Livingston (ambassador to
France) to negotiate for the
purchase of New Orleans…

5.  While waiting for
Livingston’s response
Jefferson prepares for war
 Napoleon offers not only
New Orleans, but all of
Louisiana
 Napoleon had given up
hopes of a French empire
in America
 Yellow fever wiped out forces
 Ships frozen in place through
winter of 1802-1803

6.  Agreement signed on April 30, 1803
 $15 million/3 cents per acre
 Boundaries were not clearly defined

7.  Jefferson was happy w/ agreement & its
terms
 But…why was he concerned with the
acquisition of Louisiana?

8.  “the good sense of our country will correct
the evil of loose construction when it shall
produce ill effects.”
 Government organized Louisiana like it had
the NW territory
 Louisiana becomes 18th
state in 1812

9.  Louisiana Territory was
relatively unknown
 Few Americans had
ventured west of the
Mississippi
 Before Purchase
Jefferson was planning
a westward expedition
 Hand-picked
Meriwether Lewis as its
guide
 Had been Jefferson’s
personal secretary

10.  Lewis chose William
Clark as his co-pilot
 Experienced
frontiersman

11.  Left St. Louis, MO in April of 1804
 4 dozen men
 Traveled up Missouri River, against the
current
 Stayed at Ft. Mandan in present-day ND
during winter of 1804-1805
 Met Sacajawea, she led expedition from
there
 Reached Pacific in October of 1805
 Back to St. Louis in by September of 1806

14.  William Clark
 Fought & was captured during War of 1812
 Governor of Missouri Territory, 1813-1820
 Never freed his slave, York
 Meriwether Lewis
 Governor of Louisiana Territory, 1807-1809
 Mysterious death in 1809
 Sacajawea
 Died in 1812, only 24 y.o.

15.  No Northwest Passage
 Provided valuable info:
 Missouri River, topography, climate, land, tribes,
animals, plants
 Established trade w/ Native tribes; shifted
trade from competitors
 Move towards Manifest Destiny
 Devastating for Natives

17.  Made it as far west
as Colorado
 Pike’s Peak
 Left Americans of
the East believing
that Plains & West
were uninhabitable
& not farmable

18.  “Not a stick of timber”
 “These vast plains of the
western hemisphere, may
become in time equally
celebrated as the sandy
deserts of Africa”
 1823—Major Stephen Long
labels the area the “Great
American Desert”
 Pike’s Peak, CO

19.  What was Essex Junto?
 Why the threat of secession?

20.  MA, extreme Federalists
 Threatened secession
 Didn’t get support from Hamilton
 Turned to Aaron Burr
 Supposedly Burr did support secession…

21.  Asked to be Federalist
candidate for governor of NY
 Rumors he supported
Federalist secession
 Hamilton accused Burr of
treason & said he had
“despicable” character
 Burr lost & blamed it on
Hamilton

22.  Burr challenged Hamilton to a duel
 July 11, 1804 near Weehawken, NJ
 Burr wounds Hamilton, Hamilton dies the
next day
 Burr was charged with multiple crimes, but
never tried in court
 Finish VP term, but political career was over

24.  Before duel, Burr had
plotted to capture
Mexico
 Also, rumors that he
hoped to rule a
western empire
 Little evidence
 Burr arrested as a
traitor, but eventually
acquitted
 What did the Burr
Conspiracy say about
the nation in the early
1800s?

25.  American merchant
marine grew rapidly
 Controlled much of the
trans-Atlantic trade
 By 1805 Napoleon
controls almost entire
European continent
 Napoleon bans British
trade to Europe
 British responds by
requiring all good
going to Europe to be
on British vessels or
checked at a British
port
 America=Rock & Hard
Place

26.  British navy was capturing American sailors &
forcing them into service=impressment
 British navy was losing manpower & needed
replacements
 Chesapeake-Leopard incident in 1807
 British Leopard opened fire, Americans
surrendered
 Americans wanted revenge

27.  Jefferson & Madison (Sec. of State) tried to
keep the peace
 Asked Brits to end impressment, but refused
to do so

28.  The Embargo (Act)—Ended American exports
to all foreign countries
 Hurt merchants, esp. in New England
 Led to economic downturn
 Jefferson replaced Embargo w/ Non-
Intercourse Act
 Only banned trade w/ France & Britain
 Ban lifted in 1810

29.  Jefferson’s plan: Natives could assimilate into
settled farmers or move West of the
Mississippi
 W. H. Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory
from 1801 to 1812, strictly enforced
Jefferson’s plan
 Rising American population west of
Appalachians

30.  Tribes were losing
lands quickly, see maps
on p. 208, until…
 1. British attempted to
ally with Native tribes,
expecting American
invasion of Canada
 2. Rise of the Prophet
& his efforts to unite
tribes
Harrison

31.  The Prophet sparked a
religious revival & a
renunciation of white
ways, back to roots
 The Prophet’s brother,
Tecumseh, hoped to
unite all tribes of the
Mississippi Valley
 While Tecumseh was
absent, Harrison fought
the tribal forces
 Battle of Tippecanoe
(1811)
 Weakened Native forces
 By 1812 Tecumseh’s
warriors were attacking
white settlements
 British helped supply
Natives

32.  Push to acquire Spanish Florida
 Threat to Georgia & other southern states
 Slaves escaped
 Indian attacks
 Americans captured western part of Florida
Territory in 1810 & made plans to take the
rest
 Spain was Britain’s ally

33.  Calls for war increased
 Territorial expansion
 War Hawks led by:
 1. Henry Clay—KY
 2. John C. Calhoun—SC
 President Madison approved war on June 18,
1812

34. Clay
Calhoun
President
Madison