Louisiana Territory

Examples of Louisiana Territory in the following topics:

• Incorporating Louisiana

  • Louisiana was incorporated into the Union and territorial governments were set up which later would become states.
  • The question of slavery in the Louisiana Territory was left ambiguous in the north.
  • The Louisiana Territory was vast, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Rupert's Land in the north, and from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west.
  • The Purchase was one of several territorial additions to the U.S.
  • Analyze the political and economic circumstances surrounding the purchase of the Louisiana Territory

• The Lewis and Clark Expedition

  • After the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to lead an expedition called the "Corps of Discovery."
  • Jefferson was highly interested in surveying the flora, fauna, geology, and ethnography of the vast territory west of the Mississippi River.
  • The corps set about making friends with American Indian tribes while simultaneously attempting to assert American power over the territory.
  • Upon their return, Meriwether Lewis was named governor of the Louisiana Territory.
  • This map illustrates the route of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, through the Louisiana Territory and across the present-day Pacific Northwest to the Pacific Ocean.

• The Missouri Compromise

  • It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30′ north, except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri.
  • The Missouri territory had been part of the Louisiana Purchase and was the first part of that vast acquisition to apply for statehood.
  • When the status of the Missouri territory was taken up in earnest in the U.S.
  • To prevent similar conflicts each time a territory applied for statehood, a line coinciding with the southern border of Missouri (at latitude 36° 30') was drawn across the remainder of the Louisiana Territory.
  • The provisions of the Missouri Compromise forbidding slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30′ north were effectively repealed by the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854.

• The Louisiana Purchase

  • The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States overnight and marked a major invasion into American Indian territory.
  • The Louisiana Territory was vast, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Rupert's Land in the north, and from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west.
  • A territory could be proclaimed when its population reached 5,000 settlers.
  • The question of slavery in the Louisiana Territory was left ambiguous in the North, and in later decades, this ambiguity would dominate American life.
  • State-formation out of the Louisiana territory would become a major issue for the federal government toward the mid-nineteenth century, as debates over the establishment of free versus slave states initiated a sectarian divide in Congress that eventually led to the Civil War.

• Pinckney's Treaty

  • The boundary of Florida had been in dispute since the British had expanded the territory of the Florida colonies while it was in their possession.
  • With the signing of the treaty in 1795, the border between the United States and the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida became what is now the line through the present-day states of Georgia and Florida, respectively, and the territory extended from the northern boundary of the Florida panhandle to the northern boundary of that portion of Louisiana East of the Mississippi.
  • The treaty also established a trade agreement that granted access to Louisiana's ports previously closed to Americans.
  • Spanish power in the region began to weaken, and Spain slowly ceded more territory.
  • When France then sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803, disputes arose again between Spain and the United States regarding which parts of West Florida Spain had ceded to France.

• Jefferson's Agrarian Policy

  • This achievement occurred in the form of the Louisiana Purchase under Jefferson, the largest land deal in the history of the United States.
  • Despite the Jeffersonian ideal of a limited central government (which would not be empowered to negotiate such an expansive land deal) and Jefferson's own commitment to policies for federal debt reduction (the United States paid France fifteen million dollars for the territory), the Louisiana Purchase symbolized the success of Jeffersonian Democracy in several ways.
  • With the Louisiana Purchase, new resources, trading routes, and extensive contact with other territories and provinces allowed for unprecedented opportunities for American farmers to cement their independence by populating western regions.
  • Although the Louisiana Purchase brought new opportunities for U.S. expansion, it also had several long-term detrimental effects.
  • Furthermore, state-formation out of the Louisiana territory would become a major issue for the federal government towards the mid-nineteenth century as debates over the establishment of free versus slave states initiated a sectarian divide in Congress that led to the Civil War.

• New France and Louisiana

  • The territory was then divided into five colonies, each with its own administration: Canada, Acadia, Hudson Bay, Newfoundland (Plaisance), and Louisiana.
  • Eventually, the French crown decided to colonize the territory to secure and expand its influence in America.
  • Louisiana was an administrative district of New France and was under French control from 1682–1763 and 1800–1803.
  • Britain received the lands east of the Mississippi River, including Canada, Acadia, and parts of Louisiana, while Spain received the territory to the west—the larger portion of Louisiana.
  • Also shown are boundary changes within the territory the British had acquired between 1763 and 1783.

• Treaty of Paris

  • The Treaty of Paris is frequently noted as the point at which France gave Louisiana to Spain.
  • This included Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which was to be part of the British territory of West Florida.
  • The Mississippi River corridor, in what is modern-day Louisiana, was to be reunited following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Adams-Onís Treaty in 1819
  • French territories on the continent of America; it is agreed, that, for the future, the confines between the dominions of his Britannick Majesty and those of his Most Christian Majesty, in that part of the world, shall be fixed irrevocably by a line drawn along the middle of the River Mississippi, from its source to the river Iberville, and from thence, by a line drawn along the middle of this river, and the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the sea; and for this purpose, the Most Christian King cedes in full right, and guaranties to his Britannick Majesty the river and port of the Mobile, and everything which he possesses, or ought to possess, on the left side of the river Mississippi, except the town of New Orleans and the island in which it is situated, which shall remain to France, provided that the navigation of the river Mississippi shall be equally free, as well to the subjects of Great Britain as to those of France, in its whole breadth and length, from its source to the sea, and expressly that part which is between the said island of New Orleans and the right bank of that river, as well as the passage both in and out of its mouth: It is farther stipulated, that the vessels belonging to the subjects of either nation shall not be stopped, visited, or subjected to the payment of any duty whatsoever.
  • This map shows Britain's greatest territorial expansion, which occurred in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris.

• Settlement of the New Land

  • By the end of the Seven Years War in 1763, the French were driven out of western North American territory, thus ceding control to the British.
  • However, with the success of the American Revolution, westward expansion and territorial acquisition of the North American continent became a U.S.
  • Aggressive negotiations with Spain brought acquisition of some Floridian territory and Jefferson's Louisiana Purchase of 1803 more than doubled the size of the United States.
  • Britain consolidated control over its Canadian territory and Mexico maintained much of its present-day boundaries.
  • Identify key dates in the history of the United States' territorial expansion

• The Treaty of Paris (1763)

  • In the treaty, most of these territories were restored to their original owners although Britain made considerable gains.
  • France also ceded the eastern half of French Louisiana to Britain (the area from the Mississippi River to the Appalachian Mountains).
  • The Treaty of Paris is sometimes noted as the point at which France gave Louisiana to Spain. 
  • The Treaty of Paris was to give Britain the east side of the Mississippi (including Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which was to be part of the British territory of West Florida).
  • The Mississippi River corridor in what is modern day Louisiana was to be reunited following the Louisiana Purchase in 1803 and the Adams–Onís Treaty in 1819.