Terms: lewisandclark
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• Social Studies > History > American History

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1. Lewis and Clark Expedition - A History (LewisandClark.org)
   "On February 28, 1803, the Congress appropriated funds for a small U.S. Army unit to explore the Missouri and Columbia rivers and tell the western Indian tribes that traders would soon come to buy their furs. The explorers were to make a detailed report on western geography, climate, plants and animals, and to study the customs and languages of the Indians. Plans for the expedition were almost complete when the President learned that France offered to sell all of Louisiana Territory to the United States. This transfer, which was completed within a year, doubled the area of the United States. It meant that Jefferson's Army expedition could travel all the way to the crest of the Rockies on American soil, no longer needing permission from the former French owners."
   
   Editor's Note: It could be argued that the French never bought the land and really did not have the moral authority to sell it. The Indigenous people who had been on the land for centuries never sold the land to the French and were still there. What the Americans bought was the agreement for the French to provide no military resistance to Americans as the Americans took the land from the Indigenous people. 01-07