Essay - Westward Expansion and the Louisiana Purchase the Louisiana Purchase Was...

Westward Expansion and the Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana ***** was a major factor in ***** westward expansion of America. It helped to open a great deal more land to settlers and allowed them to cont*****ue moving their settlements farther ***** the west as they explored more of the untamed country. There were indigenous people in ***** region, the Native Americans, and ***** United States found them a problem when ***** tried to expand their territory and settlements.

***** 1803 the third president, Thomas Jefferson, made ***** ***** Purchase. In one single purchase he ***** than doubled the size of the entire United States ***** provided 820,000 square miles more space for ***** growing American population. For the $15 million price tag, he got a lot of l*****nd. After he ********** what was called 'the Louisiana Territory' from the French, he sent an expeditionary force led by Meriwet*****r Lewis *****d William Clark, to examine the terri*****ry he had just bought, so that ***** ***** of t***** ***** States would know what kind of deal they had received from the French and what kind ***** l***** they ***** be able to settle on.

***** what ***** out there was important, because the people and the president were uncertain as to whether the land and conditions were the same all the way to ***** other end of the country or whether different ********** conditions, plants, and animals might exist out there where no American had ever been.

When ***** and Clark went on their expediti***** they kept personal diaries that ********** ***** all of the plants and ***** that *****y encountered, as well as what ***** of land they were finding. They were looking for an all-water route ***** would reach from the Missouri River to the Pacific Ocean. On *****ir 28 month, 8000 mile journey ***** never did find that route, but they did make it across the Rocky Mountains and all ***** the way to ***** Pacific Ocean. This opened up the whole *****ern region ***** travel and settlement, and would *****t have happened if ***** were not for the Louisiana Purchase.

***** and Clark also told of the American West. ***** was ***** first time ***** the ***** had ever heard of a place with weather and other conditions that ***** different from what they were living with now. It sounded like such a wonderful pl*****ce ***** many settlers packed up right away and started a westward migration to see this beautiful land that Lewis and ***** had talked about. New England farmers left their rocky soil behind and chose the rich, fertile soil ***** they could find out in the prairie land. Many southern farmers also headed west. Their fields were worn out from all ***** the cotton be*****g grown year after *****. They ***** west and built new plantations ***** grew more cotton. The territory acquired in ***** Louisiana Purchase provided the country ***** a great deal of land that was perfect ***** growing crops such as cotton,