Documents in Year 1803                     

Links of Interest:

• Thomas Jefferson, Third U.S. President

(1801-1809)
President Thomas Jefferson Purchased Louisiana Territory for $15 million (3 cents per acre) from Napoleon of France.
BBC Atlas of the Natural World North America "Land of the Eagle" Documentary 2006.

• Westward Expansion / American Frontier:

"In the spring of 1803 President Thomas Jefferson secretly negotiates with Napoleon to buy the French port of New Orleans. To Jefferson's surprise the French offer the rest of Louisiana Territory. Known as the Louisiana Purchase this 800,000 square miles of land cost $15 million. It stretches from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, doubling the United States overnight." President Jefferson trains his aid Meriwether Lewis, in latitude and longitude, gives Lewis access to his library and a well known botanist in order to lead a scientific expedition of the Louisiana Territory and find a trade route all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

"Captain Meriwether Lewis prepares and assembles the Expedition in Washington D.C. throughout 1803. He meets his mentor that he hand-picked, Captain William Clark at the staging ground in St. Louis in May 1804."

Sources:

The Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen

"This 2018 four-episode, high-quality documentary offered on Amazon Prime or the History Channel is well worth watching. The episode titled "Never Surrender" covers the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Shawnee Tecumseh's fight against American settlers."

Lewis and Clark Expedition

This 2004 MUSE Award Winning Website was created to celebrate the bicentennial (200 years) anniversary of the Corps of Discovery's Journey across America! Click on "Virtual Journey" for an interactive experience.

• Statehood

  Ohio (17 of 50 States) Admitted 1 March 1803