On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed by representatives from the United States and Great Britain. The signing of this treaty officially ended the Revolutionary war, and made the 13 original colonies a country of their own. This was the first and probably most important land acquisition in the history of the United States because it founded our country. Even though the treaty was signed there were still fights over state lines.During the early part of the 1800’s, many Americans were becoming more curious and started to move westward into the unknown. Pioneers like Daniel Boone had already crossed the Appalachian Mountains and had made trails and roads, which made it easy for families to travel to the western part of the United State of America. Everybody living east of the Appalachian Mountains, in the beginning of 1800’s, wanted more places to live and wanted to be able to raise more livestock. Also the United States Government wanted more land to expand the nation so more people could live here. The found the perfect solution the Louisiana Territory.
The Louisiana Territory was just what the government was looking for, it was big and it could expand the country. The Louisiana Territory was a total of 828,800 square miles. This new territory contained parts of 14 current U.S. states and also two providences from Canada. The Louisiana Territory was owned by France, and President Jefferson wanted to acquire the territory from the French. President Jefferson first sent Robert Livingston to France to try and only buy New Orleans and the surrounding area. The reason that Jefferson wanted to buy New Orleans was because he wanted to protect the American settlements located in New Orleans and also the ships sailing back and forth. Napoleon would not sell the land because he still had a dream of a western empire.After Napoleon refused the first time, President Jefferson decided to send James Monroe and Robert Livingston to France in order to try and change Napoleon’s mind. At the time of the second meeting, things were going badly in France and Napoleon needed money, so instead of just selling New Orleans he sold all of the Louisiana Territory to the United States. Monroe and Livingston accepted this deal and agreed to pay 15 million dollars for the Louisiana Territory. Both sides agreed to the deal, and the Louisiana Territory became property of the United States of America.With Monroe and Livingston accepting the deal the size of the United States doubled, and it changed America forever. Jefferson knew that this new part of the country was greatly unknown and it had to be explored. The Lewis and Clark expedition took place so that Jefferson would know what was located in this new part of the United States.Florida was a highly disputed area in our country. Spain had been fighting to keep Florida for many years but finally gave up it claims to Florida, in 1819 when the Adam’s Onís Treaty was signed. Spain finally gave up Florida to the United States because they were fighting a war and needed money in a bad way.In 1836 Texas won its Independence for Mexico. On February 28, 1845, the U.S, congress signed a bill to be able to annex Texas as a U.S. state. On March 1 President Tyler signed the bill. Then in 1845 the annexation of Texas become complete and Texas became the 29th state in the U.S.The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, Mexico gave up part of many U.S. states including Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and Wyoming. The U.S also got all of current day states of California, Nevada and Utah. Also from this Treaty the Rio Grande River was set as the border between Texas and Mexico. This treaty got the U.S. a lot of land.The Gadsen Purchase was an agreement reached by the United States and Mexico where the U.S. agreed to pay Mexico $10 million dollars in 1854. The 10 million dollars bought parts of present day Arizona and New Mexico. This purchase made it possible to have a Southern Transcontinental Railroad and Resolved disputes after the Mexican American War.I believe that the decision to buy the Louisiana Territory, by Jefferson, was probably the biggest decision that a president has made during their time in office. If Jefferson would have passed up the opportunity who knows which country would own the Louisiana Territory today? Just think about only having 36 states in the United States of America. It would be kind of weird, especially since we live in part of what was the Louisiana Territory. To me this was just a big move made by our government that changed our country forever. I think that all of these land purchases were big in their own right, who knows were we would be if we didn't take the oppurtunity to get these lands.
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