The Louisiana Purchase and 15 U.S. States Quiz

Answer: False

The northeast portion of Louisiana's "boot" was seized from Spain in 1810. The young United States did this in order to control both sides of the Mississippi River where it met the Gulf of Mexico (to help ensure the safety of river navigation). Just prior to the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the U.S., Spain allied herself with British interests. (The panhandle in Florida had stretched all the way to the Mississippi River at that time.) The Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 with Spain would eventually cede the rest of Florida to the United States.

The story begins:
U.S. President Thomas Jefferson's original intent in contacting France was just to purchase a small tract of land on the lower Mississippi River, or at least rights that would allow free navigation on the river. In the days before railroads, river barge traffic would be important in allowing development of the central part of the U.S. However, France's First Consul (and later, Emperor) Napoleon was facing renewed war with Great Britain and he needed funds. He offered U.S. negotiators James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston the entire French territory for $15 million (about four cents an acre).

Answer: True

Arkansas borders the Mississippi River on its eastern border.

The story continues:
Thomas Jefferson was jubilant on hearing this news! The Louisiana Purchase would double the size of the country at a very low cost. However, the U.S. Constitution did not specifically empower the federal government to acquire new territory by treaty, so Jefferson was on shaky ground legally! The purchase met with overwhelming approval by the American people and the U.S. Senate quickly ratified it on 20 October 1803.

Answer: False

Although some maps show all of Oklahoma was included in the purchase, the panhandle area of present-day Oklahoma was still claimed by Spain at the time. These conflicting claims were resolved by the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 with Spain, which gave this land to the Spanish. When Mexico lost the Mexican-American War, this land went with Texas. When Texas joined the Union in 1845 as a pro-slavery state, it ceded this land to the U.S. (because of the 1820 Missouri Compromise prohibiting slavery above the 36°30' parallel), and it eventually became part of Oklahoma.

The story continues:
Jefferson now needed to find out what, exactly, had been purchased. Plans were set forth for several missions to explore and chart the territory, with the most famous one being the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Jefferson appointed his personal secretary, Meriwether Lewis, to lead the group, and he in turn selected his old friend William Clark to be co-leader. They then assembled a group of adventurers and backcountry woodsmen who became known as The Corp of Discovery.

Answer: True

Missouri borders the Mississippi River on its eastern border.

The story continues:
Throughout the rest of 1803 various Corp of Discovery members were signed up in many different cities. In the winter of 1803-04 the Corp was organized at its winter staging area at Camp Dubois, Illinois Territory and in May 1804 they left Camp Dubois and started their journey. The first leg would be to travel up the Missouri River to the expedition's 1804-1805 winter headquarters at Fort Mandan, North Dakota territory. On the way there two Corp members, Privates Moses Reed and John Newman, were dismissed. Reed was convicted of desertion, and Newman of mutinous acts.

Answer: False

The story continues:
Corp member Sergeant Charles Floyd died in the summer of 1804 of what is now believed to have been a ruptured appendix. Although the Corp was by now miles from medical care, there was no known cure for peritonitis (a serious result of a ruptured appendix) at that time, so he would have fared no better if he had been back in civilization. He would be the only Corp member to die on the expedition (although many others would suffer various injuries and illnesses during the journey).

Answer: True

Iowa borders the Mississippi River on its eastern border.

The story continues:
At Fort Mandan the two dismissed members were replaced by two French-Canadian fur traders, Jean Baptiste LePage and Toussaint Charbonneau, along with Charbonneau's pregnant Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea. Charbonneau was 47 years old and Sacagawea was a teenager, thought to be approximately 17. She would prove to be invaluable as an interpreter later in their journey. Charbonneau and Sacagawea's infant son, Jean Baptiste, was born while the Corp wintered over and was only 55 days old when the explorers departed Fort Mandan on 7 April 1805.

Answer: True

The story continues:
Beside those three additions, the Corp of Discovery included Captain Clark's black manservant York and Captain Lewis' Newfoundland dog Seaman. Although many other individuals may have joined the Corps briefly at some time or another, only those 33 members who journeyed all the way from Fort Mandan, North Dakota territory (the expedition's 1804-1805 winter headquarters) to Fort Clatsop, Oregon, and returned, comprised the "Permanent Party."

Answer: False

The story continues:
In late winter/early spring 1805 the expedition packed up quite a few discoveries to send back to U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. Items sent back included, "a live prairie dog, a sharp-tailed grouse, four magpies, pelts, horns, and skeletons of various animals, dried plant, soil, mineral, and insect specimens, Mandan and Hidatsa Indian artifacts and items, and Arikara tobacco and tobacco seed." President Jefferson received most of these items in August 1805.

Answer: False

Although some maps of the Purchase show it included all of modern-day Kansas, the western boundary of the Purchase was not well defined and, in fact, overlapped many land claims by the Spanish. The Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 with Spain would eventually iron out these conflicting claims, with the result that the southwest corner of Kansas was awarded to the Spanish. After the Mexican-American War, this land went with Texas. When Texas joined the Union in 1845 as a pro-slavery state, it ceded this land to the U.S. (because of the 1820 Missouri Compromise prohibiting slavery above the 36°30' parallel), and it eventually became part of Kansas.

The story continues:
William Clark is sometimes referred to as the expedition's master graffiti artist (because of the number of places he carved his name on rock formations). Although some historians claim his carved name on Pompey's Pillar near Billings Montana in 1805 is the only concrete evidence he left of the trip, author Tom Laidlaw has identified 13 such places. For example, Clark's journal entry for 23 May 1804 (when they were near the Femme Osage River) notes, "Halted at an indented part of a rock which jutted over the water, called by the French The Tavern, which is a cave 40 yds. long with the river 4 feet deep & about 20 feet high. This is a place the Indians & French pay homage to. Many names are wrote up on the rock, mine among others."

Answer: False

Only the western part of modern-day Minnesota came from the Louisiana Purchase. The eastern part had been won from the French after the French and Indian War (1754-1763).

The story continues:
One of the objectives of the Corp of Discovery was to hopefully locate and map a water route to the Pacific Ocean (the so-called "Northwest Passage"). That would open up ship trade to the Orient and thus speed up development of the fledgling United States. However, when the explorers climbed the first of the Rocky Mountains (the Continental Divide) and saw many more mountains ahead of them, their hearts must have sunk when they realized there was probably no such water route and that they had much more arduous climbing ahead of them!

Answer: False

Although a vast majority (perhaps 99 percent) of South Dakota's land came from the Louisiana Purchase, a small portion in the northeast corner did not.

The story continues:
Much of the Corp of Discovery's journey thus far had been by boat on various rivers, but they now realized they would need horses to continue to cross the Bitterroot Mountains (most likely by trading with local Indians). The Indians in the territory they were then in were the Lemhi Shoshones, and Charbonneau and his Shoshone Indian wife, Sacagawea, were brought in as interpreters. Although Sacagawea did not speak English, she did speak Shoshone and Hidatsa. Her husband, Charbonneau, spoke Hidatsa and French. Corps member Francois Labiche spoke French and English, and would make the final translation. This interpretation chain would require the captains to speak to Labiche in English; he to Toussaint in French; he to Sacagawea in Hidatsa; and she to her tribal people in Shoshone. One can only guess how accurate this was! In one of the most amazing coincidences of the expedition, Sacagawea turned out to be the sister of the Shoshone Chief Cameahwait, whom she had not seen for many years! She had been kidnapped at the age of 12 (some sources say at age 10) by the Hidatsa Indians, traditional enemies of the Shoshones.

Answer: False

The story continues: Although the Louisiana Purchase only extended (roughly) as far west as modern day western Montana, the Corp of Discovery was legally justified in continuing on to the Pacific Ocean. The land in Oregon Country (which comprised, roughly, modern-day Idaho, Oregon and Washington and some Canadian land) was claimed by both the United States and Great Britain.

This territorial dispute would not be resolved until the Anglo-American Convention of 1818 and the Oregon Boundary Treaty of 1846, which fixed the Canada-U.S. boundary from modern-day northern Minnesota to the Pacific Ocean at the 49th parallel.

A small northern part of the Louisiana Purchase was ceded to Canada and became part of the modern-day Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.

Answer: False

The story continues:
After an extremely difficult land journey (for example, fallen timber and thick brush, which clogged the steep rocky mountain slopes and deep gorges and near-starvation conditions), the Corp finally found the origin of the Columbia River. They constructed log canoes and proceeded on in a much less strenuous manner to the Pacific Ocean, finally arriving there 15 November 1805. They then built a log fort (Fort Clatsop, Oregon, near modern Fort Columbia State Park) to rest and recover during the winter of 1805-06.

Answer: False

The story continues:
After a miserable winter of being soaked with rain and plagued with fleas, the Corp was ready to head back home. They left Fort Clatsop on 23 March 1806 and started the long trek back. As you might expect, the return journey was easier, since they now knew which Indians would help them, which to avoid, which river branches were dead ends, etc. They arrived back in St. Louis, Missouri on 23 September 1806.

Answer: False

The story continues:
Eight years after they returned to civilization, they published (in 1814) an account of their journey, complete with a large map based on the sightings and surveys William Clark and Meriwether Lewis had made. An original copy of this map that had been written on in modern ballpoint pen was appraised on 21 August 2004 on the "Antiques Roadshow" TV show for $45,000. The appraiser (Christopher Lane) said an undamaged copy would be worth about $50,000.