JEFFERSON DREAMS OF AN EMPIRE OF LIBERTY At the beginning of the 1800s the There were only 16 states Great United States did not look like it Britain held the land to the north does today It was much smaller Spain controlled the Floridas to the Most Americans lived on the East South and the land in the far west Coast near the Atlantic Ocean The Floridas included the present day Florida and the land along the coast of Louisiana France claimed the central part of what is the United States today In 1801 Thomas Jefferson became the third president of the United States Since he was a young boy Jefferson had been fascinated with the West But no one knew much about the geography or wildlife of the area Even less was known about President Thomas Jefferson
DISTRICT OF MAINE BRITISH TERRITORY NEW YORK RHODE ISLAND CONNECTICUT INDIANA OHIO DELAWARE TERRITORY TENNESSEE MISSISSIPPIGEORGIA TERRITORY PACIFIC OCEAN SPANISH FLORIDA GULF OF MEXICO the hundreds of American Indian tribes living there The West North America Number of years in 1803 Thomas Jefferson served as president was part of Jefferson's dream of an empire of liberty He believed that the United States needed to grow Before the end of his first term Jefferson would have the opportunity to buy land from the Mississippi River all the way to the Rocky Mountains This area was called Louisiana Territory Jefferson wanted the United States to grow Jefferson wanted the West explored In the early 1800s parts of the present day United States were owned by Great Britain Spain and France Many American Indian tribes lived in the
LOUIS XIV CALLS LOUISIANA QUITE USELESS On April 9 1682 French explorer impressed He called the discovery quite useless René Robert Cavelier de La Salle reached the mouth of the It wasn't until 1699 that the French Mississippi River La Salle claimed set up a colony in the territory Settlers from France and Germany the land west of the Mississippi for France even though American Indian tribes had been living there came to live there They cleared the land and built farms Not long for centuries He named the land after French speakers from Canada Louisiana after the King of France Louis XIV But the king wasn't moved there too Later people in Africa and the West Indies a group of islands in the Caribbean Sea were captured and brought in to work the land as slaves In 1754 fighting began between Great Britain and France It is known as the French and Indian War 1754 1763 During the war France gave up Louisiana to its ally Spain Under Spanish control commerce in René Robert Cavelier de La Salle Louisiana
Meanwhile by the late 1700s more Americans began to settle the lands between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississippi River Louis XIV didn't think Louisiana was worth much 64 NATCHEZ TRIBE Number of years Louisiana was a French colony For hundreds of years American Indian tribes have lived west of the Mississippi River One of these tribes is the Natchez From the early 1700s French colonialists began to build farms on their homelands Louisiana Territory was named for King Louis XIV The French built the first settlement there in 1699 Trade in Louisiana grew under the Spanish American settlers began to move farther west Angered the Natchez Indians attacked the French French troops put down the attack The Natchez were
