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Ohio Westward Expansion
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The start of the Ohio Westward Expansion
In 1803 President Thomas Jefferson sent a secret message to Congress calling for an expedition into the area west of the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean -
Napoleon of France makes a surprise move.
Napoleon of France, in a surprise move, offered the whole Louisiana Territory to the United States for $15,000,000. America accepted and overnight the United States grew by about one million square miles, from the Mississippi to the Rockies and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada. -
Jefferson's Directions
Jefferson had given his personal secretary, Meriweather Lewis, (who had he chosen to lead the exploration), his instructions for the expedition. "...explore the Missouri River and such principal stream of it, as, by its course and communication with the waters of the Pacific Ocean, may offer the most direct and practical water communication across the continent, for the purposes of commerce" was Jefferson's directions fo Lewis. -
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
When Jefferson was in need for another person to acompany Meriwether Lewis on the expedition, Lewis reccomended his good freind William Clark to join him. Thus the Lewis and Clark expedition began. -
The Return of Lewis and Clark
Two and a half years and 8,000 miles later the explorers finally returned to St. Louis. Though the route never became widely used, it provided the reason for the great western exploration movement. The search for America had begun. -
The movement
By 1848, when Mexico finally surrended its claim to all U.S. territories to the north of its present day border, the United States had gained an assured title to all land west from the Rockies to the Pacific Coast. It was this "legitimate possession" that finally convinced thousands of settlers to move westin search of land.
