Have you ever wondered how the United States came to be? How it became so big? At first it was only New England. Then we expanded, expanded, and expanded. The first expansion of our country came from the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. President Jefferson wanted to buy New Orleans and have control of the Mississippi. So, he sent James Monroe and Robert Livingston to negotiate a deal with France. Monroe and Livingston gave the French 15 million for all of the Louisiana territory, which is 828,000 square miles. Jefferson's goals were that the Mississippi river would link farmers to New Orleans and other areas.
             The Louisiana territory wasn't enough for Jefferson. He wanted to know what was farther west. So, in 1804 he started an expedition with Lewis and Clark in charge. There were 50 people in the expedition. They were called the Corpse of Discovery. Lewis and Clark's duties were to explore, chart the lands, and make friends with the natives. On there expedition they came across 50 Native American tribes. The Mandan Indians were a lot of help. During they're first winter they stayed with the Mandan Indians. Another very helpful Indian was a women by the name of Sacagawea. Sacagawea served as a translator for Lewis and Clark. They also relied on her for medical help, because she knew all the plants and herbs really well. Some of their discoveries on the expedition were bison, elk, antelope, rivers, mountains, Great Plains and much more.
             Soon, white settlers came into the native lands and started building homes. The Native Americans had no say in this. The white settlers brought with them disease, alcohol, and they killed the bison. Tecumseh and other Indians were outraged. Fighting often broke out between The Native Americans and the settlers. Some tribes like Little Turtle and Blue Jacket fought had to sign the treaty of Greenville, because they lost to Washington's armies. The treaty of Greenvil
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