The Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition

Grade 8 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Buying Louisiana, 1803 (cards A to D). Card A, a summary in our words from the National Archives: on April 30, 1803 the United States bought about 828,000 square miles west of the Mississippi River from France for $15 million, which the Archives calls "roughly 4 cents an acre". The American negotiators, Robert Livingston and James Monroe, had been authorized to pay up to $10 million, solely for the port of New Orleans and the Floridas. The price was two payments: 60 million francs ($11,250,000) for the land and 20 million francs ($3,750,000) for claims of American citizens against France. Card B, a summary in our words from the State Department's Office of the Historian: farmers in the American West shipped goods down the Mississippi River to New Orleans. President Jefferson wrote, as the Office quotes him: "There is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans." Jefferson sent James Monroe to join Livingston to try to buy New Orleans and West Florida for as much as $10 million. Napoleon, whose army in the French Caribbean colony of St. Domingue was being hit by yellow fever and who faced the threat of war with England, offered the entire territory instead, and the negotiators agreed although this far exceeded their instructions. The Office says the Louisiana Purchase covered 530,000,000 acres bought for $15 million. Card C, Article III of the treaty signed April 30, 1803 by Livingston and Monroe for the United States and Marbois for France (spelling and capitals as printed): "The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union of the United States and admitted as soon as possible according to the principles of the federal Constitution to the enjoyment of all these rights, advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States, and in the mean time they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and the Religion which they profess." Card D, Article VI of the same treaty (as printed): "The United States promise to execute Such treaties and articles as may have been agreed between Spain and the tribes and nations of Indians until by mutual consent of the United States and the said tribes or nations other Suitable articles Shall have been agreed upon." No Native nation signed the treaty. One square mile is 640 acres.

2. 1.

   Card C is the treaty text, signed by American and French negotiators. What is it best evidence for, Ari asks?

   • What the people living in Louisiana wanted
   • How historians today rate the purchase
   • What the two governments promised each other on paper
   • How the people of Louisiana were treated in the following decades
3. 2.

   Card A says the $10 million was for New Orleans and the Floridas. Card B says New Orleans and West Florida. What should Tala conclude?

   • Card A says West Florida alone, and card B says both of the Floridas together
   • They agree on New Orleans but differ on Florida; the instructions would settle it
   • The cards agree completely, since West Florida is the same as the whole of the Floridas
   • Both are wrong, so the $10 million figure should be dropped from the record
4. 3.

   Which chain from cards A and B best explains why the United States bought all of Louisiana, Jun asks?

   • Spain sold the land to the United States after yellow fever struck its army there
   • Westerners needed New Orleans; Napoleon, facing fever and war, offered all of it
   • Napoleon offered only New Orleans, so the negotiators asked for the rest of Louisiana
   • Jefferson wanted a Pacific route, so he bought Louisiana to open it for trade
5. 4.

   A student writes: "The United States planned from the start to buy all of Louisiana." How strong is that claim, given cards A and B, Pia asks?

   • Weak: they were sent to buy New Orleans, and the whole territory was France's offer
   • Strong: card B says Jefferson asked France for the whole West from the very start
   • Weak: card A says the negotiators refused the offer when France first made it in Paris
   • Strong: card A says the price was $15 million for the whole land, so it was planned
6. 5.

   Card A says "roughly 4 cents an acre". Using the price and acres in card B, is that figure close, Bo asks?

   • Not quite: the figures give about 3 cents an acre, so card A is a rougher figure
   • Yes: 15 million divided by 530 million acres works out to 4 cents an acre exactly
   • No: the figures cannot be compared, so one of the two cards must be false
   • No: the two figures give about 28 cents an acre, which is far above card A's 4 cents
7. 6.

   Negotiators could spend up to $10 million. Counting only the $11.25 million for the land, how far over was the price, Milo asks?

   • $5 million over, since card A counts the full $15 million as the price of the land itself
   • $1.5 million over, since 11.25 minus 10 is 1.5, which is about 15 percent over
   • About 125 percent over the instructions, because part of the $15 million paid claims
   • $1.25 million over, about 12 percent, because part of the $15 million paid claims
8. 7.

   Cards C and D each say who is protected. How do the two articles differ, Kira asks?

   • Both articles say Native nations agreed to the sale and signed the treaty in Paris
   • Article VI makes Native nations citizens of the United States, as Article III does
   • Article III covers Native nations, and Article VI covers the colonists and their children alike
   • Article III promises inhabitants citizens' rights; Article VI keeps Spain's treaties with tribes
9. 8.

   A student says: "The treaty ended the treaty rights of Native nations in Louisiana." How strong is that claim, given card D, Ren asks?

   • Weak: Article VI keeps Spain's treaties with the tribes in force until both sides agree
   • Weak: card D says the tribes signed the sale and agreed to the transfer in Paris
   • Strong: no tribe signed the treaty, so any rights it had under older treaties ended
   • Strong: card D says the United States would cancel Spain's treaties with the tribes
10. 9.

    Which new evidence would best show whether Native nations in the territory knew of the sale in 1803, Esme asks?

    • A modern summary of the treaty, its price and the territory it covered
    • A report from the 1830s on reservations, written thirty years after the sale
    • Letters, speeches or council records by Native leaders from 1803 to 1805
    • A map of Louisiana drawn in 1803, marking the rivers and the main villages
11. 10.

    Card B shows the American goal changing as events unfolded. What changed, Noah asks?

    • By 1803 the plan was already to send an expedition to the Pacific for trade and furs
    • France decided to keep New Orleans for itself after making its offer to the Americans
    • The aim grew from buying New Orleans and West Florida to taking the whole territory
    • The aim shrank from buying the whole of Louisiana to buying just New Orleans and its port