Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase

In 1803, the Louisiana Purchase by the United States for $15 million increased the amount of territory the country owned by 828,000 square miles, doubling its size. The newly acquired land stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west, and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south…

The Trail of Tears – A Journey Resulting in Loss and Heartache

As the USA expanded, many white settlers believed that they were entitled to the land that Native Americans had farmed and hunted for hundreds of years in Georgia, Tennessee, Florida, Alabama and North Carolina. At the beginning of the 1830's there were approximately 125,000 Native Americans living in these states, but by the end of…