The Lousiana Purchase

Who previously owned the territory of the Louisiana Purchase?

Immediately prior to the Louisiana Purchase, the land in question was secretly sold to France by Spain, who held the European claim to it at the time. Spain was in a weakened position globally, and was under significant pressure from Napoleon. However, upon acquiring the land, Napoleon quickly came to see it as a burden after he began losing his Caribbean territories. He needed quick cash to fuel his military conflicts, and offered the United States a surprisingly generous deal on the land. All these changes in ownership took place over a relatively short period, between the years of 1800 and 1803.

What were the reasons for the Louisiana Purchase?

Upon discovering that Spain had sold the Louisiana territory to France, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson decided to send representatives to negotiate for the acquisition of the city of New Orleans, a crucial port on the mouth of the Mississippi River. The U.S. was mostly interested only in the city, as well as securing a better foothold in the trade that flourished up and down the river between native tribes and European settlers. The inclusion of a great deal more land in the bargain did not come up until later.

How much did the Louisiana Purchase cost?

The United States representatives that were sent to negotiate had been authorized by President Jefferson to pay up to 10 million dollars to acquire New Orleans. They were quite surprised when Napoleon’s representative offered them the entire Louisiana territory for only 15 million dollars, and took the deal straight away. It was one of the most lucrative land deals in all of history, and effectively doubled the size of the United States overnight. Much later, after the size of the Louisiana territory had been accurately evaluated, it was discovered that the United States had paid a ludicrously low price of about three cents to the acre.

Whose idea was the Louisiana Purchase?

Even though it was quite a momentous event, the Louisiana Purchase took place in an environment of chaos, and was nearly so hasty as to be spontaneous. Spain had only given it up in the first place because its colonial power was waning quickly, while Napoleon had scarcely acquired the land before he tried looking for ways to unload it, as he had neither the time nor the resources to control such a vast territory. He instructed his Treasury Minister to sell the whole of it to the United States, whose surprised representatives accepted the offer on the spot. President Thomas Jefferson actually had a difficult time explaining the sudden acquisition to the American people.

Was the Louisiana Purchase a legal sale?

The Louisiana Purchase was a very controversial move. Many Americans objected, saying that it was a huge overreach of federal power. President Jefferson himself, a proponent of more limited government, was worried that it would make him look hypocritical. There was also concern over the fact that the acquisition had suddenly created thousands of new American citizens, creating the potential for fresh clashes over property, slavery, and cultural differences. Finally, there were grounds to question the legality of the sale: Napoleon had sold it without the consent of the rest of the French government, and selling it in the first place violated several of his treaties with Spain. In the end, despite the objections of the Spanish government and dissatisfied Americans, the acquisition was smoothed over and eventually normalized. Most historians agree that the Louisiana Purchase was technically illegal, although today many Americans look back on it as a triumph.

How big was the Louisiana Purchase?

It is now known that the size of the Louisiana Purchase was about 2,147,000 square kilometers of land, or about 829,000 square miles, nearly a quarter of the country’s present land mass. At the time that the deal was made, nobody actually had a clear understanding of just how big the Louisiana territory was. Even after the Louisiana Purchase was concluded, there were numerous disputes between the U.S. and Spain as to the boundaries of the territory, especially since they had not been clearly laid out in any of the previous treaties between Spain and France during which the land had changed hands. Ultimately, the question wasn’t settled until 1819, as part of the Adams-Onís Treaty.

What was the Adams-Onís Treaty?

As colonial Spain was waning in power, it and the United States started having more frequent border disputes. The two governments continually argued and fought over the boundaries of the Louisiana and Missouri territories and the ownership of present-day Florida, but the Adams-Onís Treaty was a turning point that created some more permanent border arrangements. The treaty used many of the discoveries of explorers such as Lewis and Clark, who were originally dispatched to survey the Louisiana Purchase, as parameters for determining the new boundaries of the territory. It transferred ownership of Florida from Spain to the United States, and established the latter’s claim to land stretching all the way past the Rocky Mountains and to the Pacific Coast. In exchange, the U.S. ceded control over the parts of Texas that it had claimed under the Louisiana Purchase, but still got to keep the bulk of its acquisitions.

The Dust Bowl

What was the Dust Bowl?

 The Dust Bowl refers to a place and time during the 1930s, when countless farms in the United States and Canada were destroyed due to drought and dust storms. The events of this period affected the lives of millions, putting a permanent stamp on the American consciousness.

Where did the Dust Bowl take place?

 The Dust Bowl primarily affected the American Great Plains region, most notably the states of Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas. So many came from Oklahoma that people often called the displaced farmers “Okies,” regardless of their place of origin.

What are the Great Plains?

 The area known as the Great Plains takes up vast swathes of land in the middle of the North American continent, roughly centered between the Rocky Mountain range and the Mississippi River. Most of it is prairie land, with native grasses making up the majority of the local flora. Heavy agricultural development of the area combined with its cyclical rainfall patterns to create the conditions that eventually led to the Dust Bowl.

What caused the Dust Bowl?

 The Dust Bowl phenomenon resulted from a combination of ignorant farming practices and unfortunate weather patterns. American farmers plowed under the native grasses in favor of cash crops, under the mistaken assumption that the seasons of heavy rainfall would continue indefinitely. When a drought came in the 1930s, there were no longer any plants to hold moisture in the topsoil, and so it dried out and blew away in the strong winds.

How long did the Dust Bowl last?

The Dust Bowl began in 1930 and lasted anywhere from five to ten years, depending on the area. The effects it had were profound, with social and environmental consequences that continued for decades afterwards.

What were some of the effects of the Dust Bowl?

 The Dust Bowl displaced hundreds of thousands of people, and because it happened to coincide with the Great Depression, they had trouble getting back on their feet once they had moved to places like California. Novelist John Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath, considered to be one of the great American novels, about the plight of such families. The ability of the land to produce crops was severely damaged, and thousands of farmers were financially ruined. Many people were even killed as a result of starvation and conditions such as dust pneumonia.

What is dust pneumonia?

 Dust pneumonia is a sickness that can result from dust storms, caused when a thick layer of dust settles deep in the lungs and prevents them from functioning properly. The Black Blizzards of the Dust Bowl brought about many cases of this disorder, although it is not known exactly how many.

What were the Black Blizzards?

 This was a common nickname for the enormous dust storms that devastated the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl, ripping up the topsoil and sweeping thousands of tons of dirt as far away as the East Coast. In some places, dust was even seen to fall like snow, piling up on the ground in huge drifts. One of the worst storms took place on April 14th, 1935, which was thereafter referred to as Black Sunday.

What finally ended the Dust Bowl?

There were several factors involved in bringing the Dust Bowl to a close. The United States government engaged in an aggressive campaign to limit the damage and educate the local farmers in more sustainable growing practices. Techniques such as planting trees and grasses were helpful in anchoring the soil and greatly reduced the severity of the dust storms, but so much damage had already been done that it was difficult for the region to recover easily. One of the biggest factors in the gradual recovery was the end of the drought cycle in the late 1930s, bringing more moisture to the area. Also, many of the farming families had simply left, and the land was not being as heavily cultivated. Successive generations have been more careful in order to prevent another Dust Bowl phenomenon, employing strategies such as crop rotation in order to better maintain the topsoil.

The Great Depression

What caused the Great Depression?

Whether the Great Depression was primarily the result of private business practices or governmental monetary policies is a matter that remains hotly debated to this day. Whatever the case, it is known that the downturn in prosperity was exacerbated and prolonged by people’s panicked reactions. All this confusion fed into the economic recession, which allowed the Great Depression to grow from a big problem into a disaster of legendary proportions. At the same time, the Dust Bowl was occurring in America’s heartland, uprooting many farmers and causing a food shortage.

What was Black Thursday?

Black Thursday refers to October 24th,1929, when a massive stock market crash hit Wall Street. This crash heralded the end of the prosperity of the 1920s, and marked the official beginning of the Great Depression.

How long did the Great Depression last?

In the United States, the Great Depression is considered to have lasted from October of 1929 to about 1941, when the country began to get heavily involved in World War II.

What were some of the effects of the Great Depression?

• 25% rate of unemployment in the U.S.
• halted industrial and agricultural production
• hugely devalued currency around the world
• many countries dropped the gold standard in favor of a floating currency
• marked increases in the size of the United States government
• widespread poverty, misery, and starvation (made worse by the Dust Bowl)

What was the New Deal?

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt instituted a number of programs in the 1930s intended to combat the Great Depression, collectively known as the “New Deal.” This decision is one that is still steeped in political controversy, as it profoundly changed American notions about the reach and duties of government. Many of the programs that were part of the New Deal were declared unconstitutional or voluntarily cut in later years, but some still remain, Social Security being the most notable.

What ended the Great Depression?

The solution to the Great Depression, much like its cause, is a subject that many experts disagree on. Some economists believe that Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal was instrumental in ending the depression, while others contend that it had no effect or even impeded the recovery. Most people do agree that the onset of World War II played a major role in ending the Great Depression, largely because the war caused a boom in both employment and spending levels. By the time the war was over, the effects of the Great Depression had all but vanished.