The story of the biggest real estate deal in history was the purchase of the Louisiana territory. The result of this was one of the greatest adventures in American history, the Lewis and Clark expedition. This adventure was about unity, survival, and discovery at the turn of the nineteenth century. The expeditions’ mission was to strengthen United States claims to western territory, find a direct water route to the Pacific, and to learn as much as possible about the region’s people, animals, and plants. The Lewis and Clark expedition was one of the earliest explorations, of the vast wilderness of what is now the northwestern United States.

For the mere price of fifteen million dollars, France sold over 830,000 square miles of land to the United States for less than 3 cents an acre. Truly this was a bargain that could be compared to no other. This purchase, known as the Louisiana Purchase, nearly doubled the size of the United States, and it quadrupled the size of the 13 original colonies. Jefferson had never dreamed of buying the entire Louisiana territory, but he did not hesitate when the opportunity arose. He in fact called this purchase:

Jefferson’s letter to Meriwether Lewis contained the instructions for the upcoming expedition sent to explore the uncharted Northwest. One goal of their mission was to find the hypothesized water-route linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Lewis and Clark catalogued the routes and land of the area they traversed. They successfully made it to the Pacific Ocean but because the hypothesized continental waterway did not exist they utilized both land and water routes.

Now having all this uncharted territory in possession the need for exploration was inevitable. President Jefferson therefore appointed Meriwether Lewis, his personal secretary, to begin the difficult task of preparing for the expedition. Jefferson wrote to Meriwether:

ion replete with blessings to unborn millions of men.”

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