History Moments Louisiana Purchase

President Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana territory from Napoleon in 1802 for the cheap price of roughly 4 cents an acre. It nearly doubled the size of the United States, making it one of the largest nations in the world. These days, it is impossible to think about the Louisana Purchase without also thinking about the group of explorers led by Lewis & Clark. Lewis & Clark were paid by President Jefferson to map the new territory, and were incredibly successful in their task. The future lands of Nebraska documented by Lewis and Clark consisted of Native American tribes, lots of prairie land, and bison. In what is present-day Council Bluffs, the expedition struck its first peace agreement and official trading post with the Native Americans. The only fatality of the expedition occurred near present-day South Sioux City: Sergeant Charles Floyd died of what historians believe was a ruptured appendix.