Timeline: The Louisiana Purchase (1803)

Oct 27, 1795

Pinckney's Treaty

Full Title: Treaty of Friendship, Limits, and Navigation Between Spain and the United States American merchants could use the New Orleans to store goods for export. Americans also used this right to transport products such as flour, tobacco, pork, bacon, lard, feathers, cider, butter, and cheese across the entire Mississippi.

Oct 1, 1800

Third Treaty of San Ildefonso

Full Title: Preliminary and Secret Treaty between the French Republic and His Catholic Majesty the King of Spain, Concerning the Aggrandizement of His Royal Highness the Infant Duke of Parma in Italy and the Retrocession of Louisiana A secret treaty between France and Spain in which Spain returned Louisiana to France.

Jan 1, 1803

Monroe and Livingston travel to Paris to Negotiate

James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston travel to Paris to negotiate the purchase of the %u201CIsle of Orleans%u201D (New Orleans) and West Florida. Jefferson appointed James Monroe minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary to serve with Livingston, who was the United States Minister to France.

Feb 28, 1803

Congress approves Western Exploration

Congress approves President Jefferson's Western Exploration Project and the Corps of Discovery are created.

Apr 11, 1803

Talleyrand proposes to Livingston a purchase of Louisiana

The French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand asks Livingston what the United States would give for all of Louisiana.

Apr 30, 1803

The Louisiana Purchase

U.S. bought Lousiana for $15,000,000 from France. The Louisiana Purchase, extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Moutains and from the Gulf of Mexico to British North America, doubled the size of America, increasing it by about 828,000 square miles.

Dec 1, 1803

Clark establishes Camp Wood

The camp functioned to train Corps members and was set up at the meeting Mississippi and Missouri Rivers.

May 14, 1804

Team leaves Camp Wood

They meet Lewis and other recruits in Missouri.

Aug 3, 1804

First offical American council with Western Native Americans

The Corps meets with the Oto and Missouri tribes.

Oct 1, 1804

Corps reach present day North Dakota, build Fort Mandan and meet Sacagawea

Fort Mandan served as a winter home for the team. Sacagawea was famous for assisting the Corps across the Great Plains and helping to build an understanding of Native American culture.