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President Thomas Jefferson purchases the Lousiniana Territory from the French leader Napoleon for $15 million. This allows the United States to double in size and begins the period of westward expansion.
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After the Lousiana Purchase, Jefferson sent Merriweather Lewis and William Clark on an expedition to explore this new land. Lewis and Clark began this journey at the Missouri River and hope to eventually reach the Pacific Ocean.
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Lewis and Clark complete their expedition and deliever the first detailed descriptions of the new land.
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Congress passes a law to relocate all Native Americans out of their native lands in the Southeast to the lands west of the Missisippi River.
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George Catlin completes Attacking the Grizzly Bear
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Thomas Moran completes Valley of the Catawissa in Autumn.
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Martin Johnson Heade completes Haystacks.
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Abraham Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act that allows the government to support the contstuction of the first transcontinental railroad.
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The U.S. government declares theWestern land has been explored and the frontier is closed.
