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Louisiana Purchase
President Thomas Jefferson buys the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. This doubles the size of the United States and provides a large area to the west of the country for expansion. -
Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean
Explorers Lewis and Clark map out areas of the Louisiana Purchase and eventually reach the Pacific Ocean. -
Missouri requests statehood
Missouri asks to be admitted into the Union. This application causes a nationwide dispute between slavery and antislavery sympathizers which is not settled until 1820 with the Missouri Compromise. There are 10,000 slaves in Missouri. -
Missouri Compromise
Congress passes the Missouri Compromise, a bill that temporarily resolves the first serious political clash between slavery and antislavery interests in U.S. history. -
Missouri becomes a state
President James Monroe allows Missouri to enter the country as a slave state, and Maine is allowed to enter the country as a free state. -
Indian Removal Act
Congress passes a law to move Native Americans from the Southeast to the west of the Mississippi River. -
Trail of Tears
The Cherokee Nation is forced to march from the east coast to Oklahoma. Many thousands die along the way. -
Oregon Trail
People begin to travel west in wagon trains on the Oregon Trail. Around 300,000 people would take the trail over the next 20 years. -
Oregon Treaty
England signs the Oregon Treaty handing over the Oregon Territory to the United States.
