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PAGE 74 www.OverTheHumpSaver.com April 2026
IMPACTFUL EVENTS
IN U.S. HISTORY
A s the United States Historian of the U.S. Department of his annual message to Congress in
celebrates its two
State, President Thomas Jefferson
late 1823, President James Monroe
sent James Monroe to France to
hundred and fiftieth
included a warning to European
anniversary, millions
France Robert Livingston in an
of Americans will work alongside U.S. Minister to powers that they should not
interfere in affairs in the Americas.
reflect on the nation’s history. effort to purchase New Orleans According to The Gilder Lehrman
American history includes a great and West Florida for $10 million. Institute of American History, the
many impactful events that changed But the emissaries were surprised powers that be in the United States
the country forever. The following when Napoleon Bonaparte offered were wary of European intervention
are some events of note as the the whole territory of Louisiana in Florida, the Pacific Northwest
United States of America celebrates to the U.S. for $15 million. Native and Latin America. The result was a
250 years of nationhood. Americans still inhabited much of statement from President Monroe,
the area that was part of the sale,
The Louisiana Purchase (1803): but the transaction included the later referred to as the Monroe
Soaring prices have been the norm entirety of what is now Louisiana, Doctrine, announcing that the
in the real estate market in recent Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, North western hemisphere was closed to
years, but it was once possible to Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, further colonization by European
procure 530 million acres of North and Oklahoma, as well as portions nations. President Monroe also
American territory for $15 million. of present-day Kansas, Colorado, noted that the U.S. would not
That’s precisely what happened Wyoming, Montana, and Minnesota. interfere in the internal affairs of
in 1803 when the U.S. and France nations in Europe.
completed the Louisiana Purchase. President James Monroe addresses
According to the Office of the Congress (December 1823): During Article continues on next page >>
