In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson drafted his official instructions for a great expedition to explore the Louisiana Territory and asked his private secretary, Captain Meriwether Lewis, to lead it. Once assembled, the Corps of Discovery would operate like a small frontier garrison with rigidly maintained discipline. In the end, the group went forward remarkably prepared for what they would encounter over the next few years, a testament to the thorough planning of President Jefferson.

The dream of finding an all water route across North America, the mythical Northwest Passage, had been imagined since the time of Christopher Columbus, but three hundred years after the Admiral of the Ocean Seas completed his epic voyages, the vast interior of the continent was still essentially unknown to Europeans. As early as 1783, Thomas Jefferson had wanted to send an expedition to explore and chart the great unknown west of the Mississippi, and over the next twenty years, Jefferson tried on several occasions to enlist the support of some brave adventurer to undertake the exploration but with no success.

The midnight deal Robert Livingston, United States Minister to France, struck with French Finance Minister Francois Barbe-Marbois to purchase the Louisiana Territory was arguably the most impactful treaty in the history of the United States. While the purchase seemed like a gift from heaven, there were several significant issues with it. For one, the American commissioners were not authorized to purchase Louisiana; they had been instructed to purchase New Orleans and West Florida. Second, they had only been authorized to spend $10 million; they had exceeded that amount by half. Finally, there remained the legality of the purchase as the Constitution did not specifically grant the executive branch the power to purchase new lands.

When word leaked out that Spain had secretly agreed to transfer Louisiana and, possibly Florida, to France, the news hit like a thunderbolt. President Thomas Jefferson fully understood the significance of trading a weakened Spain for a powerful Napoleonic France as the country’s neighbor. In April 1802, Jefferson wrote to Robert Livingston, U.S. minister to France, to inform Napoleon, “There is on the globe one single spot the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market.” Jefferson directed Livingston, who had been busy for months laying the foundation for the purchase of New Orleans, to warn Napoleon that France acquiring Louisiana “rendered it impossible that France and the United States can continue long friends.”

Because of several treaties in the 18th century, Spain controlled the entire west bank of the Mississippi and the east bank for a stretch of 150 miles, from Natchez to the Gulf of Mexico. Especially unfortunate for western Americans, Spain also controlled the river port of New Orleans, the key to the continent. The rapid influx of Americans into the region following the American Revolution became a great concern for Spanish officials, as the population of Kentucky and Tennessee grew tenfold, from 30,000 to 300,000, between 1784 and 1800.

In 1682, Robert de la Salle, a French explorer and fur trader, reached the mouth of the Mississippi River and claimed the interior of North America for King Louis XIV. Four decades later, Jean-Baptiste de Bienville founded New Orleans, creating a massive strategic arc across North America stretching from Quebec to the Gulf of Mexico. And from within this domain, the French controlled the core of the continent and the hugely profitable fur trade. But their hold did not go unchallenged and in a series of wars throughout the eighteenth century, the British dispossessed the French of its colonies in North America. As the final war drew to a close, France secretly transferred Louisiana and the river port of New Orleans to Spain rather than have Louisiana fall into British hands. When Napoleon came to power in 1799, he had visions of reestablishing a North American empire and in October 1800, he forced Spain’s King Carlos IV to give Louisiana back to France. 

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced into the Second Continental Congress what has come to be known as the Lee Resolution, calling for a complete separation from Great Britain. This leap of faith into the unknown space of independence finally had been publicly demanded and a contentious debate ensued. Congress created a committee to draft a declaration of independence in the event they chose that course of action. The committee included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson, and chose Jefferson to be the main penman.

Thomas Jefferson’s revolutionary journey began in the 1760s and culminated in his masterfully written Declaration of Independence in 1776. But in between these events, Jefferson crafted one of the most impactful statements ever for American independence. Entitled A Summary View of the Rights of British America, it was perhaps the most logical assessment of the true relationship between Great Britain and her American colonies; concepts that Jefferson had refined over the course of several years.

n 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, the first internal tax on the American colonies, and thus began a decade of missteps by the British. That same year, Thomas Jefferson concluded his time studying law under George Wythe and began his brief but successful law career. In colonial Virginia, there were two levels of courts – county courts, which were scattered throughout the colony, and the General Court of Virginia in Williamsburg. Jefferson opted to bypass the county courts and try for immediate admittance to the General Court. His brilliance recognized, Jefferson was accepted, and at age twenty-four, he joined a small group of much older attorneys considered the best in the colony, including George Wythe, Edmund Pendleton, and Richard Bland.

Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, in a small farmhouse on the frontier of western Virginia, in today’s Albemarle County. His father, Peter Jefferson, was a mountain of a man and well-respected throughout the region as a surveyor who ranged far and wide over the western portions of the colony. Peter’s work brought him significant wealth and put him in contact with the leading authorities in the colony. Sadly, in the summer of 1757, when Tom was fourteen, his father got sick and passed away, leaving behind a widow and eight children and a sizeable, debt-free estate. One of his father’s dying wishes was for Tom to complete his education, and in March 1760, Jefferson entered the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg.

America’s first armed conflict following the American Revolution was a mostly forgotten fight with France called the Quasi-War and was the culmination of a series of disagreements with our former ally. In 1793, to avoid getting drawn into the latest war between Great Britain and France, President George Washington issued his Proclamation of Neutrality. This declaration angered the French because they considered Washington’s refusal to help them as a violation of the 1778 Treaty of Alliance.

In response to the Alien and Sedition Acts passed by the Federalist-controlled Congress in July 1798, Democratic-Republicans howled long and loud about the legislation that they viewed as an assault on both their party and the Constitution. They immediately turned to their leader, Vice President Thomas Jefferson, to counter these acts and, if possible, turn them to their political advantage. Jefferson enlisted the support of James Madison, his fellow Virginian and brilliant political protégé. The two men created their rebuttals separately with Jefferson’s version being fairly radical, while Madison drafted a more balanced argument against the acts.

In 1798, worried that emotions would push France and America into an open war, President John Adams sent a delegation consisting of John Marshall, Elbridge Gerry, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to Paris to try and calm these rising tensions. The delegation arrived in Paris in early October but were denied a meeting for weeks. They were finally approached by three French officials whose code names were X, Y, and Z. These Frenchmen informed the Americans that before any negotiations could start, a few “sweeteners” would need to be provided to French officials, including $250,000 for Foreign Minister Charles Talleyrand.

In 1798, worried that emotions would push France and America into an open war, President John Adams sent a delegation consisting of John Marshall, Elbridge Gerry, and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to Paris to try and calm these rising tensions. The delegation arrived in Paris in early October but were denied a meeting for weeks. They were finally approached by three French officials whose code names were X, Y, and Z. These Frenchmen informed the Americans that before any negotiations could start, a few “sweeteners” would need to be provided to French officials, including $250,000 for Foreign Minister Charles Talleyrand.

John Adams was one of America’s greatest patriots from the founding generation and may have contributed more to America gaining her independence than anyone other than George Washington. Upon graduation from Harvard in 1755, Adams taught school for one year but soon began to study law and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1759. After Parliament passed the Stamp Act in 1765, Adams joined the American cause and began a long battle to protect the rights of his fellow colonists.

The first contested United States presidential election took place in the fall of 1796, pitting Thomas Jefferson against Vice President John Adams. Arguably, no presidential election in the country’s history has ever featured a choice between two such American titans. Jefferson was the leader of the Democratic-Republicans who were pro-French and favored strong states’ rights. Adams was the favorite son of the Federalist Party that was pro-British and favored a strong central government. For the most part, the election split along geographic lines with Adams capturing the north and Jefferson the southern states, plus Pennsylvania.

No man has had a greater impact on the United States than George Washington. This quintessential American carried the country through eight long years of the American Revolution and devoted another eight years to establishing the new constitutional government as its first president. Washington was one of those rare individuals who seemed destined, almost from birth, for greatness.

George Washington’s Farewell Address begins with the words In his Farewell Address, President George Washington advised America to remain fiscally prudent and to avoid permanent foreign alliances that could pull the country into a costly war. Washington understood that in times of war the nation must incur unforeseen expenses, but he felt America should avoid “the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts.” But Washington’s most stringent warning was on the danger of establishing binding alliances with other countries.

George Washington’s Farewell Address begins with the words “Friends and fellow citizens,” as the President was addressing his words to the people, the true source of sovereignty in America. Washington discusses the need for America to stay united and states that the “Unity of government…is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home; your peace abroad; of your safety; of your prosperity; of that very Liberty, which you so highly prize.”

President George Washington’s Farewell Address is one of our nation’s greatest documents. It was not really an address but rather a letter written by President Washington to his fellow citizens and first published in Claypoole’s American Daily Advertiser on September 19, 1796, near the end of his second term.