The

GREAT EXPEDITION

Exploring the Louisiana Purchase and Its Impact

on Arkansas

Arts + Humanities ArkansasSponsored by the Quapaw Tribe

ABOUT FUSION: ARTS + HUMANITIES ARKANSAS

Fusion: Arts + Humanities Arkansas is an educational program designed to enrich the teaching of our state’s heritage and culture and celebrate our human achievement through programs in history, literature, philosophy, civics, and other disciplines. To achieve these goals, the Clinton Presidential Center convenes cultural institutions, historians, and community organizations to plan and execute an annual Fusion program featuring a series of symposia and an exhibition highlighting one theme from Arkansas’s history and culture.

The 2018 Fusion: Arts + Humanities Arkansas program is entitled Exploring the Louisiana Purchase and Its Impact on Arkansas. The Louisiana Purchase is the largest land acquisition in American history. It doubled the size of the United States and included all or part of 15 present-day U.S. states – including the entire state of Arkansas – and parts of two Canadian provinces.

The 2018 Fusion program features conversations with historians and authors on the subject, an Acadian-Creole musical performance, and period-appropriate reenactors participating in-character. It is designed to bring a new perspective of the history of the Louisiana Purchase to the classroom.

The Great Expedition: Exploring the Louisiana Purchase and Its Impact on Arkansas highlights the domestic and international importance of the Louisiana Purchase and also tells the story of what became known as The Great Expedition, led by William Dunbar and George Hunter through present-day northern Louisiana and southern Arkansas. The exhibit includes three original Louisiana Purchase Treaty documents from the National Archives and Records Administration. Additional objects include a journal and compass used by William Dunbar and George Hunter as well as a death mask and portrait of Napoleon Bonaparte.

This resource guide is designed to provide an overview of the topics and historic milestones presented in the 2018 Fusion program and exhibition.

THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE: The Louisiana Purchase has been called the greatest land acquisition in history. In 1803, U.S. President Thomas Jefferson signed the agreement to buy the vast territory of Louisiana from Napoleon Bonaparte, the French leader, thus doubling the size of the United States. The new territory included over 820,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. Stretching from the Gulf of Mexico to the present day Canadian border, the Louisiana territory – named for French King Louis XIV – included all or part of 15 present-day U.S. states, including the entire state of Arkansas, and parts of two Canadian provinces. The United States purchased the entire Louisiana territory for $15 million, approximately 3 cents per acre.

The Louisiana Purchase allowed the U.S. government to open new land in the west for settlement, secure its borders against foreign threat, and allow Americans to ship goods duty free at new port cities. In Arkansas, the Louisiana Purchase brought an end to French and Spanish dominance as Americans moved into the area.

THE DUNBAR-HUNTER EXPEDITION:

After the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was ratified, President Thomas Jefferson commissioned four expeditions into the Louisiana Purchase territory. Between 1804 and 1807, President Jefferson sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark into the northern regions of the territory; Zebulon Pike into the Rocky Mountains, the Southwest, and two smaller forays; Thomas Freeman and Peter Custis along the Red River; and William Dunbar and Dr. George Hunter to explore the “Washita” River and “the hot springs” in what is now Arkansas and Louisiana.

The exploration by Dunbar and Hunter remains significant today. It provided Americans with the first scientific study of the varied landscapes as well as the

animal and plant life of early southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana. The expedition resulted in the time period’s most reliable map of the region.

Because the Dunbar-Hunter expedition ended a year before Lewis and Clark’s, the journals of Dunbar and Hunter became the first reports to President Jefferson describing the landscapes and people within the new territory.

William Dunbar

TIMELINE OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE AND ITS IMPACT ON ARKANSASApril 30, 1803: The Louisiana Purchase Treaty is signed by French and American negotiators. Robert Livingston and James Monroe had been authorized by President Thomas Jefferson to pay $10 million for New Orleans and the surrounding area. When the French offered all of the Louisiana Territory for $15 million, they were certain the U.S. would agree and proceeded quickly to finalize the treaty.

October 20, 1803: The United States Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase Treaty. The Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty by a vote of twenty-four to seven. The agreement paved the way for westward expansion beyond the Mississippi.

November 30, 1803: Louisiana is transferred from Spanish control to French Control. The Treaty of San Ildefonso returned Louisiana to French control from Spain in 1800. However, the treaty was kept secret, and Louisiana remained under Spanish control until a transfer of power to France. The transfer finally took place on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the cession to the United States.

December 20, 1803: France turns New Orleans over to the United States. France turned New Orleans over on December 20, 1803, at The Cabildo. On March 10, 1804, a formal ceremony was conducted in St. Louis to transfer ownership of the territory from France to the United States. Bonaparte faced a major setback and eventual defeat in the Haitian Revolution. Faced by imminent war against Britain and bankruptcy, he recognized French possessions on the mainland of North America would be indefensible and sold them to the United States—the Louisiana Purchase—for less than three cents per acre ($7.40 per km²).

August 17, 1804: Dunbar requests permission to conduct exploration of Louisiana Purchase. Dunbar wrote to Jefferson asking for permission to attempt what he and Hunter initially considered a trial run up a tributary of the Red River, a smaller stream called the “Washita.” Dunbar said that there were many “curiosities” along the Ouachita River, and, in particular, he referred to a location he named “the boiling springs”—the present-day Hot Springs National Park.

October 1, 1804: A formal ceremony transfers the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States. Effective on October 1, 1804, the purchased territory was organized into the Territory of Orleans (most of which became the state of Louisiana) and the District of Louisiana, including land north of the present-day border between Louisiana and Arkansas, which was temporarily under the control of the governor and judges of the Indiana Territory.

Lousiana Purchase TreatyCourtesy of the National Archives and Records Administration

October 16, 1804: Hunter-Dunbar Expedition departs. The team of 19 departed from St. Catherine’s Landing on the east bank of the Mississippi River. As Dunbar and Hunter ascended the Red, Black, and Ouachita rivers, the journals of both men became replete with descriptions of soil types, water levels, flora, fauna, and daily astronomical and thermometer readings. To construct the most accurate map possible, William Dunbar used a pocket chronometer and an instrument called a circle of reflection—an instrument usually set on a tripod used to calculate latitude using the horizon and a star or planet.

January 27, 1805: Hunter-Dunbar Expedition ends. The expedition finally arrived in Natchez on January 27, and during the following weeks, Dunbar and Hunter settled their accounts and began to work on their reports to Jefferson. Dunbar’s journals arrived on the president’s desk more than a year before Lewis and Clark returned from their trip to the northwest. The Dunbar journals and, later, the Hunter journals provided Jefferson his first glimpse into the new territory from a commissioned exploration team.

March 2, 1819: Arkansas becomes a territory. When Missouri applied for statehood, Arkansas’s northern border was established. The Arkansas Territory would stretch from the Mississippi River and west to the Rocky Mountains. Arkansas Post became the territorial capital until it was moved to Little Rock in 1821. Treaties with the Choctaw Indians in 1824 and Cherokee Indians in 1828 established Arkansas’s present-day western border.

June 15, 1836: Arkansas is the 25th state admitted to the Union. Arkansas’s population began to grow rapidly in the 1830s based on the potential for commercial agriculture and with improvements in transportation. In accordance with the Missouri Compromise, Arkansas rushed to join the Union at the same time as Michigan.

Sources: Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture “Louisiana Purchase”; National Archives “Louisiana Purchase Treaty”; Kelby Ouchley “Dunbar-Hunter Expedition”; Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture “Hunter-Dunbar Expedition”; Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture “Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860”

Flag raising in the Place d'Armes of New Orleans, marking the transfer of sovereignty over French Louisiana to the United States, December 20, 1803, as depicted by Thure de Thulstrup.

NOTES

SELECTED OBJECT DESCRIPTIONS AND IMAGESTHE LOUISIANA PURCHASE TREATY DOCUMENTSIn this transaction with France, signed on April 30, 1803, the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. For roughly 3 cents an acre, the United States doubled its size, expanding the nation westward. Robert Livingston and James Monroe closed on the greatest real estate deal in history when they signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in Paris on April 30, 1803. They were originally authorized to pay France up to $10 million for the port of New Orleans and the Floridas. When offered the entire territory of Louisiana—an area larger than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal combined—the American negotiators swiftly agreed to a price of $15 million. Although President Thomas Jefferson was a strict interpreter of the Constitution who wondered if the U.S. Government was authorized to acquire new territory, he was also a visionary who dreamed of an “empire for liberty” that would stretch across the entire continent. The Louisiana Purchase Agreement is made up of the Treaty of Cession and the two conventions regarding the financial aspects of the transaction. On loan from the National Archives and Records Administration.

JOURNAL OF WILLIAM DUNBARCollection of writings from 1804-1805, published 1804President Thomas Jefferson asked William Dunbar, a Mississippi planter, scientist and surveyor, and George Hunter, a Philadelphia chemist and apothecary, to lead an expedition of present day Louisiana and Arkansas up the Red, Black, and Ouachita rivers to the hot springs. The two men and their crew mapped the region, described flora and fauna, and tested the waters of the hot springs. The report of their expedition was the first of the newly purchased Louisiana territory to reach President Thomas Jefferson. Also included are copies of family correspondence and other materials related to the Dunbar family and their Natchez, Mississippi, plantation, “The Forest.” On loan from Ouachita Baptist University Archives and Special Collections.

PORTRAIT OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTEArtist: John C. GrimesCreated in 1830, the portrait of Napoleon is a copy based on an earlier portrait by Ralph E. W. Earl. Earl had copied his portrait from one by François Pascal Simon Gérard, painted in Paris in 1815. This portrait is thought to be the painting exhibited in Earl’s museum on the Public Square and was used to persuade Andrew Jackson to sit for a similar portrait. It was presented to the Tennessee Historical Society in September 1858 by Capt. Thomas Claiborne. On loan from the Tennessee Historical Society Collection at the Tennessee State Museum

DEATH MASK OF NAPOLEON BONAPARTEBy: Dr. Francois AntommarchiOn May 5, 1821, Napoleon Bonaparte, French emperor and conqueror of most of early nineteenth-century Europe, died at the age of 52. During Napoleon’s time, death masks of leaders cast from a mixture of wax or plaster were customary. The first cast of Bonaparte was made by Dr. Francois Antommarchi approximately 40 hours after Napoleon’s death on St. Helena. Subsequent reproductions were cast at the time Napoleon’s remains were returned to France in 1840, including the Tennessee Historical Society’s death mask that dates to 1841. On loan from the Tennessee Historical Society Collection at the Tennessee State Museum

CURRICULUM STANDARDSFIFTH GRADEExchange and Markets Students will analyze the exchange of goods and services and the role of producers, consumers, and government in the market place• E.5.5.2 Examine ways human, natural, and capital resources were organized to produce and deliver goods and services

in precolonial America through the Revolutionary period (e.g., trade companies, joint stock companies, entrepreneurs, merchants)

Growth and Stability Students will evaluate economic growth and stability• E.6.5.5 Evaluate effects of war and conflict on communities from the colonial period to the early 1800s using economic

factors

Global EconomyStudents will analyze economic interdependence within a global economy• E.7.5.1 Explain ways trade leads to increasing economic interdependence among countries (e.g., slave trade, triangular

trade, manufactured goods, agriculture)• E.7.5.2 Explain effects of increasing economic interdependence on different groups within participating nations (e.g.,

conflict, competition, cooperation, increased wealth, quality of life)

Geographic Representations Students will use geographic representations and skills to become geographically informed citizens• G.8.5.1 Describe locations of societies and their cultural and environmental characteristics within the early Americas

through the 1820s using geographic representations of different scales • G.8.5.2 Explain relationships between physical and human characteristics and changes over time using a variety of

geographic representations • G.8.5.3 Synthesize information from a variety of sources to construct maps and other geographic representations

Global InterconnectionsStudents will compare global places and regions and the connections between them• G.11.5.1 Explain how interactions with nearby and distant places have changed the spatial patterns of economic activities

over time (e.g., explorers, trade routes, triangular trade)

United States Beginnings Through 1820sStudents will analyze key historical periods; patterns of change over time; and ways people view, construct, and interpret the history of the United States• H.12.5.5 Compare the social, economic, political, and geographic development of the New England, middle, and

southern colonies from multiple perspectives using a variety of sources (e.g., Native Americans, Africans, colonists, indentured servants, colonial leaders, Europeans, farmers, merchants)

• H.12.5.15 Evaluate how early presidents influenced the development of the new nation (e.g., Washington’s Farewell Address, Marbury vs. Madison, Embargo Act, Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark, banking)

SIXTH GRADEGeographic Representations Students will use geographic representations and skills to become geographically informed citizens• G.8.6.2 Explain relationships between physical and human characteristics in various places using a variety of geographic

representations• G.8.6.3 Synthesize information from a variety of sources to construct maps and other geographic representations to ask

and answer compelling questionsGlobal InterconnectionsStudents will compare global places and regions and the connections between them• G.11.6.1 Compare ways spatial patterns of economic activities in a place change over time because of interactions with

nearby and distant places

SEVENTH GRADEWorld in Spatial TermsStudents will interpret spatial information using geographic representations• WST.1.7.4 Analyze how environmental and cultural characteristics of places and regions have changed over time

Human Systems Students will evaluate the characteristics, distribution, and complexity of cultural regions• HS.6.7.2 Analyze reasons for and effects of cultural diffusion, cultural convergence, and cultural divergence in and across

various regions Students will analyze causes and effects of cooperation and conflict among people• HS.8.7.3 Analyze conflicting territorial claims from multiple perspectives (e.g., water sources or access, mineral rights,

natural resources

Geography Content Students will analyze ways the geography of Arkansas influenced the development of the state • G.2.AH.7-8.1 Analyze the impact of geography on settlement and movement patterns over time using geographic

representations and a variety of primary and secondary sources (e.g., Louisiana Purchase survey, westward movement, voluntary and involuntary migration and immigration)

HistoryStudents will examine the impact of historical events and people on the development of Arkansas• H.7.AH.7-8.2 Summarize the process by which Arkansas achieved statehood (e.g., petition, congressional approval)

EIGHTH GRADEExpansion and Reform 1801-1861Students will analyze the period of expansion and reform in the United States• Era4.1.8.1 Analyze multiple factors that affected territorial expansion and influenced the perspectives of people (e.g.,

Manifest Destiny, mining, War of 1812, Louisiana Purchase) • Era4.1.8.3 Examine economic, political, and geographic causes and effects of territorial expansion

Geography Content Students will analyze ways the geography of Arkansas influenced the development of the state • G.2.AH.7-8.1 Analyze the impact of geography on settlement and movement patterns over time using geographic

representations and a variety of primary and secondary sources (e.g., Louisiana Purchase survey, westward movement, voluntary and involuntary migration and immigration)

HistoryStudents will examine the impact of historical events and people on the development of Arkansas• H.7.AH.7-8.2 Summarize the process by which Arkansas achieved statehood (e.g., petition, congressional approval)

NINTH – TWELFTH GRADES

Age of Revolutions 1750-1900Students will analyze the global revolutionary changes that shaped the emerging modern world• Era7.2.WH.1 Evaluate the development, expansion, and effects of industrialization in Europe, Asia, and the Americas • Era7.2.WH.2 Analyze the social, economic, and political ideas that influenced the 18th and 19th century revolutions • Era7.2.WH.6 Assess the role Western imperialism played in creating spheres of influence and new patterns of colonization

during the 19th century• Era7.2.WH.9 Evaluate the credibility and the limitations of primary and secondary sources representing multiple

perspectives • Era7.2.WH.10 Construct historical arguments or explanations about global changes caused directly or indirectly by

economic and political revolutions, using primary and secondary sources

Louisiana Purchase Through Early Statehood 1803-1860Students will analyze causes and consequences of events from the Louisiana Purchase through early statehood• Era2.2.AH.9-12.1 Evaluate intended and unintended consequences of public policies (e.g., Louisiana Purchase, Missouri

Compromise, Indian Removal)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

WEBSITES:

National Archives• archives.govClinton Presidential Library• clintonlibrary.govClinton Presidential Center • clintonpresidentialcenter.orgHistoric Arkansas Museum • historicarkansas.orgButler Center for Arkansas Studies• butlercenter.orgArkansas State Archives• archives.arkansas.govTennessee State Museum• tnmuseum.orgOuachita Baptist University • scholarlycommons.obu.edu/archives

ARTICLES:• De Cesar, Wayne T, and Susan Page. “Jefferson Buys Louisiana Territory, and the Nation

Moves Westward.” National Archives and Records Administration, National Archives and Records Administration, 13 Dec. 2017, www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/spring/louisiana-purchase.html.

• “Louisiana Purchase Treaty,” April 30, 1803; General Records of the U.S. Government; Record Group 11; National Archives.

• “Proclamation: To the People of New Orleans,” December 20, 1803; Records of the United States House of Representatives; Record Group 233; National Archives.

• Bomboy, Scott. “The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson’s Constitutional Gamble.” National Constitution Center – Constitutioncenter.org, 20 Oct. 2017, www.constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-louisiana-purchase-jeffersons-constitutional-gamble.

• “Scholarly Commons @ Ouachita.” Site, www.scholarlycommons.obu.edu/dunbar.• Bolton, S. Charles. “Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860.”

Louisiana Purchase through Early Statehood, 1803 through 1860 - Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 2 Oct. 2014, www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=398.

• Berry, Trey. “Hunter-Dunbar Expedition.” Hunter-Dunbar Expedition - Encyclopedia of Arkansas, 2 May 2011, www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net/encyclopedia/entry-detail.aspx?entryID=2205.

NOTES

LESSONS PLANS:• “Hot Springs National Park Arkansas History Lesson Plans.” Edited by Kay Bland, Hot Springs

National Park Arkansas History Lesson Plans, The Butler Center, www.butlercenter.org/documents/hot_springs_eoa_correlation.pdf.

• Grimes, Margaret. “1818 Arkansas Journals.” Lesson Plans, 2007, www.arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/lessonplans/id/83/rec/1.

• “Life in Arkansas Territory.” Lesson Plans, The Taylor Foundation, 2007, www.arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/lessonplans/id/106/rec/1.

• Branscum Woody, Velma B. “Bears and Panthers Aplenty, Early Settlers Make a Home in Arkansas.” Lesson Plans, The Butler Center, 2007, www.arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/lessonplans/id/23/rec/1.

• Ruthven, Beverly M. “Can You Dig It? Developing an Overview of Arkansas History from the Prehistoric to the Civil War.” Lesson Plans, The Taylor Foundation, 2007, www.arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/lessonplans/id/99/rec/1.

• Sears, Gail. “The Hunter-Dunbar Expedition of 1804-1805: Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery in Arkansas.” Lesson Plans, Hot Springs National Park, www.nps.gov/hosp/learn/education/upload/dunbar.hunter.lesson06.pdf.

• “The Louisiana Purchase.” The Louisiana Purchase, The Historic New Orleans Collection, 2015, www.hnoc.org/sites/default/files/lesson_plans/LessonPlan_LouisianaPurchase.pdf.

• Reavis, Allison. “Early Settlers of Arkansas.” Early Settlers of Arkansas, The Department of Arkansas Heritage, Mar. 2016, www.arstudies.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/singleitem/collection/lessonplans/id/99/rec/1.

VIDEOS:• Folley, Larry. Forgotten Expedition. AETN Arkansas Educational Television Network, AETN, 5

Jan. 2017, www.aetn.org/programs/forgottenexpedition.• Wilderness Arkansas: The Louisiana Purchase. The Wilderness Gallery, The Old State House

Museum, 3 Jan. 2013, www.oldstatehouse.com/rotating-exhibits/the-wilderness-gallery.• Folley, Larry. It Started Here: Early Arkansas and The Louisiana Purchase. It Started Here:

Early Arkansas and The Louisiana Purchase, AETN, 13 July 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_E1TvHOVRU.

• Martin, Mark. “This Week in Ark. History, Episode 23, ‘Hunter-Dunbar Expedition.’” This Week in Ark. History, Episode 23, “Hunter-Dunbar Expedition,” Arkansas Secretary of State, 19 Mar. 2013, www.youtube.com/watch?v=ay-DWSGPCh8.

CLASSROOM ACTIVITY IDEAS

Activity 1:Divide your classroom into groups and invite them into the art of surveying. The Dunbar-Hunter excursion shows us the importance of surveying tools and a practical application of a modern sport known as “orienteering” - an activity where participants use a map and a compass to navigate between checkpoints.

Using rope and a compass, turn your classroom into an expansive course for your students to discover. With predetermined landmarks, map a course for your groups to uncover the secret hidden at the end of their expedition. Each station should also have a corresponding activity like a Jeffersonian-style cypher for the groups to solve, or a puzzle to assemble.

Materials Required:• Compass• Rope• Signage• Exploration guides with number of “rope lengths” and cardinal directions necessary

to reach each signpost.

Activity 2:Students plan their expedition route and inventory needed for their exploration of Arkansas as members of the exploration team of 1804. When given a list of supplies and a map of the Louisiana Purchase, groups are required to select the best path to explore what is now Arkansas and the inventory for the trip that will lead them to the most success on their journey.

Materials Required:• Map of The Louisiana Purchase• Supplies list for traveling in the 1800s

- See the list in Gail Sears’ lesson plan “The Hunter-Dunbar Expedition of 1804-1805: Jefferson’s Corps of Discovery in Arkansas.”

• Maps showing the Hunter-Dunbar Expedition Route

For more classroom activities, please see “Additional Resources” inside.