The year was 1803, the United States of America was twenty-seven years old, and growing in leaps and bounds. On March 1st, Ohio became the 17th state, joining Delaware (1787), Pennsylvania (1787), New Jersey (1787), Georgia (1788), Connecticut (1788), Massachusetts (1788), Maryland (1788), South Carolina (1788), New Hampshire (1788), Virginia (1788), New York (1788), North Carolina (1789), Rhode Island (1790), Vermont (1791), Kentucky (1792), and Tennessee (1796).
(For more statehood dates, see 50states.com–http://www.50states.com/statehood1.htm)
After a successful revolt in Saint-Domingue, the French Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte saw his dreams of expanding his empire to North America collapse. He had acquired the territory of Louisiana in 1800 through a secret treaty with Spain, and now with the Napoleonic Wars draining his coffers, he was ready to make a deal. Through the Louisiana Purchase, the United States bought the territory for $15 million dollars and thus adding an area that now represents one-third of the continental United States. Continue reading