The United States agrees to remove Indians from Georgia.
Georgia cedes to the United States its claims to lands to the west of the present-day state. In exchange, the United States promises to relocate all Indians living within the state’s borders. The agreement will lead to the Trail of Tears—the removal of the Cherokee tribe to Indian Territory—34 years later (see entry for MAY 1838).
The Tlingit raid a Russian trading post.
Angered by their treatment by Russian traders (see entry for 1784), the Tlingit capture a Russian post near present-day Sitka, Alaska. In their surprise attack they kill about 20 Russians and 130 Aleut working for them and make off with more than a thousand furs. The Tlingit will hold the fort until two years later, when they will be routed by shells from a fleet of Russian ships. The Indians, however, will continue to stage periodic attacks on the Russians for the next 65 years.
Congress restricts Indian liquor sales.
With the passage of the second Trade and Intercourse Act (see entry for 1790), Congress gives the president the right to regulate the sale of liquor to Indians. The law, which will remain in place for nearly 150 years (see entry for 1953), will do little to discourage nonIndian traders from dealing in alcohol.
The Nootka attack an American ship.
A group of Nootka Indians led by Maquinna sets upon the U. S. merchant ship Boston anchored off Vancouver Island and kills all the crew except for two men. The Nootka are angry that American traders have begun to trade directly with inland tribes, thus cutting out the middleman role that the Nootka have played in the sea otter fur trade (see entry for 1778).
The United States buys Louisiana from France.
In exchange for approximately $15 million, France signs a treaty to sell the United States the area known as Louisiana in exchange for approximately $15 million. Although the boundaries are not precisely set, the region purchased encompasses some
828,000 square miles bordered on the east by the Mississippi River, on the west by the Rocky Mountains, on the north by the Canadian boundary, and on the south by the Gulf of Mexico.
With the Louisiana Purchase, the size of the United States doubles. The acquisition also gives the United States control of the Mississippi River. Perhaps even more important to President Thomas Jefferson, the purchase offers a solution to conflicts between Indians and whites in the East. One of the first supporters of what would later become known as the Removal policy (see entry for MAY 28, 1830), Jefferson sees Louisiana as a place where eastern Indians can be relocated, allowing their former lands to be opened to white settlement.
The Louisiana Purchase also has great significance for the Indians who live in the acquired region. When France claimed the land, it did not have the resources to settle it. The United States, however, will soon begin encouraging its citizens to move into area and onto lands the
Indian residents consider their own. The Indians’ view is upheld by international law. Technically, the United States purchased from France only the right to negotiate with the Indians of Louisiana for their lands. In practice, however, Americans will often act as though they purchased the land itself, by seizing Indian territory without consultation or compensation.
World History
