The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River's drainage basin west of the river. In return for fifteen million dollars, or approximately eighteen dollars per square mile, the United States nominally acquired a total of 828,000 sq mi now in the Central United States. However, France only controlled a small fraction of this area, most of which was inhabited by Native Americans; effectively, for the majority of the area, the United States bought the preemptive right to obtain Indian lands by treaty or by conquest, to the exclusion of other colonial powers.
"Manifest destiny" is a phrase that represents the belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand westward across North America, and that this belief was both obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny"). The belief is rooted in American exceptionalism and Romantic nationalism, implying the inevitable spread of the republican form of governance. It is one of the earliest expressions of American imperialism in the United States of America.
The presidency of Thomas Jefferson began on March 4, 1801, when Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as the third President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1809. Jefferson assumed the office after defeating incumbent president John Adams in the 1800 presidential election. The election was a political realignment in which the Democratic-Republican Party swept the Federalist Party out of power, ushering in a generation of Jeffersonian Republican dominance in American politics. After serving two terms, Jefferson was succeeded by Secretary of State James Madison, also of the Democratic-Republican Party.
Relations between the Russian Empire and the United States predate the American Revolution, when the Russians began trading with the Thirteen Colonies in violation of the British Navigation Acts. The Russian government officially recognized the United States in 1803, and the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1809. From the 18th century until 1917, the United States and Russia maintained mostly cordial relations, with occasional cultural and commercial exchanges. Russia remained neutral during the American Civil War, and sold Alaska to the United States in 1867. The surrender and dissolution of the Russian Empire facilitated Americans to join the war, although they sided with Russia during the latters civil war.
The Empire of Liberty is a theme developed first by Thomas Jefferson to identify what he considered the responsibility of the United States to spread freedom across the world. Jefferson saw the mission of the U.S. in terms of setting an example, expansion into western North America, and by intervention abroad. Major exponents of the theme have been James Monroe, Andrew Jackson and James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson (Wilsonianism), Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush.
Thomas Jefferson believed Native American peoples to be a noble race who were "in body and mind equal to the whiteman" and were endowed with an innate moral sense and a marked capacity for reason. Nevertheless, he believed that Native Americans were culturally and technologically inferior. Like many contemporaries, he believed that Indian lands should be taken over by white people and made the taking of tribal lands a priority, with a four step plan to “(1) run the hunters into debt, then threaten to cut off their supplies unless the debts are paid out of the proceeds of a land cession; (2) bribe influential chiefs with money and private reservations; (3) select and invite friendly leaders to Washington to visit and negotiate with the President, after being overawed by the evident power of the United States; and (4) threaten trade embargo or war.”
The state of union is an address, in the United States, given by the president to a joint session of Congress, the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate. The United States constitution requires the president "from time to time give to the Congress Information of the State of the Union." Today the state of the union address is given as a speech, though this is not a requirement of the constitution. George Washington chose to address the congress in a speech annually; on October 25, 1791, he gave his third speech.
The 1901 State of the Union Address was given on Tuesday, December 3, 1901, by the 26th president of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt. It was presented to both houses of the 57th United States Congress, but he was not present. He stated, "The Congress assembles this year under the shadow of a great calamity. On the sixth of September, President McKinley was shot by an anarchist while attending the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, and died in that city on the fourteenth of that month." He concluded it with, "Indeed, from every quarter of the civilized world we received, at the time of the President's death, assurances of such grief and regard as to touch the hearts of our people. In the midst of our affliction we reverently thank the Almighty that we are at peace with the nations of mankind; and we firmly intend that our policy shall be such as to continue unbroken these international relations of mutual respect and good will."
The 1829 State of the Union Address was delivered by the 7th President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, on December 8, 1829, to the 21st United States Congress. This was Jackson's first address to Congress after his election, and it set the tone for his presidency, emphasizing limited government, states’ rights, and the removal of Native Americans from their lands.
The 1794 State of the Union Address was delivered by the 1st President of the United States, George Washington, to a joint session of the Third United States Congress on November 19, 1794. The speech came in the aftermath of the Whiskey Rebellion, an armed insurrection in the western counties of Pennsylvania against the federal excise tax on whiskey.
The 1795 State of the Union Address was delivered by the 1st president of the United States, George Washington, to a joint session of the Fourth United States Congress on December 8, 1795. This address covered a broad range of topics, including foreign relations, military affairs, and the domestic state of the Union.
The 1804 State of the Union address was delivered by the 3rd President of the United States Thomas Jefferson to the Eighth United States Congress on November 8, 1804. In his address, Jefferson focused on matters of foreign relations, domestic governance, and the ongoing expansion of the United States following the Louisiana Purchase.
The 1806 State of the Union address was delivered by the 3rd President of the United States Thomas Jefferson to the Ninth United States Congress on December 2, 1806. In this address, Jefferson discussed several major themes including foreign relations, national defense, and the growing tensions with Great Britain and France regarding maritime rights.
The 1808 State of the Union Address was delivered by the third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, on November 8, 1808. This was Jefferson's final address to the Tenth United States Congress.
The 1809 State of the Union Address was delivered by the fourth President of the United States, James Madison, on November 29, 1809. This was Madison's first State of the Union address, delivered to the Eleventh United States Congress.
The 1811 State of the Union Address was delivered by the fourth President, James Madison, on November 5, 1811. Addressing the Twelfth United States Congress, Madison emphasized the ongoing diplomatic and economic challenges posed by Great Britain and France, both of which were violating U.S. neutral trading rights amidst the Napoleonic Wars.
The 1820 State of the Union Address was delivered by the 5th president of the United States James Monroe to the 16th United States Congress on November 14, 1820.
The 1821 State of the Union Address was delivered by the 5th president of the United States James Monroe to the 17th United States Congress on December 3, 1821.
The 1839 State of the Union Address was delivered by the 8th president of the United States Martin Van Buren to the 26th United States Congress on December 2, 1839. Van Buren opened by noting that while the country had experienced several challenges, including fires, disease, and ongoing trade difficulties in key cities, the nation continued to benefit from prosperity in agriculture. He praised the season's abundant harvests, noting that “no means of individual comfort is more certain and no source of national prosperity is so sure” as agriculture.
The 1878 State of the Union address was delivered by the 19th president of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes, to the 45th United States Congress on December 2, 1878, in the House Chamber of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. Presiding over the joint session was Speaker of the House, Samuel J. Randall, and Vice President William A. Wheeler.
