1.
National Register of Historic Places
–
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States federal governments official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation. The passage of the National Historic Preservation Act in 1966 established the National Register, of the more than one million properties on the National Register,80,000 are listed individually. The remainder are contributing resources within historic districts, each year approximately 30,000 properties are added to the National Register as part of districts or by individual listings. For most of its history the National Register has been administered by the National Park Service and its goals are to help property owners and interest groups, such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation, coordinate, identify, and protect historic sites in the United States. While National Register listings are mostly symbolic, their recognition of significance provides some financial incentive to owners of listed properties, protection of the property is not guaranteed. During the nomination process, the property is evaluated in terms of the four criteria for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the application of those criteria has been the subject of criticism by academics of history and preservation, as well as the public and politicians. Occasionally, historic sites outside the proper, but associated with the United States are also listed. Properties can be nominated in a variety of forms, including individual properties, historic districts, the Register categorizes general listings into one of five types of properties, district, site, structure, building, or object. National Register Historic Districts are defined geographical areas consisting of contributing and non-contributing properties, some properties are added automatically to the National Register when they become administered by the National Park Service. These include National Historic Landmarks, National Historic Sites, National Historical Parks, National Military Parks/Battlefields, National Memorials, on October 15,1966, the Historic Preservation Act created the National Register of Historic Places and the corresponding State Historic Preservation Offices. Initially, the National Register consisted of the National Historic Landmarks designated before the Registers creation, approval of the act, which was amended in 1980 and 1992, represented the first time the United States had a broad-based historic preservation policy. To administer the newly created National Register of Historic Places, the National Park Service of the U. S. Department of the Interior, hartzog, Jr. established an administrative division named the Office of Archeology and Historic Preservation. Hartzog charged OAHP with creating the National Register program mandated by the 1966 law, ernest Connally was the Offices first director. Within OAHP new divisions were created to deal with the National Register, the first official Keeper of the Register was William J. Murtagh, an architectural historian. During the Registers earliest years in the late 1960s and early 1970s, organization was lax and SHPOs were small, understaffed, and underfunded. A few years later in 1979, the NPS history programs affiliated with both the U. S. National Parks system and the National Register were categorized formally into two Assistant Directorates. Established were the Assistant Directorate for Archeology and Historic Preservation and the Assistant Directorate for Park Historic Preservation, from 1978 until 1981, the main agency for the National Register was the Heritage Conservation and Recreation Service of the United States Department of the Interior. In February 1983, the two assistant directorates were merged to promote efficiency and recognize the interdependency of their programs, jerry L. Rogers was selected to direct this newly merged associate directorate
2.
St. Louis County, Missouri
–
St. Louis County is a county located in the far eastern portion of Missouri. It is bounded by the Mississippi River, the Missouri River, the Meramec River, as of the 2015 Census Bureau population estimate, the population was 1,003,362, making it the most populous county in Missouri. St. Louis County borders, but does not include, the city of St. Louis and it is included in the St. Louis, MO-IL Metropolitan Statistical Area. During the 18th century, several settlements were established in the area that would become St. Louis County, the earliest of these, St. Louis, was begun by Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau on February 14,1764. Founded in about 1767 was Carondelet, which was at the end of what is now St. Louis. Florissant, then known as St. Ferdinand, was established in 1785 about twelve miles northwest of St. Louis on a tributary of the Missouri River. During the 1790s, very small settlements known as Creve Coeur and Point Labadie were built north, during this time, the first governing body of St. Louis County was established. On October 1,1812, the District of St. Louis was renamed St. Louis County during a reorganization of the territorys status, after the transfer of Louisiana to the United States, the authority to grant incorporation to municipalities became territorial and, later, state power. The first to gain status in St. Louis County was St. Louis, which incorporated on November 9,1809 under the territorial legislature. Two towns grew substantially and incorporated as a result of the building of the Pacific Railroad in the 1850s, Pacific, Pacific, known before the railroad line connection as Franklin, straddles St. Louis County and Franklin County, it incorporated as Pacific in 1859. Leffingwell organized the town as a suburb, and Kirkwood was granted incorporation by the state in 1865. Other areas of the county began to be settled during this period, among these were Chesterfield and Gumbo, both settled in the 1820s in west St. Louis County, and Gravois and Affton which were settled in south St. Louis County in the 1850s and 1860s. Aside from the first St. Louis Public Schools that were established in the 1830s, Louis in the east, and to the north up to Clayton Road. Another antebellum school district was Rock Hill, which provided a school across from the Rock Hill Presbyterian Church until about 1870. The first school in Florissant opened in 1819 under the direction of the Religious of the Sacred Heart, the instructor, Rose Philippine Duchesne, was a French immigrant who has been described as one of the foremost educators in the state of Missouri. The earliest public school in Florissant was the St. Ferdinand School, which was authorized by the General Assembly in 1845 and operated until 1871, from 1813 to 1830, the county underwent several changes to its government. By an act of the legislature, the Court of Quarter Sessions was succeeded by a panel of three judges of common pleas in 1813. Two years later, this panel was succeeded by a newly created county court composed of justices of the peace from the county elected to three month terms
3.
Military base
–
A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a command center, in most cases, a military base relies on some outside help in order to operate. Bases are usually extra-legal jurisdictions not subject to civil law and they can range from small outposts to military cities containing up to 100,000 people. Some military bases may belong to a different nation or state than the territory surrounding it, the name used generally refers to the type of military activity that takes place at the base. Alternatively, the term may refer solely to an establishment which is used only by an army to the exclusion of a used by either an air force or a navy. This is consistent with the different meanings of the word military, other examples of non- or semi-permanent military bases include a Forward Operating Base, a Logistics Base and a Fire Base. A military base may contain large concentrations of military supplies in order to support military logistics. Most military bases are restricted to the public and usually only authorized personnel may enter them, Military bases usually provide housing for military personnel, a post office and dining facilities. Bases used by the United States Air Force Reserve tend to be active USAF bases, however, there are a few Air Reserve Bases, such as Dobbins ARB, Georgia, and Grissom ARB, Indiana, both of which are former active-duty USAF bases. Support facilities on Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve installations tend to not be as extensive as active bases, i. e. they usually do not have on-base billeting, clinics, or commissaries. Petersburg area including training schools, commissioning institutes, the academy. An overseas military base is a base that is geographically located outside of the territory of the country whose armed forces are the principal occupants of the base. The overseas military base has, throughout its history of usage, been an issue of debate. In the 18th and 19th Centuries the Royal Engineers were largely responsible for erecting military bases in the British Isles, in 1792 the Chief Engineer was instructed to prepare the Barrack Construction estimates for Parliament and at the same time the Department of the Barrackmaster-General was established. In 1959 the Corps Work Services was transferred to the civilian War Department Works Organization and by 1965 the were formed to plan, British naval bases are traditionally named, commissioned, and administered as though they were naval ships. For this reason they are sometimes called stone frigates, lists of military installations Military installations of NATO Official Directory of US Military bases. Royal Engineers Museum Military Works New US Military Bases, Side Effects Or Causes Of War, by Zoltan Grossman US Office of the Deputy Under Secretary of Defense Outposts of Empire - Booklet and map of the American military bases in the world. Transnational Institute, March 2007 MyMilitaryBase. com - Directory of Military Installations
4.
Mississippi River
–
The Mississippi River is the chief river of the largest drainage system on the North American continent. Flowing entirely in the United States, it rises in northern Minnesota, with its many tributaries, the Mississippis watershed drains all or parts of 31 U. S. states and 2 Canadian provinces between the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains. The Mississippi ranks as the fourth longest and fifteenth largest river in the world by discharge, the river either borders or passes through the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana. Native Americans long lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries, most were hunter-gatherers, but some, such as the Mound Builders, formed prolific agricultural societies. The arrival of Europeans in the 16th century changed the way of life as first explorers, then settlers. The river served first as a barrier, forming borders for New Spain, New France, and the early United States, and then as a vital transportation artery and communications link. Formed from thick layers of the silt deposits, the Mississippi embayment is one of the most fertile agricultural regions of the country. In recent years, the river has shown a shift towards the Atchafalaya River channel in the Delta. The word itself comes from Messipi, the French rendering of the Anishinaabe name for the river, see below in the History section for additional information. In addition to historical traditions shown by names, there are at least two measures of a rivers identity, one being the largest branch, and the other being the longest branch. Using the largest-branch criterion, the Ohio would be the branch of the Lower Mississippi. Using the longest-branch criterion, the Middle Mississippi-Missouri-Jefferson-Beaverhead-Red Rock-Hellroaring Creek River would be the main branch and its length of at least 3,745 mi is exceeded only by the Nile, the Amazon, and perhaps the Yangtze River among the longest rivers in the world. The source of this waterway is at Browers Spring,8,800 feet above sea level in southwestern Montana and this is exemplified by the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the phrase Trans-Mississippi as used in the name of the Trans-Mississippi Exposition. It is common to qualify a regionally superlative landmark in relation to it, the New Madrid Seismic Zone along the river is also noteworthy. These various basic geographical aspects of the river in turn underlie its human history and present uses of the waterway, the Upper Mississippi runs from its headwaters to its confluence with the Missouri River at St. Louis, Missouri. The source of the Upper Mississippi branch is traditionally accepted as Lake Itasca,1,475 feet above sea level in Itasca State Park in Clearwater County, however, the lake is in turn fed by a number of smaller streams. From its origin at Lake Itasca to St. Louis, Missouri, fourteen of these dams are located above Minneapolis in the headwaters region and serve multiple purposes, including power generation and recreation. The remaining 29 dams, beginning in downtown Minneapolis, all locks and were constructed to improve commercial navigation of the upper river
5.
Missouri River
–
The Missouri River is the longest river in North America. Rising in the Rocky Mountains of western Montana, the Missouri flows east and south for 2,341 miles before entering the Mississippi River north of St. Louis, Missouri. The river takes drainage from a populated, semi-arid watershed of more than half a million square miles. When combined with the lower Mississippi River, it forms the fourth longest river system. For over 12,000 years, people have depended on the Missouri River and its tributaries as a source of sustenance and transportation. More than ten major groups of Native Americans populated the watershed, most leading a nomadic lifestyle, the Missouri River was one of the main routes for the westward expansion of the United States during the 19th century. The growth of the fur trade in the early 1800s laid much of the groundwork as trappers explored the region, pioneers headed west en masse beginning in the 1830s, first by covered wagon, then by the growing numbers of steamboats entering service on the river. Former Native American lands in the watershed were taken over by settlers, leading to some of the most longstanding, during the 20th century, the Missouri River basin was extensively developed for irrigation, flood control and the generation of hydroelectric power. Fifteen dams impound the main stem of the river, with more on tributaries. Meanders have been cut and the river channelized to improve navigation, from the Rocky Mountains of Montana and Wyoming, three streams rise to form the headwaters of the Missouri River. The longest begins near Browers Spring,9,100 feet above sea level, on the southeastern slopes of Mount Jefferson in the Centennial Mountains. Flowing west then north, it runs first in Hell Roaring Creek, then west into the Red Rock, swings northeast to become the Beaverhead and these two streams then flow north and northwest into Montana. The Missouri River officially starts at the confluence of the Jefferson and Madison in Missouri Headwaters State Park near Three Forks, Montana, the Missouri then passes through Canyon Ferry Lake, a reservoir west of the Big Belt Mountains. Issuing from the mountains near Cascade, the flows northeast to the city of Great Falls, where it drops over the Great Falls of the Missouri. Farther on, the passes through the Fort Peck Dam, and immediately downstream. At the confluence, the Yellowstone is actually the larger river, the Missouri then meanders east past Williston and into Lake Sakakawea, the reservoir formed by Garrison Dam. Below the dam the Missouri receives the Knife River from the west and flows south to Bismarck, the capital of North Dakota and it slows into the Lake Oahe reservoir just before the Cannonball River confluence. While it continues south, eventually reaching Oahe Dam in South Dakota, the Missouri makes a bend to the southeast as it winds through the Great Plains, receiving the Niobrara River and many smaller tributaries from the southwest
6.
Alton, Illinois
–
Alton is a city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, Illinois, United States, about 15 miles north of St. Louis, Missouri. The population was 27,865 at the 2010 census and it is a part of the Metro-East region of the Greater St. Louis metropolitan area. It was the site of the last Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debate in October 1858, the former state penitentiary here was used during the war to hold up to 12,000 Confederate prisoners of war. Although Alton once was growing faster than its city of St. Louis. Many blocks of housing in Alton were built in the Victorian Queen Anne style, at the top of the hill in the commercial area, several stone churches and a fine city hall also represent the citys wealth during its good times based on river traffic and shipping. It was a center for a large agricultural area. Numerous residences on hills have sweeping views of the Mississippi River, the Alton area was home to Native Americans for thousands of years before the 19th-century founding by European Americans of the modern city. Historic accounts indicate occupation of this area by the Illiniwek or Illinois Confederacy at the time of European contact, earlier native settlement is demonstrated by archaeological artifacts and the famous prehistoric Piasa bird painted on a cliff face nearby. The image was first written about in 1673 by French missionary priest Father Jacques Marquette, Alton was developed as a river town in 1818 by Rufus Easton, who named it after his son. Easton ran a ferry service across the Mississippi River to the Missouri shore. Alton is located amid the confluence of three significant navigable rivers, the Illinois, the Mississippi, and the Missouri, Alton grew into a river trading town with an industrial character. The city rises steeply from the waterfront, where massive concrete grain silos and railroad tracks were constructed in the 19th and 20th centuries to aid in shipping the areas grains, brick commercial buildings are located throughout downtown. Once the site of brick factories, Alton has an unusually high number of streets still paved in brick. The lower levels of Alton are subject to floods, many of which have inundated the downtown area. The flood levels of different dates are marked on the grain silos, part of the Ardent Mills. The flood of 93 is the worst in the last 100 years and it became an important town for abolitionists, as Illinois was a free state across from the slave state of Missouri. Pro-slavery activists also lived there and slave catchers often raided the city, escaped slaves would cross the Mississippi to seek shelter in Alton, and proceed to safer places through stations of the Underground Railroad. During the years before the American Civil War, several homes were equipped with tunnels, on November 7,1837, the abolitionist printer Reverend Elijah P. Lovejoy was murdered by a pro-slavery mob while he tried to protect his Alton-based press from being destroyed for the third time
7.
Western United States
–
The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West, the Far West, or simply the West, traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because European settlement in the U. S. expanded westward after its founding, prior to about 1800, the crest of the Appalachian Mountains was seen as the western frontier. Since then, the frontier moved westward and eventually lands west of the Mississippi River came to be referred to as the West. The West contains several major biomes, the Western U. S. is the largest region of the country, covering more than half the land area of the United States. Given this expansive and diverse geography it is no wonder the region is difficult to specifically define, a majority of the historian respondents placed the eastern boundary of the West east of the Census definition out on the eastern edge of the Great Plains or on the Mississippi River. The survey respondents as a whole showed just how little agreement there was on the boundaries of the West, within a region as large and diverse as the Western United States, smaller areas with more closely shared demographics and geography have developed as subregions. Meanwhile, the states of Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington can be considered part of the Northwest or Pacific Northwest, West Texas in the Chihuahuan Desert may be considered as part of the Western U. S. Fort Worth has long laid claim to be Where the West Begins, the West is still one of the most sparsely settled areas in the United States with 49.5 inhabitants per square mile. Only Texas with 78.0 inhabitants/sq mi, Washington with 86.0 inhabitants/sq mi. and California with 213.4 inhabitants/sq mi. exceed the national average of 77.98 inhabitants/sq mi. The entire Western region has also strongly influenced by European, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Native Americans. African and European Americans, however, continue to wield a stronger political influence because of the rates of citizenship and voting among Asians. The West also contains much of the Native American population in the U. S. particularly in the reservations in the Mountain. The Western United States has a sex ratio than any other region in the United States. Because the tide of development had not yet reached most of the West when conservation became an issue, agencies of the federal government own. National parks are reserved for activities such as fishing, camping, hiking, and boating, but other government lands also allow commercial activities like ranching, logging. The largest city in the region is Los Angeles, located on the West Coast, Other West Coast cities include San Diego, San Bernardino, San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland, Bakersfield, Sacramento, Seattle, Tacoma, and Portland. Prominent cities in the Mountain States include Denver, Colorado Springs, Phoenix, Tucson, Albuquerque, Las Vegas, Salt Lake City, Boise, El Paso, and Cheyenne. Along the Pacific Ocean coast lie the Coast Ranges, which and they collect a large part of the airborne moisture moving in from the ocean
8.
War of 1812
–
Historians in the United States and Canada see it as a war in its own right, but the British often see it as a minor theatre of the Napoleonic Wars. By the wars end in early 1815, the key issues had been resolved, the view was shared in much of New England and for that reason the war was widely referred to there as Mr. Madison’s War. As a result, the primary British war goal was to defend their North American colonies, the war was fought in three theatres. Second, land and naval battles were fought on the U. S. –Canadian frontier, Third, large-scale battles were fought in the Southern United States and Gulf Coast. With the majority of its land and naval forces tied down in Europe fighting the Napoleonic Wars, early victories over poorly-led U. S. armies demonstrated that the conquest of the Canadas would prove more difficult than anticipated. Despite this, the U. S. was able to inflict serious defeats on Britains Native American allies, both governments were eager for a return to normality and peace negotiations began in Ghent in August 1814. This brought an Era of Good Feelings in which partisan animosity nearly vanished in the face of strengthened American nationalism, the war was also a major turning point in the development of the U. S. military, with militia being increasingly replaced by a more professional force. The U. S. also acquired permanent ownership of Spains Mobile District, the government of Canada declared a three-year commemoration of the War of 1812 in 2012, intended to offer historical lessons and celebrate 200 years of peace across the border. At the conclusion of the commemorations in 2014, a new national War of 1812 Monument was unveiled in Ottawa. The war is remembered in Britain primarily as a footnote in the much larger Napoleonic Wars occurring in Europe, historians have long debated the relative weight of the multiple reasons underlying the origins of the War of 1812. This section summarizes several contributing factors which resulted in the declaration of war by the United States, as Risjord notes, a powerful motivation for the Americans was the desire to uphold national honour in the face of what they considered to be British insults such as the Chesapeake–Leopard Affair. The approaching conflict was about violations of American rights, but it was also vindication of American identity. Americans at the time and historians since often called it the United States Second War of Independence, in 1807, Britain introduced a series of trade restrictions via a series of Orders in Council to impede neutral trade with France, with which Britain was at war. The United States contested these restrictions as illegal under international law, the American merchant marine had come close to doubling between 1802 and 1810, making it by far the largest neutral fleet. Britain was the largest trading partner, receiving 80% of U. S. cotton, the British public and press were resentful of the growing mercantile and commercial competition. The United States view was that Britains restrictions violated its right to trade with others, during the Napoleonic Wars, the Royal Navy expanded to 176 ships of the line and 600 ships overall, requiring 140,000 sailors to man. The United States believed that British deserters had a right to become U. S. citizens and this meant that in addition to recovering naval deserters, it considered any United States citizens who were born British liable for impressment. Aggravating the situation was the reluctance of the United States to issue formal naturalization papers and it was estimated by the Admiralty that there were 11,000 naturalized sailors on United States ships in 1805
9.
Fort Madison, Iowa
–
Fort Madison is a city and a county seat of Lee County, Iowa, United States along with Keokuk. Of Iowas 99 counties, Lee County is the one with two county seats. The population was 11,051 at the 2010 census, located along the Mississippi River in the states southeast corner, it lies between small bluffs along one of the widest portions of the river. Fort Madison was founded at the location of the first U. S. military fort in the upper Mississippi region, a replica of the fort stands along the river. Sheaffer Pens were developed and made in Fort Madison for many years, the city is the location of the Iowa State Penitentiary—the states maximum security prison for men. Fort Madison is the Mississippi river crossing and station stop for Amtraks Southwest Chief, Fort Madison has the last remaining double swing-span bridge on the Mississippi River, the Fort Madison Toll Bridge. It has a top level for cars and a level for trains. The Fort Madison Downtown Commercial Historic District is a collection of well-preserved historic storefronts from the late 19th century, the city of Fort Madison was established around the site of the historic Fort Madison, which was the first permanent U. S. military fortification on the Upper Mississippi. Fort Madison was the site of Black Hawks first battle against U. S. troops and it was also the location of the first U. S. military cemetery in the upper Midwest. The fort was named for James Madison, fourth President of the United States, Fort Madison was one of three posts established by the U. S. Army to establish control over the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase territories. Fort Madison was built to control trade and pacify Native Americans in the Upper Mississippi River region, a disputed 1804 treaty with the Sauk and affiliated tribes led to the U. S. claim of control over western Illinois and parts of what is now Iowa. To establish control, the U. S. Army set out to construct a post near the mouth of the Des Moines River, again, this land was not considered suitable for a fort. The Army settled on a several miles upstream at what is now the city of Fort Madison. First called Fort Belleview, this post was soon deemed inadequate and it was poorly situated at the base of a bluff next to a deep ravine, areas from which enemies could safely fire at the fort. Black Hawk lamented over the new fort, and disparaged its construction in his autobiography, A number of people went down to see what was going on. On our arrival we found that they were building a fort, the soldiers were busily engaged in cutting timber, and I observed that they took their arms with them when they went to the woods. The whole party acted as they would do in an enemys country and we were pleased at this information and hoped that it was all true, but we were not so credulous as to believe that all these buildings were intended merely for the accommodation of a trader. Being distrustful of their intentions, we were anxious for them to leave off building, —Black Hawk, Autobiography Almost from the beginning, the fort was attacked by Sauk and other tribes
10.
Louisiana Purchase
–
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. The U. S. paid fifty million francs and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million francs for a total of sixty-eight million francs, the Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U. S. states and two Canadian provinces. Its non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were African slaves, the Kingdom of France controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. Napoleon in 1800, hoping to re-establish an empire in North America, however, Frances failure to put down the revolt in Saint-Domingue, coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom, prompted Napoleon to sell Louisiana to the United States. The Americans originally sought to purchase only the city of New Orleans and its adjacent coastal lands. The Louisiana Purchase occurred during the term of the third President of the United States, before the purchase was finalized, the decision faced Federalist Party opposition, they argued that it was unconstitutional to acquire any territory. Constitution did not contain provisions for acquiring territory, but he asserted that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties was sufficient. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, Louisiana was a pawn on the chessboard of European politics and it was controlled by the French, who had a few small settlements along the Mississippi and other main rivers. Following French defeat in the Seven Years War, Spain gained control of the territory west of the Mississippi, the United States controlled the area east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans. The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi to the sea, as the lands were being gradually settled by a few American migrants, many Americans, including Jefferson, assumed that the territory would be acquired piece by piece. The risk of power taking it from a weakened Spain made a profound reconsideration of this policy necessary. New Orleans was already important for shipping goods to and from the areas of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains. Pinckneys Treaty, signed with Spain on October 27,1795, gave American merchants right of deposit in New Orleans, Americans used this right to transport products such as flour, tobacco, pork, bacon, lard, feathers, cider, butter, and cheese. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi, in 1798 Spain revoked this treaty, prohibiting American use of New Orleans, and greatly upsetting the Americans. In 1801, Spanish Governor Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo took over from the Marquess of Casa Calvo, Napoleon Bonaparte had gained Louisiana for French ownership from Spain in 1800 under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso, but the treaty was kept secret. Louisiana remained nominally under Spanish control, until a transfer of power to France on November 30,1803, another ceremony was held in St. Louis a few months later, in part because during winter conditions the news of the New Orleans formalities did not reach Upper Louisiana. The March 9–10,1804, event is remembered as Three Flags Day, James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston had traveled to Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans in January 1803. Their instructions were to negotiate or purchase control of New Orleans and its environs, the Louisiana Purchase was by far the largest territorial gain in U. S. history
11.
William Henry Harrison
–
William Henry Harrison Sr. was the ninth President of the United States, an American military officer, and the last president born as a British subject. He was 68 years,23 days old at the time of his inauguration and he died of complications from pneumonia 31 days into his term, serving the shortest tenure in United States presidential history. He was the first president to die in office, and his death sparked a constitutional crisis. He was the grandfather of Benjamin Harrison, who served as the 23rd United States President from 1889 to 1893, before election as president, Harrison served as the first congressional delegate from the Northwest Territory and the first Governor of Indiana Territory. He gained national fame for leading U. S. forces against Native Americans at the Battle of Tippecanoe in 1811, as a general officer in the subsequent War of 1812, his most notable action was in the Battle of the Thames in 1813. This battle resulted in the death of Tecumseh and the dissolution of the Indian coalition which Tecumseh had led, after the war, Harrison moved to Ohio, where he was elected to the United States House of Representatives. In 1824, the legislature elected him to the United States Senate. He served a term after being appointed as Minister Plenipotentiary to Gran Colombia in May 1828. In Santa Fe de Bogotá, he spoke with president Simón Bolívar, returning to his farm in Ohio, Harrison lived in relative retirement until he was nominated for the presidency as one of several Whig Party candidates in the election of 1836. He received more votes than any other Whig, but was defeated by Democrat Martin Van Buren and he retired again to his farm. Van Buren soon became a target of criticism from the Whigs surrounding economic difficulties following the Panic of 1837. John Tyler of Virginia was selected as his running mate, Harrison and Tyler defeated Van Buren in the 1840 election. However, Harrison died of pneumonia in April 1841, a month after taking office, Tyler then assumed all of the powers and duties of the president, setting a major precedent. Harrison was a member of a prominent political family of entirely English descent, Harrison was also the last U. S. president born as a British subject before American Revolution. Benjamin Harrison V, Williams father, was a Virginia planter who served as a delegate to the Continental Congress, the senior Harrison also served in the Virginia legislature as the fifth governor of Virginia in the years during and after the American Revolutionary War. Williams older brother, Carter Bassett Harrison, represented Virginia in the U. S. House, Harrison was tutored at home before he entered Hampden–Sydney College, the Presbyterian school in Virginia in 1787 at age 14. He remained at the school until 1790, receiving an education that included Latin, Greek, French, logic. Harrisons Episcopalian father removed him from the college, possibly because of a revival that was occurring at the school
12.
Meskwaki
–
The Meskwaki are a Native American people often known to Anglo-Americans as the Fox tribe. They have been linked to the Sauk people of the same language family. In the Meskwaki language, the Meskwaki call themselves Meshkwahkihaki, which means the Red-Earths, historically their homelands were in the Great Lakes region. The tribe coalesced in the St. Lawrence River Valley in present-day Ontario, the Meskwaki suffered damaging battles with French and their Native American allies in the early 18th century, with one in 1730 decimating the tribe. In the 19th century, Euro-American colonization and settlement proceeded by the United States and they forced the Meskwaki/Fox south and west into the tall grass prairie in the American Midwest. In 1851 the Iowa state legislature passed an act to allow the Fox to buy land. Other Sac and Fox were removed to Indian territory in what became Kansas, Oklahoma, in the 21st century, three federally recognized tribes of Sac and Fox have reservations. The name is derived from the Meskwaki creation myth, in which their culture hero, Wisaka and they called themselves Meshkwahkihaki in Meskwaki, meaning the Red-Earths. Later the English and Anglo-Americans adopted the French name, using its translation in English as Fox and this name was also used officially by the United States government from the 19th century. Historically the Meskwaki used Triodanis perfoliata as an emetic in tribal ceremonies to make one sick all day long and they traditionally smoked it at purification and other spiritual rituals. Meskwaki are of Algonquian origin from the prehistoric Woodland period culture area, the Meskwaki language is a dialect of the language spoken by the Sauk and Kickapoo, within the Algonquian languages family. This broad group includes many tribes on the Atlantic Coast and around the Great Lakes, the Meskwaki and Sauk peoples are two distinct tribal groups. Linguistic and cultural connections between the two tribes have made them often associated in history, under US government recognition treaties, officials treat the Sac and Meskwaki as a single political unit, despite their distinct identities. Historically the Meskwaki lived along the Saint Lawrence River in present-day Ontario, the tribe may have numbered as many as 10,000, but years of war with the Huron, whom French colonial agents supplied with arms, and exposure to new European infectious diseases reduced their numbers. In response to pressures, the Meskwaki migrated west, first to present-day eastern Michigan in the area between Saginaw Bay and Detroit west of Lake Huron. Later they moved further west into what is now Wisconsin, the Meskwaki gained control of the Fox River system in eastern and central Wisconsin. As part of the Fox–Wisconsin Waterway, the Fox River allowed travel from Lake Michigan, at first European contact in 1698, the French estimated the number of Meskwaki as about 6,500. By 1712, the number of Meskwaki had declined to 3,500, the Meskwaki fought against the French, in what are called the Fox Wars, for more than three decades to preserve their homelands
Media related to Fort Belle Fontaine at Wikimedia Commons
