Calderwood Writing Course: U.S. History
The Louisiana Purchase

Organize Your Work

You will now use Organize It to outline your argument in response to the question: Do you agree that the Louisiana Purchase was a “most splendid” event?

The claims you make should be supported by evidence, including relevant quotations, from the videos and primary sources in the lesson. To begin, you can review your notes in “My Work” as well as any of the following:

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Space Pause/Play video playback
Enter Pause/Play video playback
m Mute/Unmute video volume
Up and Down arrows Increase and decrease volume by 10%
Right and Left arrows Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds
0-9 Fast seek to x% of the video.
f Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key.
c Press c to toggle captions on or off
Introductory Video
 
Map of US in early 1800s showing extent of Louisiana Purchase

Louisiana Purchase Map

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Space Pause/Play video playback
Enter Pause/Play video playback
m Mute/Unmute video volume
Up and Down arrows Increase and decrease volume by 10%
Right and Left arrows Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds
0-9 Fast seek to x% of the video.
f Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key.
c Press c to toggle captions on or off
Deal of the Century Video
 
Painting of New Orleans in the early 1800s

Under My Wings Everything Prospers

Keyboard Shortcut Action
Space Pause/Play video playback
Enter Pause/Play video playback
m Mute/Unmute video volume
Up and Down arrows Increase and decrease volume by 10%
Right and Left arrows Seek forward or backward by 5 seconds
0-9 Fast seek to x% of the video.
f Enter or exit fullscreen. (Note: To exit fullscreen in flash press the Esc key.
c Press c to toggle captions on or off
Consequences of the Louisiana Purchase Video
 

Use Organize It to arrange your notes into five sections: an introduction, three supporting paragraphs, and a conclusion. Your introductory paragraph should state your argument, and the closing paragraph should summarize your conclusion. Use these questions to help structure your claims in the supporting paragraphs:

  1. Why was Jefferson so eager to acquire the Louisiana territory? 
  2. What impacts did the Louisiana Purchase Treaty have on the United States?
  3. What were the consequences of the Louisiana Purchase? How would you weigh the benefits and the disadvantages?

Organize It!: Your work has been submitted.

The Louisiana Purchase

Calderwood Writing Course: U.S. History

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You will now create an outline for your final essay to answer this question: Do you agree that the Louisiana Purchase was a “most splendid” event?

  • To see and copy from everything you've saved in this lesson, open “My Work.”
  • Create a card for each claim or piece of evidence you might include in the essay.
  • Then drag each card into place in the outline.
  • You can rearrange or edit the cards, as needed.
  • When you are finished, click “Submit.”

Are you sure you want to unsubmit your work? Clicking YES will remove it from your My Work page.