In this transaction with France, signed on April 30, 1803, the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. For roughly 4 cents an acre, the United States doubled its size, expanding the nation westward.

Dated February 13, 1804, this acknowledges the receipt of $7,500,000 in stock certificates by James Leonard to be used towards the purchase of Louisiana.

Approved on February 8, 1887, “An Act to Provide for the Allotment of Lands in Severalty to Indians on the Various Reservations,” known as the Dawes Act, emphasized severalty, the treatment of Native Americans as individuals rather than as members of tribes.

In this secret message of January 18, 1803, President Jefferson asked Congress for $2,500 to explore the West–all the way to the Pacific Ocean. At the time, the territory did not belong to the United States. Congress agreed to fund the expedition that would be led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

On January 4, 1896, the Territory of Utah was admitted to the Union as the 45th state. Dated December 17, 1875, this is a petition signed by 22,626 women of Utah and presented to Congress, requesting statehood for the Territory of Utah.

Read in the Senate on January 2, 1810, this petition from frontiersman Daniel Boone requests Congress’s help in reclaiming the title to his land in what is now St. Charles County, Missouri. Boone acquired land in Louisiana when it was under Spanish rule, but his title was deemed invalid after the territory came into possession [...]