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Article: Pike's Expedition
- Article from:
- Gale Encyclopedia of U.S. Economic History
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PIKE'S EXPEDITION
Zebulon Pike (1779
–
1813) was born in Lamberton, New Jersey in January 1779. He followed his father, a U.S. Army major of the same name, into a military career. The younger Pike was commissioned first lieutenant in 1799. While he was serving on the western frontier in St. Louis, President Thomas Jefferson (1801
–
1809) completed the Louisiana Purchase with France. The acquisition added 828,000 square miles of land lying between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, northward to the source of the river. The United States needed to explore and assert legal claim to the newly gained lands as well as to establish friendly relations with the Native ...