21 April 2010

SCHGS Meeting, Monday April 26th, "Kansas and the Louisiana Purchase"

“Kansas and the Louisiana Purchase”

On Monday, April 26th, at the Wellington Steakhouse, at 6:30 p.m., Jim Crisler will present “Kansas and the Louisiana Purchase” to the Sumner County Historical and Genealogical Society and visitors.

How did the French plan to use the Louisiana Territory? How close did Kansas come to being part of the Spanish Empire? What one person, considered a traitor by some, played a pivotal role in the Louisiana Purchase?

“This talk will focus around the maps,” Crisler said, “and the politicians and the people who decided how those maps came out.”

Through Crisler’s eyes, we will see a glimpse of what our nation was like at this early time in its history, how international conflicts pulled the colonists in different directions, and how the colonists and the attitude of the countries to their colonies and the colonists to their countries played a crucial part in the growth of America.

Crisler will touch on how the Native Americans interacted with the first official expedition that came from the United States into the territory that is now Kansas, the Pike Expedition, and will follow the career of one very interesting character who “turns up at a surprising number of important times in our nation’s early history and was considered by some to be one of the biggest traitors in United States history.”

Crisler said there were many national and international events that brought about the Louisiana Purchase and many interesting and surprising characters that played a part in influencing those events, including the treatment of famous founding fathers George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson as English colonists, and he will share how ordinary settlers, as well as traders and traitors, Native Americans and generals, explorers and heroes all interacted and led to the Purchase.

“Whether Kansas would belong to the United States or become part of the Spanish empire, the year 1806 decided the fate of the United States west of the Mississippi, and Kansas’ fate ends up being decided by a notorious traitor,” Crisler said.

There is no charge for the meetings and visitors are always welcome!

Sumner County Historical & Genealogical Society
Meeting, Monday, April 26th at 6:30 p.m., Wellington Steakhouse, Wellington, Kansas
For more Information, contact Sherry Stocking Kline at: sherry@familytreewriter.com

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