In 1800 Napoleon, the great French general, forced Spain to give France all the region then known as Louisiana, which extended from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains, and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Spain, a weak country, had already refused to permit American boats to use the mouth of the Mississippi. What if Napoleon should send his victorious army to Louisiana and close the Mississippi entirely? Jefferson saw the danger at once, and sent James Monroe to Paris to help our minister, Robert R. Livingston, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, buy New Orleans and a strip of land on the east side of the Mississippi River near its mouth. [Sidenote: =Sells Louisiana to America=] Napoleon was about to enter on a terrible war with England, and needed money badly. He was only too glad to sell all of Louisiana for fifteen million dollars (1803). This was more than Livingston was told to buy, but he and Monroe accepted his offer. [Sidenote: =The greatness of the purchase=] If you will count the number of great states which have been carved out of the "Louisiana Purchase," and look at the great cities and the number of towns which have grown up within "old Louisiana," you will understand why great honor is given to the men who purchased this vast region. [Sidenote: =The Lewis and Clark expedition=] In the very next year Jefferson sent out an expedition under the command of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this vast country of Louisiana. With white men, Indians, and boats they made their way slowly up the Missouri, across the mountains, and down the Columbia River to the Pacific coast. [Illustration: THE UNITED STATES IN 1803, AFTER THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE] [Sidenote: =Louisiana Purchase Exposition=] The wonderful stories told by Lewis and Clark gave Americans their first real knowledge of parts of the Louisiana Purchase and of the Oregon region. In 1904, America, with the help of all the great nations of the world, celebrated at St. Louis the buying of this region by holding the Louisiana Purchase Exposition. [Sidenote: =President a second time=] [Sidenote: =Friends visit him at Monticello=] In 1804 Jefferson was elected president again by a greater majority than before. After serving a second term, he, like Washington, refused to be president for a third time. He retired to Monticello, where he spent his last days pleasantly and where hundreds of friends from all parts of America and Europe came to consult him. The people called him the "Sage of Monticello." [Sidenote: =Died July 4, 1826=] Jefferson lived to see the first two great states, Louisiana and Missouri, carved out of the Louisiana Purchase. He died at Monticello, July 4, 1826. On the same day, at Quincy, Massachusetts, died his longtime friend, John Adams. These two patriots, one the writer the other the defender of the Declaration of Independence, died just half a century after it was signed.