Louisiana. Home of the beignet. Birthplace of jazz. The crawfish capital of the world. What would the United States be without this culturally rich, boot-shaped, bayou state? 

The Louisiana Purchase profoundly affected the course of American development. Yet it was made possible by events largely outside American control. This unit might therefore enable you to explore with your students the nature of history itself—the web of events that lead history down a particular path—and how things might be different if events like the Louisiana Purchase had never taken place.