ShmoopTube

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[ musical flourish ]

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And here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by Old Man River,

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Poseidon's crazy great-uncle.

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Remember that song?

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[ singing ] Old Man River...

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All right. Are we reading?

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Expanding government and regulation into the

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Louisiana territory proved challenging

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for all of the following reasons except... what?

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And here are your potential answers.

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[ mumbles ]

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[ mumbling continues ]

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All right, well what exactly is this question asking?

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Well, if we look at the image provided,

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we see that huge swath of land

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that the United States annexed with the Louisiana Purchase.

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So, because the country's size was nearly doubled,

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there were bound to be some problems.

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We just need to figure out which of these answers

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wasn't a challenge the U.S. encountered

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during the expansion.

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Well, did the government have expansion challenges because of

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A - the diversity of ethnicities and religions in the region?

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Well, challenges might even be putting it mildly.

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That new territory? Yeah, it was acquired from France,

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but before that, it had been in Spanish hands,

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so most of the residents spoke a language other than English

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and were Catholic, not Protestant.

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Looks like the melting pot just got a whole lot meltier.

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Could one of the issues have been B -

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the presence of both freed and current slaves?

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Oh, you bet.

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Well, the diversity of inhabitants in the region

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also meant diversity in their feelings toward slavery.

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So freed and current slaves were

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mixed in with the population now pledging allegiance

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to the American flag.

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So that knocks out B, as well.

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Did the expansion of government encounter C -

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continuing confrontations with the Native American populations?

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Well, continuing down the not-so-stellar

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track record of unhappy relationships with Native populations,

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the U.S. continued warring with Native

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Americans in the Territory.

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Can't teach an old dog new, more humane tricks, right?

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Yeah, so it's a no-go on C.

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Which means the government didn't have a problem with D -

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the region's lack of transportation networks.

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Look at that map again. See the eastern border? Right here.

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That's the Mississippi River.

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In fact, the Louisiana Purchase included a

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vast set of natural transportation networks,

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many of which flowed into the Mississippi

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and down to the port of New Orleans.

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So that means D is the right answer.

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And it looks like a river really did run through it.

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[ singing ] Old Man River

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[ singing ] Kept on rollin' along

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Or something like that. Yeah.

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