THE U.S. BETWEEN 1787 - 1803
When the Constitution was written in 1787, the U.S. had 13 states on the East Coast of North America. The United States also claimed to own the land between the 13 original states and the Mississippi River as U.S. territory. The word "claim" means that other European countries that created colonies in the Americas agreed that this territory was owned by the United States.
At this time, there were still over 600,000 Native Americans living on the land claimed by the United States. Native American tribes had lived for thousands of years in the territory that the U.S. claimed. They did not agree that the U.S. owned the land. This led to many conflicts and wars in the 1800s because Native Americans were forced to defend their people, their culture, and their land.
In 1803, the United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France. The Louisiana Territory included a large amount of land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. France sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States because they needed money to pay for wars they were fighting in Europe.
This map shows the U.S. in 1803 in green and the Louisiana Territory in pink.
ONE NATION, ONE PEOPLE: THE USCIS CIVICS TEST TEXTBOOK