Even after two centuries, the Louisiana Purchase still holds our attention as one of the most important events in American history. It was the largest and swiftest act of American expansion, and it forever and fundamentally transformed the flow of American history and the shape of the geographical, political, and cultural contours of the nation.

The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States and brought with it new cultures, new citizens, and vast natural resources. The Purchase created the prospect (for better and worse) of a great nation, stretching from sea to sea. As the Purchase literally reshaped America, it would transform the struggle over slavery, the nature of relations between Euro-Americans and Native Americans, the cultures and ethnicity of the American peoples, and the scope and complexity of the economy.

Here are just a few reasons why commemorating the Bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase is so important for Missourians:

The Upper Louisiana Territory, later the Missouri Territory, gave birth to 11 states.

The settlement of the Upper Louisiana Territory, for good and ill, fundamentally altered the national debate over slavery and the relations between the United States and Native American nations.

The Missouri Compromise and the Dred Scott trial, held in St. Louis, emerged from the Louisiana Purchase and, ultimately, played roles in the American Civil War. Missouri continues to be at the center of events shaping the emergence of a multicultural United States.

Missouri-the starting point for the Lewis & Clark Expedition and the traditional "Gateway to the West" for settlers-is a uniquely appropriate place for us both to commemorate the Purchase and to reconsider and re-evaluate the way we tell the story of American history.