Anew and powerful class of people known arose from the desire to possess the beautiful items people saw while on the crusades in the holy land.

president thomas jefferson commissioned the expedition shortly after the louisiana purchase in 1803 to explore and to map the newly acquired territory, to find a practical route across the western half of the continent, and to establish an american presence in this territory before britain and other european powers

in all honesty, it really hasn't. except that hitler killed himself.