(0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5)*

We have investigated the electronic and magnetic ground state of a series of La_1−xSr_xMnO₃ thin films as a function of doping, x, for 0≤x≤0.5. The films were grown by molecular-beam epitaxy, epitaxially strained to (001) oriented strontium titanate substrates. We find that the ground state of these crystalline thin films is, in general, consistent with that observed in both bulk and thin film samples synthesized under a multitude of techniques.  Our systematic study also reveals subtle features in the temperature dependent electronic transport and magnetization measurements that may correspond to Jahn-Teller type distortions in the lattice as a function of doping and temperature.  The doping dependent coercive filed in this series was investigated in this context.