Louisiana Purchase Research Paper

Improved Essays
Would it be hard to believe that almost a one quarter of modern day United States was purchased in one large transaction? Specifically 828,000 square miles of land. The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States in 1803. After signing a secret treaty to return the Louisiana territory to France, France wanted to sell the Louisiana territory because they did not believe it was worth the money or the trouble since they were having a hard time holding on to Saint Dominique in Haiti already. France and the United States already had a treaty in place allowing the United States to use the port of New Orleans; (the Treaty of San Lorenzo) and neither France nor Spain were pleased that the United States was profiting off it’s port. Napoleon thought that if he could make quick money from a deal with the United States, his people would …show more content…
Minister to France Robert Livingston to negotiate with French minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand on his behalf for the purchase of New Orleans. Jefferson later sent future United States president James Monroe to aid Livingston in the talks. Shortly before Monroe arrived, France asked Livingston if the United States was interested in purchasing the entire Louisiana territory. Livingston, shocked, yet not wanting to waste time consulting with Jefferson and chancing France changing their minds, accepted the offer and bought the entire territory for $15 million, or 3 cents per acre. In present-day, this territory includes the entirety of Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska. The territory also includes parts of Minnesota, western Louisiana, northeastern New Mexico, South Dakota, northern Texas, parts of Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado. The purchase of The Louisiana Territory during Thomas Jefferson's presidency not only expanded farmland and trade, but also gave birth to multiculturalism and the conflicts of slavery related to

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Section I, 1. Why was Napoleon willing to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States? How did Jefferson’s Louisiana Purchase transform America’s understanding of itself and its future? Was it inevitable that the West would become part of a much greater United States? Napoleon Bonaparte, before he decided to sell Louisiana was already facing many problems.…

    • 1666 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This took some negotiation. “One thing that the United States didn’t need in 1803, was land,” (88). From this you can see that they had more than what they knew to do with. Many of the Americans thought that if the United States expanded the bonds of the union would weaken. Before the Louisiana Purchase the Unites…

    • 325 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Dear editor, I think that the United States ,Thomas Jefferson, and Congress should buy the Louisiana territory because not only would we get New Orleans and we would get the Louisiana territory which has the Mississippi River. First of all if we buy the Louisiana Territory we would have way more land. It says that there is over half of the U.S. in this purchase. Why would Thomas Jefferson not buy it, who cares if it's not constitutional! I Shirley wouldn't.…

    • 359 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    However, everything changed when Napoleon Bonaparte rose to power following the French Revolution. Napoleon was intent on reestablishing an empire in North America, and signed a secret treaty with Spain retroceding control of Louisiana back to France.…

    • 444 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Settlers migrating westward relied heavily upon the accessible part of the Mississippi River and “strategic” port of New Orleans. “U.S. officials feared that France, resurgent under the leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), would soon seek to dominate the Mississippi River and access to the Gulf of Mexico”(History.com Staff. " Louisiana Purchase."). By gaining control of this important river and strategic port, the United States would govern the lands accessed by this great river which would, in turn, help populate the area and facilitate…

    • 423 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Have you been wondering what the huge land deal everyone’s talking about is? Well your pondering stops here. It’s called the Louisiana Purchase and it happened on July 4th 1803. It was a land deal between our country the United States and France. This was no ordinary deal; the purchase gave us about 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River.…

    • 376 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Jefferson’s Great Gamble: The Remarkable Story of Jefferson, Napoleon, and the Men Behind the Louisiana Purchase, Charles A. Cerami’s recounted the one of the most overlooked events in American history. Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte, two of history's greatest leaders, stood face to face for the western lands of America. It was indeed grueling mission for Jefferson: outmaneuvering the great Napoleon Bonaparte, determining the morality of westward expansion, and most importantly keeping America intact and out of war. Cerami, an economist and historian, featured the drama, cajolery, fear, and betrayal America confronted before leading itself to massive real-estate deal known as Louisiana Purchase. Cerami informed the readers about the significant people and crucial events that eventually led to the Louisiana Purchase.…

    • 1237 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A man named Monroe was sent to Paris to buy New Orleans and land to its east in 1803. He was advised to spend no more than $10 million but Napoleon offered him a compromise he could not refuse. Napoleon would give the entire territory to America for only $15 million. Jefferson understood that spending more than $10 was against the Congress but he continued with Napoleon's deal.…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Napoleon wrote his “order for the sale of Louisiana” on April 23, 1803. (Thompson) Jefferson didn't actually hear of the purchase until July 3rd, almost three months after negotiations. He was very excited when he found out. (Jaffe) Jefferson called the purchase “a transaction replete with blessing to unborn millions of men.”…

    • 1509 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    First he had to deal with France and the Louisiana Purchase. After the Haitian Revolution and the loss of its sugar colonies, France led by Napoleon Bonaparte decided that it no longer wanted a North American empire. This led to the Louisiana Purchase where the United States bought the Louisiana territory. Jefferson created this deal, but there was no explicit power in the constitution for the president to purchase foreign lands. Document C details a letter from Jefferson to John Breckinridge where he admits to reaching beyond the constitution in order to make the deal happen.…

    • 884 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Louisiana Purchase Dbq

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Some historians may analyze the Louisiana Purchase and argue that when Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, he altered the shape of a nation and the course of history. However, there is considerable evidence that shows that the Louisiana Purchase influenced the United States Ideas and policies of citizenship by challenging the social hierarchy, bringing groups together, and establishing a democracy over all of the United States. The addition of the Louisiana territory led to conflicts in the United States. The government was forced to find ways to keep the whole country intact.…

    • 540 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Louisiana Purchase Thomas Jefferson was an active hero, a spokesman for democracy, and the third president of these United States of America. As president, he was always faced with diversity; whether it was dealing with the Barbary pirates in the middle east, belligerent British trade policies, and even the greatest acquirement of all time: the Louisiana Purchase. The Louisiana purchase was one of the best procurements that could have happened to this great nation. That is why The purchase of Louisiana held no significant moral dilemmas for President Thomas Jefferson, because it benefited the nation by growing more than double the size of the United states, gave the country complete control of the port of New Orleans, and provided territory…

    • 747 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Napoleon thought that, 'Hey, I need money, so I'll sell it to these guys and then raid them to get it back'. Jefferson only needed to buy New Orleans, but Napoleon offered it as all or nothing" ("The Original Goal: Buying New Orleans"). So, Jefferson bought basically all of Central America for fifteen million dollars and nearly doubling the size of the nation. After Jefferson bought the new…

    • 667 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Westward expansion Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from the French for $15 million in 1803. The Louisiana Territory extends to the Mississippi River to…

    • 257 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase was a huge portion that the United States bought from France. A great amount of land west of Mississippi was purchased from France in 1803. The United States bought all of it for 15 million dollars which was a pretty good deal. The area was explored by these guys named Lewis and Clark which they began in May 14, 1804 until September 23, 1806.…

    • 182 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays