Louisiana+Purchase+-+Jae-Suk



<-- Thomas Jefferson (3rd president of the U.S.)

The United States bought Louisiana from France in 1803. The price was only $11,250,000 for 2,140,000km2 of land. Including the interest and cancellation of debts, the U.S. paid $23,213,568 total. The Louisiana Purchase contained fifteen current U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The land encompassed “Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, parts of Minnesota that were south of the Mississippi River, most of North Dakota, nearly all of South Dakota, northeastern New Mexico, northern Texas, the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide, and Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans.” It also contained Canadian provinces of “Alberta and Saskatchewan.” The purchased land was about twenty-three percent of the U.S. territory today. The purchase occurred during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. Since it could mean that France had a right to be in Louisiana, he did not like the idea of buying Louisiana from France at first. The U.S. was originally planning to buy just New Orleans. The France, however, was certain that the U.S. would accept a larger offer. Although the U.S. was planning to buy New Orleans for $10 million, they changed their mind when France offered the whole region for $15 million. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed by Barbé Marbois, James Monroe, and Robert Livingston on April 30th, 1803. Attaining the land almost doubled the size of the U.S. for the price less than three cents per acre. One of the major problems with the compact was that most of the land was already occupied by American Indians. Neither the purchaser nor the seller negotiated with Native Americans. Very few of them even knew that the agreement between France and the U.S. had taken place. For this reason, the actual cost paid for Louisiana was much higher than the amount paid to France. In addition, part of the $15 million sale price was used for forgiving debts that France owned to the U.S. France ended up with receiving $8,831,250 for the sale.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase