The Louisiana Purchase Essay

637 Words3 Pages
The Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase played an enormous role in United States history. The treaty was the largest and most extraordinary deal ever made. The Louisiana Purchase was signed on April 30, 1803. The United States purchased the Louisiana territory from France. This territory consisted of more than two million square kilometers of land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The French, led by Emperor Napoleon I, sold Louisiana to the United States, led by Thomas Jefferson for sixty million frans equivalent to fifteen million dollars. (approximately four cents an acre) A deal the United States could not pass! The one thing the United States wanted more of was land and the Louisiana territory had a lot of it. Louisiana was owned by France and New Orleans was a huge French settlement. The United States exported three eighths of their produce from the Mississippi and New Orleans. Not only did the United States want to double their size but also promote trade. Thomas Jefferson wanted free access of the river and strived to protect American shipping and settlements. President Thomas Jefferson sent out Robert Livingston to France to buy New Orleans and the surrounding area, Napoleon refused. The Emperor of France didn’t hand over the Louisiana Territory so easily. Napoleon also had big plans of his own. He acquired Louisiana in hopes of building an empire in North America. He hoped to use the Mississippi Valley as a food and trade center to supply the Island of Hispaniola, which was the heart of this empire. Napoleon had to restore French control of Hispaniola, where the Haitians slaves under Toussaint L’ouverture had seized power in 1801. In 1802 Napoleon send out an army lead by army lead by Charles Leclerc (his brother in law) to suppress Haitian rebellion. Although the military succeeded, France lost thousands of soldiers to

More about The Louisiana Purchase Essay

Open Document