Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase Treaty, 1803
Robert Livingston and James Monroe closed on the sweetest real estate deal of the millennium when they signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty in Paris on April 30, 1803. They were authorized to pay France up to $10 million for the port of New Orleans and the Floridas. When offered the entire territory of Louisiana–an area larger than Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Portugal combined–the American negotiators swiftly agreed to a price of $15 million. ... [Read More]
Louisiana Purchase Exhibit p.1
Soon after Thomas Jefferson became President, the United States learned that Spain planned to return Louisiana to France. Fearing that France might try to interfere with Western American trade in the port of New Orleans, Jefferson instructed special envoy James Monroe and American Minister to France, Robert Livingston, to discuss with the French the possible purchase of the port of New Orleans. Monroe and Livingston were astonished when Francois Barbé-Marbois, at Bonaparte's order, offered the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States. Although they lacked Constitutional authority, the American representatives agreed to buy all of the massive territory which extended from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains for a total of nearly fifteen million dollars -- an extraordinary bargain at four cents an acre. A Treaty of Cession was signed on April 30, 1803 in Paris. ... [Read More]
Senate Ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty
In the 1800s, in the United States, pioneers and homesteaders eagerly moved west to start a new life in the plains, hills and mountains west of the Mississippi River. This movement could not have happened without the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, approved by the Senate on October 20, 1803, by a vote of 24-to-7. The agreement, which provided for the purchase of the western half of the Mississippi River basin from France at a price of less than 3 cents per acre, doubled the size of the country. ... [Read More]
Louisiana Secretary of State/Museums/Old State Capitol/Louisiana Purchase-Negotiation
The second part of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, "The Convention for Payment", established the purchase price that America would pay to France in order to obtain and occupy Louisiana. The cost of the Louisiana Territory itself was set at $11,250,000. It was determined that the United States would borrow the money from banking firms in Britain and the Netherlands. ... In the months that followed Livingston's arrival in France, he constantly urged the French government to make concessions with the Americans regarding Louisiana. However, all of his arguments detailing why Louisiana would be worth more to France if it were in the hands of the United States seemed to be fruitless. When the Spanish intendant of New Orleans suspended the right of deposit in October of 1802 (probably as a result of Napoleon Bonaparte's orders), Jefferson chose to send James Monroe to help Livingston in his negotiations with Bonaparte. In addition, Congress granted approval for Livingston to attempt to purchase the eastern bank of the Mississippi River for up to two million dollars. Secretly, Jefferson revealed to the two envoys that he was willing to pay over nine million dollars for the Floridas and New Orleans. ... [Read More]
Louisiana Purchase: Primary Documents of American History (Virtual Programs & Services, Library of Congress)
The Louisiana Purchase is considered the greatest real estate deal in history. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents an acre. The ratification of the Louisiana Purchase treaty by the Senate on October 20, 1803, doubled the size of the United States and opened up the continent to its westward expansion. ... The Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Celebration: A Nation Reborn 1803-2003 , Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Commission ... [Read More]
Louisiana Secretary of State/Museums/Old State Capitol/Louisiana Purchase
President Jefferson, a believer in strict adherence to the Constitution, was concerned about the legality of purchasing Louisiana before the agreement could be ratified by the Senate but he supported the decision made by Monroe and Livingston. Debate over the purchase and over the addition of an "alien population" to the United States was intense with the New England states eager to condemn the acquisition of Louisiana and the frontier states of the South and West just as eager to defend it. On October 25, the Treaty of Cession was approved by the Senate and, shortly thereafter, the transfer of power took place in New Orleans. By the single act of purchasing the Louisiana Territory, the United States of America doubled its size and greatly accelerated its march toward the Pacific coast. The beckoning West awaited a new generation of pioneers who would turn the dream of "manifest destiny" into the reality. ... [Read More]
Louisiana Purchase
As the United States spread across the Appalachians, the Mississippi River became increasingly important as a conduit for the produce of America's West (which at that time refered to the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi). Since 1762, Spain had owned the territory of Louisiana, which included 828,000 square miles, and which now makes up all or part of fifteen separate states between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Friction between Spain and the United States over the right to navigate the Mississippi and the right for Americans to transfer their goods to ocean-going vessels at New Orleans had been resolved by the Pickney treaty of 1795. With the Pickney treaty in place and the weak Spanish empire in control of Louisiana, American statesmen felt comfortable that the United States' westward expansion would not be restricted in the long run. This situation was threatened by Napoleon Bonaparte's plans to revive the French empire i ... [Read More]
The United States Mint
In commemoration of the bicentennials of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark expedition, the President enacted Public Law 108-15 to modify the Jefferson 5-cent coin (nickel) to reflect images evocative of the historic expedition into the Louisiana Territory. The United States Mint began the Westward Journey Nickel Series™ in 2004 with the release of the Peace Medal and Keelboat nickels. In 2005, a contemporary image of President Jefferson will appear on the nickel, along with two new reverse designs that recognize the American Indians and wildlife encountered by the Lewis and Clark expedition and the progress and culmination of the journey. Depictions of Monticello and Thomas Jefferson will return to the nickel in 2006. ... [Read More]
Century of Lawmaking: The Louisiana Purchase Legislative Timeline -- Introduction
T he Louisiana Purchase is considered the greatest real estate deal in history. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents an acre. The signing of the Louisiana Purchase treaty on April 30, 1803, doubled the size of the United States and opened up the continent to its westward expansion. This timeline examines the role of Congress in the Louisiana Purchase from 1802 to 1807, including ratification of the treaty, establishment of a territorial government, confrontation with Spain over boundary issues, and its limited role in the Lewis and Clark Expedition. All of the congressional documents contained within this timeline come from the American Memory collection A Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation . Introduction | 1802-1803 | 1803-1804 | 1804-1805 | 1805-1806 | 1806-1807 | Related Resources ... [Read More]
Exhibit: The Louisiana Purchase
--Gen. Horatio Gates to President Thomas Jefferson, July 18, 1803 The Louisiana Purchase has been described as the greatest real estate deal in history. In 1803 the United States paid France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory--828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River. The lands acquired stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. Thirteen states were carved from the Louisiana Territory. The Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States, making it one of the largest nations in the world. ... [Read More]
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