Louisiana Purchase

Q: What was the Louisiana Purchase?

The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal made in 1803, when France sold the Louisiana Territory - 828,000 acres of land west of the Mississippi River - to the United States for $15 million, an average of three cents an acre.

Q: Who made the Louisiana Purchase?

The Louisiana Purchase was made between the governments of US President Thomas Jefferson and French First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte.

Q: Which states were part of the Louisiana Purchase?

The modern US states carved from the Louisiana Purchase include Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Oklahoma, as well as parts of Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, and Minnesota.

Harrison W. Mark

Definition

The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal made in 1803, in which the United States purchased 828,000 square miles (2,144,510 km²) of land west of the Mississippi River from France for $15 million, or an average of three cents per acre. The purchase nearly doubled the territorial size of the United States and fostered the westward expansion of the young republic.

More about: Louisiana Purchase

Timeline

1 Oct 1800
The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso is secretly signed between France and Spain, agreeing that Spain will surrender territory in North America to France in exchange for areas in Tuscany. In 1803, that North American territory would form the Louisiana Purchase when the United States bought it from France.
2 May 1803
The Louisiana Purchase is finalized in Paris; the 828,000 acres of the Louisiana Territory are sold to the United States.