The Louisiana
Purchase
Mrs. Eason
th
4 Grade
What was it?
The Louisiana Purchase was the purchase
of land by the United States from
France in 1803.
It was one of the most important land
acquisitions in the history of the
country.
Many say that it allowed the United
States to expand even further westward
and to become the nation it is today.
What was included?
The Purchase contained what now equates to
portions of 15 states in the US and 2 Canadian
provinces.
The land that was bought enclosed all of
Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas,
Nebraska and parts of Minnesota, North
Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas,
Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and of course
Louisiana. The land purchased also included
parts of what is now Alberta and Saskachewan
in Canada.
The land that was purchased in the Louisiana
Purchase now makes up about 23% of the
territory of the United States.
The Louisiana Purchase!!!
What did the French want?
The French’s financial situation was in a
wreck and Napoleon Bonaparte realized
that opportunity was fading in the New
World.
His attempts at maintaining the
territories in the Caribbean were failing
and he wanted a presence in the West
for the lucrative sugar trade.
After his failed attempts at maintaining
order there, he decided that keeping all
the territory in North America simply
wasn’t worth the trouble.
What did the U.S. Want?
The U.S. understood the importance of
the port of New Orleans and had already
made previous negotiations to use the
port and not be harassed there.
The desire of the U.S. was to purchase
the port outright so that they could
control this very important marketplace.
The U.S. went to Paris to negotiate the
purchase of the port of New Orleans but
was unsuccessful the first time.
The President at the time:
As President of the United States,
Thomas Jefferson faced much
opposition to the purchase of the land.
Many said that it was unconstitutional
and undermined the authority of the
states in the government.
Jefferson was exploring new bounds of
governmental control. He didn’t want
France and Spain to have the ability to
block American trade across the port of
New Orleans.
Napoleon recognized it was an important
move:
While Napoleon Bonaparte didn’t
want to just give away his
conquered territories, the rivalry
between France and England was
still very strong.
Bonaparte saw selling the land to
the U.S. as an opportunity to block
the power of England.
Negotiations
The negotiation took place in Paris
in 1803 by James Monroe and
Robert Livingston
They only wanted the port at the
time and didn’t imagine how much
land they would really end up
getting.
How much?
The U.S. negotiators were prepared to
spend $10 million on the port of New
Orleans.
They were pleasantly surprised when the
entire region was offered to them for
only $15 million.
At the time, purchasing the territory
meant doubling the size of the United
State.
The price of the land included in the
purchase was less than 3 cents per acre.
The Ceremonial Transfer of the Louisiana Purchase
in New Orleans in 1803
Financing
The American government made a
down payment on the land in gold
totaling $3 million.
The rest was financed in bonds by
some of the most important banks
in Europe at the time.
Click on the link below to play the
game: scroll down to bottom of page
http://jtlawson.tripod.com/
This game is a review of the
Louisiana Purchase AND some of
the past lessons taught!