The Louisiana Purchase and its Consequences Essay

The Louisiana Purchase was a portion of land west of the mississippi. It was purchased from Napoleon (French) by the U.S. for 15 million dollars in 1803. The U.S. wanted new orleans because then The United States would have a faster route to get to the coastal states. The federalist had legitimate problems with the Purchase and expressed them openly.

New American settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains depended on river transportation to transport their goods because overland trade was very expensive and impractical. Also, the United States wanted a tract of land on the lower Mississippi. James Monroe, the primary negotiator in Paris, was empowered to obtain New Orleans and West Florida for anywhere between two and ten million dollars. Surprisingly, however, Napoleon offered much more. The United States was given the opportunity to buy the Louisiana Territory, which stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. This one transaction doubled the physical size of the United States and cost our nation fifteen million dollars. Fifteen million dollars came out to approximately three cents an acre. Now this seems like a relatively small sum for such a massive amount of land, but it was still a gigantic price tag for the modest federal budget of the day.

Imagine you are the President of a rapidly expanding country. If you got offered 530 million acres of land for $15 million, would you buy it? President Thomas Jefferson and his advisers were faced with this exact decision. Thomas Jefferson, envious of France’s New Orleans, sent Monroe and Livingston to Paris with the hope of at least getting the port rights to New Orleans, if incapable of buying it with a budget of $9.3 million. When Livingston and Monroe reached Paris, they were surprised to find Napoleon and his French government not only willing to sell, but almost forcing a sale on the American ambassadors. Not only that, they wanted to sell all 830,000 square miles of the Louisiana Territory, including New Orleans. Constantly expanding and exploring, Livingston and Monroe knew America needed more room to grow. 530 Million acres worth of land would be more than sufficient for 1803 America. At 3 cents per acre, the Louisiana Purchase was a great deal as far as cost is concerned. Before they had even signed the contract sealing the deal, President Thomas Jefferson had already recruited a close friend and fellow botanist, Meriwether Lewis to explore the new Territory. Before the public even knew about the Louisiana Purchase, the Lewis and Clark Expedition had set out. The Louisiana Purchase was a good idea because it provided room for rapidly-expanding America to grow and explore at an incredibly low price but also increased America’s global prowess.

President Thomas Jefferson had moral dilemma on buying the Louisiana Purchase. Thomas Jefferson was elected president on February 17, 1801 with no plans on expanding the United States of America. On the first of October the French and Spain signed the treaty of San Ildefonso witch gave the Louisiana territory back to the French. In 1802 the French still has not taken control of the Louisiana territory so mostly Spanish people still lived in the Louisiana territory. A Spanish colonel closed the port of New Orleans to the United States witch stopped America from using that port, witch really hurt the United States because we wouldn’t be able to export are goods and crops. Most American where scared because they thought Napoleon had sent that order so it scared everybody. America also knew that Napoleon had tried to take over what is now known as Haiti but they

With all of the social and economic rifts in America, Napoleon saw a perfect opportunity to capture the sugar colony of St. Domingue from their slave rebellion and establish Louisiana as a part of his American empire. After having purchased Louisiana from France in 1800, Napoleon sent his troops to St. Domingue, preparing to acquire New Orleans. New Orleans had been a major trading port for America, dealing with almost half of America’s import and exports, and Thomas Jefferson began to question his trust in France when Napoleon threatened to take it. Jefferson decided to discretely handle the matter by approaching the situation as it came rather than taking a rash action that would surely create dissonance between France and America. Thomas Jefferson knew that the American West would be put into jeopardy if France captured it as they would have the same commercial rights and privileges as they did whilst under the Spanish. Jefferson issued a warning to Napoleon and treated to side with Britain if France captured New Orleans. As Napoleon’s army weakened and his fear of American attack grew, he decided to sell Louisiana to Thomas Jefferson for a mere 15 million dollars. This made Jefferson reevaluate his strict interpretation of the Constitution as he had to create his own rules with the Elastic Clause in order to obtain the land and secure American safety. Napoleon was not American and therefore did not hold an opinion on federalism and different interpretations of the Constitution. However, he had a major impact on the politicians of the Jeffersonian Age and made people reevaluate how they viewed America. The whole transaction also made America a more powerful force who was willing to side with their long-term enemy with due cause. Napoleon challenged Federalists and Democratic-Republicans as they scrambled to save Louisiana from French rule and

The Louisiana Purchase is arguably one of the best decisions a president has ever made for the United States, although it caused a lot of controversy. It also was a lot of work and was extremely rushed due to fear that France would retract their offer at any time. The purchase caused President Jefferson a lot of mental agony, but in the end it was definitely worth it. Without the purchase of the land we would not be the great country that we are today. Somehow Thomas Jefferson got the deal of the century when he made the Louisiana Purchase, 800,000 square miles of land from the French. This essentially doubled the size of the United States at the time. Approximately 15 states in today’s day and age were made out of this mass amount of land. The original treaty was created and is dated April 30th. The treaty was then officially signed on May 2nd. Then, in October 1803 the United States ratified the treaty and purchase and the land was transferred from France powers to the United States. The United States paid just a mere $15 million dollars for all of the land. That’s less than three cents per acre of land. This is arguable one of the best purchases America ever made for itself.

The Louisiana Purchase was a key point in The United States of America’s history that without it, the country as we know it would be completely different. The Louisiana Purchase may have been a controversial decision, but it was a good on that put America on track to becoming a superpower. Almost half of America was included in the Purchase and the rest on the west coast is separated by the land included in the Purchase. So, if the purchase had never happened America would still be confined to only the east coast that borders the Atlantic and we’d be a much smaller country. However, since the Louisiana Purchase did happen, the country spans from both the west and east coast. The Louisiana Purchase is the treaty that lead America to be one of the three largest countries in the world. Along with the land came the things that are within nature and can only be created by nature which are natural resources. Included in the Purchase made between Jefferson and Napoleon was everything on and in the ground, that was bought. This means that all of the gold, oil, wood, and any other useful resources that could be found on the land was included in the deal. America was then opened up to many more riches to help their economy. This could also comprise of the new land that could be used for farming of many different plants and foods. So, not only did the territory grow so did the wealth in natural resources.

The Louisiana Purchase was a land sale between France and the United States in the year of 1803. In our history it is known as one of the largest land transactions to ever occur. The United States Congress decided to pay, “approximately $15 million dollars to France for over 800,000 square miles of land”. (www.thoughtco.com/jefferson-and-the-louisiana-purchase-104983) This became Thomas Jefferson’s greatest accomplishment through his presidency. By achieving this purchase it also posed a huge problem for the president. He knew the purchase would not be easy as it brought many dilemmas for him. His strong beliefs in “strict constructionism” brought about problems with the Constitution and money issues while trying to purchase. As well as hypocritical arguments with Alexander Hamilton over their opposed views.

In 1803, the Louisiana territory impacted the United States of America with the acquisition of land all across North America. “Immediately after the ratification of the present Treaty by the President of the United States…the commissary of the French Republic shall remit all military posts of New Orleans and other parts of the ceded territory to…the President to take possession” (United States Web). The Louisiana territory was purchased from the French for fifteen million dollars. This was after the Spanish had sold the territory to France. Unlike the United States, France had not realized the great significance of this land and all the opportunities it could have potentially opened to their own nation. Prior to acquiring the land,

The Louisiana Purchase became known as the biggest land deal in the United States. It acquisition was valued at an estimated $15 million for 800,000 square miles of land. It was during President Jefferson’s presidency that he faced enormous backlash and hardship. Some questioned his purpose. Some thought it was for his political benefit, while other saw it as an accomplishment.

At first the United States wanted to buy only New Orleans and the land around it. The purchase met with the strong opposition in the United States on account of being unconstitutional. Those accusations were correct to some extent. President Jefferson couldn’t deny that the Constitution of the United States did not provide for buying new territories but still he decided to proceed with the purchase since the removal of French presence in the region was such an important issue.

The port of New Orleans was controlled by France. France eventually gave over the rights to Spain. Spain didn’t want a vast majority of new settlers coming into the land, so Spain closed New Orleans and the lower part of the Mississippi to any foreigners. Spain eventually gave the rights of navigation and exploration of the land and New Orleans Port over to the Americans. France soon gained a new leader by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon was a powerful tiny man who took over a vast majority of land in Europe. Spain gave the Louisiana territory to Napoleon, because of the gigantic size of the property.

St. Domingue, what is now Haiti, was a place of sugar rich plantations owned by the french. A collection of rebel slaves started the Haitian Revolution in 1791,they were inspired by the French revolution. The successful revolts lead by general Toussaint L’Ouverture earned the slaves control over a third of St. Domingue. While the rebels maintained control of the place, they kept an alliance with France. Two years after Napoléon’s ambition came into power, he decides to send 30,000 soldiers to take St. Domingue back. Early in the continuing year, french forces dropped to less than 10,000 troops. Relations with Britain were dwindling fast, war was imminent, Napoléon’s decided to cut St. Domingue out of his plans. In 1803, the nation of Haiti gave Napoléon Bonaparte his first defeat. Part of Bonaparte’s plan

Spain originally claimed this territory but it was also claimed by France who owned it from 1699 to 1762 until they gave it to Spain. Spain, who defeated France in the Seven Years War, took control of the territory west of the Mississippi river. Then, in 1800 France took

The Louisiana Purchase was considered one of Thomas Jefferson’s biggest achievements during his presidency. The Louisiana purchase was signed on April 30, 1803. It was a land deal between the United States and France. The United States paid approximately 15 million dollars. (Kuepper) Although Jefferson was a little hesitant about the prize in the beginning he made the purchase fair and square. The Louisiana purchase was about 530,000,000 acres of the territory. (Kuepper) Although this sounds like a great deal or idea. Thomas Jefferson faced many moral dilemmas during the Louisiana purchase these included political, moral, and disagreement between many people.