Louisiana PurchaseThe Louisiana Purchase was the real estate deal of the century, the 19th century. For some pennies an acre, America double it’s size overnight. Here’s how the deal went down, when Thomas Jefferson became president in 1701 one of his main goals was to take possession of the port of New Orleans it was a prime location at the mouth of the Mississippi River. So Thomas Jefferson sent a broker to the current owner of New Orleans, who was the king of France. Jefferson knew it would be an easy buy because Napoleon needed the money to pay for his war with the British. His first offer of $2 million dollars was rejected but in 1803 Jefferson tried again with $10 million and the french not only agreed to sell new Orleans but also threw in the rest of the Louisiana land for an extra $5 million. It was a bargain of epic proportions, the land was 828,000 square miles. The land extend brim the Mississippi River the the Rocky Mountains.
The French did not want to sell only New Orleans. They wanted to sell all of Louisiana. Jefferson’s men had not expected that. They offered $8 million. France asked for $15 million. The men agreed. They signed a document called the Louisiana Purchase on April 30, 1803.
The new land was called the Louisiana Territory. A territory is land that a county controls. But, the land is not inside the country. President Jefferson was happy. He wanted to make the United States larger. Now it was twice as big! Some people said that the land cost too much. But, Congress thought that the price was right. The Spanish were infuriated. They said that Napoleon had cheated them to take control of Louisiana and accused America of purchasing stolen land. Jefferson told them that they could confront France, but the United States would not become involved in their dispute. America would soon be put in the middle. The king of France at the time and the king of Spain met on neutral grounds and decided instead of fighting over land they could unite and destroy the new common enemy. In the middle of summer of 1806 the French and Spanish invaded America with a surprise attack. |
|