The Louisiana Purchase: Doubling a Nation
For about three cents an acre, the United States bought a continent's worth of land and set its course to the Pacific.
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Napoleon, needing funds for war in Europe and unable to defend Louisiana, sold the entire territory to the United States for $15 million.
The deal, negotiated by Jefferson's envoys, instantly doubled the size of the country and granted control of the Mississippi and New Orleans.
It launched the Lewis and Clark expedition and the great westward migration.
"Jefferson wanted a city and got an empire. The deal doubled the young republic overnight and opened the West."
The 1803 purchase added 828,000 square miles to the United States, removed a colonial rival from the interior, and fueled the idea of Manifest Destiny. It shaped the nation's geography, politics, and expansion for generations.
The Full Story
Napoleon's Surprise
France had just reclaimed Louisiana from Spain; selling it to America was a strategic reset by a leader focused on Europe.
A Constitutional Puzzle
Jefferson, a strict constructionist, struggled with whether the purchase was constitutional then did it anyway.
The West Opens
The acquisition made continental expansion conceivable and set the stage for the explorations and settlements that followed.