Louisiana Purchase Treaty

About the Louisiana Purchase Treaty

Napoleon, needing money for war with Britain and having failed to reconquer Haiti, sold 828,000 square miles for 15 million dollars, about 3 cents per acre. Jefferson doubled the size of the United States overnight with one signature, acquiring land that became all or part of 15 states. The purchase exceeded the Constitution strict interpretation, Jefferson agonized but signed. It secured American control of the Mississippi River and New Orleans, the continent seemed destined for American expansion.