Louisiana Purchase Research Paper

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The Louisiana Purchase is a direct representation of how the United States encountered and exchanged things with other countries throughout history. For example, the United States wanted to consult with France to purchase New Orleans, but instead, they ended up exchanging their money for the state Louisiana which was also under French control. “Robert Livingston (1746-1813)…was ordered to negotiate with French minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand (1754-1838) for the purchase of New Orleans” (history.com). This shows that originally, the United States wanted to take control of New Orleans. The Louisiana Purchase embodies the exchange in United States history that not many people can even recall happened. Background “Since the late 1780s,…show more content…
president James Monroe (1758-1831) to Paris to aid Livingston in the New Orleans purchase talks” (history.com). However, before POTUS [President of the United States] elect Monroe could get over to Robert Livingston was proposed if the United States would like to buy all of the Louisiana territory instead. Despite wanting to purchase New Orleans for strategic reasons, the United States settled for all of the Louisiana territory. “In exchange, the United States acquired the vast domain of Louisiana Territory, some 828,000 square miles of land. The treaty was dated April 30 and signed on May 2” (history.com). In the end, the United States ended up a huge chunk of land that estimated to be about 828,000 square miles. “The territory made up all or part of fifteen modern U.S. states between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains” (history.state.gov). This just emphasizes on how vast the land that makes up the Louisiana territory really is. If a person were to look at the modern map of the United States, they’d get a bit of an understanding on how much land the United States received in that…show more content…
“The massive territory stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and more than doubled the size of the United States” (ushistory.org). That goes to show that the exchange was a gigantic plus for the small United States. That purchase literally doubled the United States’ size. And on top of that, the price of the land was extremely cheap as well. “The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was among Jefferson’s most notable achievements as president” (history.com). “He was militarily overextended and needing money to continue his war against Britain. Knowing full well that he could not force Americans out of the land France possessed in North America, Napoleon offered all of Louisiana to the U.S. for 15 million dollars” (ushistory.org). Napoleon was in the middle of a war that by his actions seemed like he wanted to finish, but he didn’t have enough money to keep the fight going. Luckily for the United States, Napoleon and his forces were in that predicament so that they could end up with an exchange so

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