What Is The Louisiana Purchase

A little over two centuries ago – with the briefest of negotiations and under leadership of President Thomas Jefferson – the United States doubled in size. The Louisiana Purchase was a deal that encompassed all of the territory between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, excluding Texas. At less than three cents per acre for 828,000 square miles, it was the greatest land bargain in U.S. history. A bargain that cemented Thomas Jefferson’s legacy as President, even though Jefferson would have been content with just buying the port of New Orleans. Precisely what the United States had purchased was unclear and the American negotiators were fully aware of this.
History of the Territory
French explorer Robert Cavelier de La Salle originally …show more content…
He appointed James Monroe minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary to serve with Livingston. Congress granted the representatives $2 million to secure their object, New Orleans and the panhandle of the Florida coast. The United States was currently deprived of excess funds but was seeking to expand the nation westward, a dream that Jefferson wanted realized. Little did they know at the time but the international situation favored the American diplomats. Louisiana was of diminishing importance to France because of the impending war with Great Britain and the lack of funds that the French had if a war began. On Apr. 11, 1803, the French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand opened negotiations by asking the surprised Livingston what the United States would give for all of Louisiana. This surprised the Americans because they had been instructed to use the $2 million from Congress to buy the small area of land and not 828,000 square miles. Bargaining began the next day, on Monroe's arrival in Paris. On Apr. 29, the U.S. representatives agreed to pay a total of $11.25 million, plus the forgiveness of $3.75 million in French debt, totaling $15 million. To spell out how the fifteen-million-dollar compensation for Louisiana would be paid, the negotiators also signed two "conventions." The first convention, signed by Livingston, Monroe, and Barbé-Marbois, detailed how …show more content…
Jefferson had a priority of westward expansion that he believed would begin with the purchase of New Orleans. The order of interests for the United States was as follows: westward expansion, to secure the Mississippi River for their commerce, and to avoid being blocked by the French or Great Britain. Little did Thomas Jefferson know was that Napoleon was going to offer the entire Louisiana Territory. The most important aspect of the sale was to secure enough money for a war with Great Britain back in Europe, followed by cutting their losses of a failed France territorial expansion in the Americas. The order of interests for France in the negotiation is contributed to the failure of France to put down a slave revolution in Haiti, the impending war with Great Britain and probable Royal Navy blockade of France, and financial difficulties. Either way, France had to get rid of the land immediately and this gave the United States an immediate edge in negotiations. France opened up their initial asking price at $22.5 million, but this was the price France wanted if they truly had time to negotiate. The first initial offers from both countries created a negative bargaining zone, but that was primarily due to the miscommunication about what was being negotiated over. The United States quickly sought to complete the deal due to the impeding pressures