Louisiana Purchase

Louisiana Purchase, territory purchased by the United States from France in Apr. 1803. It stretched from the Mississippi River on the east into the Rockies on the west, north almost to the Canadian border and south to the Gulf of Mexico, some 828,000 sq mi (2,144,520 sq km) in all. Its acquisition more than doubled the area of what was then the United States. The price was $15 million. In 1800 Napoleon persuaded the Spanish to return what had been the French province of Louisiana. President Thomas Jefferson instructed Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe to purchase New Orleans and other strategic parts of Louisiana from France. To the surprise of the U.S. delegation, Napoleon, who was expecting war with England, offered to sell the entire territory to the United States, and the envoys quickly accepted the offer.

See also: Livingston, Robert R.