Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America in 1803 of 828,000 square miles of France's claim to the territory of Louisiana. More
The U.S. paid 50 million francs plus cancellation of debts worth 18 million francs, for a total sum of 15 million dollars for the Louisiana territory. The Louisiana territory encompassed all or part of 15 present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The land purchased contained all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; parts of Minnesota that were west of the Mississippi River; most of North Dakota; most of South Dakota; northeastern New Mexico; northern Texas; the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans; and small portions of land that would eventually become part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
France controlled this vast area from 1699 until 1762, the year it gave the territory to its ally Spain. Under Napoleon Bonaparte, France took back the territory in 1800 in the hope of building an empire in North America. A slave revolt in Haiti and an impending war with Britain, however, led France to abandon these plans and sell the entire territory to the United States, which had originally intended only to seek the purchase of New Orleans and its adjacent lands.
Louisiana Purchase timeline
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The United States Senate Ratifies The Louisiana Purchase Treaty
On October 20, 1803, the Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty by a vote of twenty-four to seven. The agreement, which provided for the... Read more
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Louisiana Is Transferred From Spanish Control To French Control
The city of New Orleans controlled the Mississippi River through its location; other locations for ports had been tried and had not succeeded. New... Read more
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France Turns New Orleans Over To United States
France turned New Orleans over on December 20, 1803 at The Cabildo. On March 10, 1804, a formal ceremony was conducted in St. Louis to transfer... Read more
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A Formal Ceremony Transfers The Louisiana Territory From France To The United States
Effective on October 1, 1804, the purchased territory was organized into the Territory of Orleans (most of which became the state of Louisiana) and... Read more
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Louisiana is the 18th State Admitted to the Union
The Territory of Orleans was established by the Act of March 26, 1804 and was effective October 1, 1804. It remained a Territory until... Read more
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Missouri is the 24th State Admitted to the Union
On August 10, 1821, Missouri entered the Union as the twenty-fourth state. Named after the Native American people who originally inhabited the... Read more
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Arkansas is the 25th State Admitted to the Union
On June 15, 1836, Arkansas became the twenty-fifth state. Native Americans first inhabited the state and created a thriving culture along the... Read more
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Lincoln Signs An Act Creating The Idaho Territory
On March 4, 1863, President Lincoln signed an act creating Idaho Territory. (While the bill was passed on March 3, the enrolled bill was not signed... Read more
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Oklahoma is the 46th State Admitted to the Union
Oklahoma entered the Union as the forty-sixth state on November 16, 1907. Derived from the Choctaw Indian words "okla," meaning people, and... Read more