Territories gained by the U.S. The nation before the Louisiana Purchase is shown in brown. The Louisiana Territory is shown in white with black dots. Dots are shown where another country said they owned part of the land that France sold.

The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by United States president, Thomas Jefferson, in 1803. He bought the Louisiana territory from France, which was being led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time, for 15,000,000 USD. First, the men sent to France were allowed to spend up to 10 million USD in order to buy New Orleans and, if possible, the west bank of the Mississippi River. But then the French government said that for 5 million more dollars they would sell all of the Louisiana territory. Thomas Jefferson approved the deal and used his constitutional power to sign treaties to buy the land. view more...