AN IRRESISTIBLE OFFER The United States and France made a historic 529,920,000 acres 214,450,000 ha of land in agreement in 1803 The United States purchased North America The territory stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains It ran from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada It was larger than France Germany the United Kingdom Italy Portugal and Spain combined It was known as the Thomas Jefferson was president at the time of the purchase He wanted the United States to expand west 5 CHAPTER ONE
Louisiana Territory And on May 2 US and French officials made it final They signed the Louisiana Purchase treaty Making an Offer The deal started with President Thomas Jefferson He was interested in New Orleans The city was on the mouth of the Mississippi River France controlled the city France also owned the Louisiana Territory The river was vital to many Americans Developing cities relied on it for 6 A Brief History of the Territory French explorer Robert Cavelier claimed the Mississippi River Basin for France in 1682 He named the area Louisiana after French king Louis XIV In 1718 another French explorer Jean-Baptiste le Moyne settled nearby He founded Nouvelle Orléans or New Orleans By the mid-1700s France controlled more of what is now the United States than any other European power France gave Spain some land west of the Mississippi River in 1762 It was called French Louisiana Spain did little with the territory In 1801 Spain returned the land to France
British Territory Indiana Territory Louisiana Territory Spanish Territory Pacific Ocean United Sta tes Miss issippi Territory T Atlantic Ocean h e Flo ri d a s Territories of 1803 Study this map of the United States and its neighboring territories in 1803 What is different from the United States today What is the same moving supplies and merchandise Farmers used it to sell their goods When Jefferson took office in 1801 one of his top goals was to get control of the city He gave Robert Livingston the task of negotiating a deal Livingston was the US minister to France Livingston was to offer France 2 million to buy the city parts of the Mississippi’s east bank and free access to the river for business purposes But news reached Jefferson that Americans could no longer ship goods from New 7
