Louisiana Purchase - wikipedia Louisiana Purchase Jump to : navigation , search For other uses , see Louisiana Purchase ( disambiguation ) . Louisiana Purchase Vente de la Louisiane Expansion of the United States ← 1803 -- 1804 → → The modern United States , with Louisiana Purchase overlay History Established July 4 , 1803 Disestablished October 1 , 1804 Today part of United States Canada The Louisiana Purchase ( French : Vente de la Louisiane `` Sale of Louisiana '' ) was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory ( 828,000 square miles or 2.14 million km2 ) by the United States from France in 1803 . The U.S. paid fifty million francs ( $11,250,000 / € 9,100,000 ) and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million francs ( $3,750,000 ) for a total of sixty - eight million francs ( $15 million , equivalent to $300 million in 2016 ) . The Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces . The territory contained land that forms Arkansas , Missouri , Iowa , Oklahoma , Kansas , and Nebraska ; the portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River ; a large portion of North Dakota ; a large portion of South Dakota ; the northeastern section of New Mexico ; the northern portion of Texas ; the area of Montana , Wyoming , and Colorado east of the Continental Divide ; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River ( plus New Orleans ) ; and small portions of land within the present Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan . Its non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants , of whom half were African slaves . The Kingdom of France controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762 . In 1800 , Napoleon , then the First Consul of the French Republic , hoping to re-establish an empire in North America , regained ownership of Louisiana . However , France 's failure to put down the revolt in Saint - Domingue , coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom , prompted Napoleon to sell Louisiana to the United States to fund his military . The Americans originally sought to purchase only the port city of New Orleans and its adjacent coastal lands , but quickly accepted the bargain . The Louisiana Purchase occurred during the term of the third President of the United States , Thomas Jefferson . Before the purchase was finalized , the decision faced Federalist Party opposition ; they argued that it was unconstitutional to acquire any territory . Jefferson agreed that the U.S. Constitution did not contain explicit provisions for acquiring territory , but he asserted that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties was sufficient . Contents ( hide ) 1 Background 2 Negotiation 3 Domestic opposition and constitutionality 4 Treaty signing 5 Formal transfers and initial organization 6 Boundaries 7 Slavery 8 Asserting U.S. possession 9 Financing 10 See also 11 References 11.1 Footnotes 11.2 Works cited 12 Further reading 13 External links Background 1804 map of `` Louisiana '' , edged on the west by the Rocky Mountains Throughout the second half of the 18th century , Louisiana was a pawn on the chessboard of European politics . It was controlled by the French , who had a few small settlements along the Mississippi and other main rivers . France ceded the territory to Spain in the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau ( 1762 ) . Following French defeat in the Seven Years ' War , Spain gained control of the territory west of the Mississippi and the British the territory to the east of the river . Following the establishment of the United States , the Americans controlled the area east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans . The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi to the sea . As the lands were being gradually settled by a few American migrants , many Americans , including Jefferson , assumed that the territory would be acquired `` piece by piece . '' The risk of another power taking it from a weakened Spain made a `` profound reconsideration '' of this policy necessary . New Orleans was already important for shipping agricultural goods to and from the areas of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains . Pinckney 's Treaty , signed with Spain on October 27 , 1795 , gave American merchants `` right of deposit '' in New Orleans , granting them use of the port to store goods for export . Americans used this right to transport products such as flour , tobacco , pork , bacon , lard , feathers , cider , butter , and cheese . The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi , which had become vital to the growing trade of the western territories . In 1798 , Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans , greatly upsetting Americans . In 1801 , Spanish Governor Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo took over from the Marquess of Casa Calvo , and restored the American right to deposit goods . However , in 1800 Spain had ceded the Louisiana territory back to France as part of Napoleon 's secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso . The territory nominally remained under Spanish control , until a transfer of power to France on 30 November 1803 , just three weeks before the formal cession of the territory to the United States on 20 December 1803 . A further ceremony was held in St. Louis , Upper Louisiana regarding the New Orleans formalities . The 9 -- 10 March 1804 event is remembered as Three Flags Day . James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston had traveled to Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans in January 1803 . Their instructions were to negotiate or purchase control of New Orleans and its environs ; they did not anticipate the much larger acquisition which would follow . The Louisiana Purchase was by far the largest territorial gain in U.S. history . Stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains , the purchase doubled the size of the United States . Before 1803 , Louisiana had been under Spanish control for forty years . Although Spain aided the rebels in the American Revolutionary War , the Spanish did n't want the Americans to settle in their territory . Although the purchase was thought of by some as unjust and unconstitutional , Jefferson determined that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties allowed the purchase of what became fifteen states . In hindsight , the Louisiana Purchase could be considered one of his greatest contributions to the United States . On April 18 , 1802 , Jefferson penned a letter to United States Ambassador to France Robert Livingston . It was an intentional exhortation to make this supposedly mild diplomat strongly warn the French of their perilous course . The letter began : The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas by Spain to France works most sorely on the U.S. On this subject the Secretary of State has written to you fully . Yet I can not forbear recurring to it personally , so deep is the impression it makes in my mind . It completely reverses all the political relations of the U.S. and will form a new epoch in our political course . Of all nations of any consideration France is the one which hitherto has offered the fewest points on which we could have any conflict of right , and the most points of a communion of interests . From these causes we have ever looked to her as our natural friend , as one with which we never could have an occasion of difference . Her growth therefore we viewed as our own , her misfortunes ours . There is on the globe one single spot , the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy . It is New Orleans , through which the produce of three - eighths of our territory must pass to market , and from its fertility it will ere long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain more than half our inhabitants . France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude of defiance . Spain might have retained it quietly for years . Her pacific dispositions , her feeble state , would induce her to increase our facilities there , so that her possession of the place would be hardly felt by us , and it would not perhaps be very long before some circumstance might arise which might make the cession of it to us the price of something of more worth to her . Not so can it ever be in the hands of France . The impetuosity of her temper , the energy and restlessness of her character , placed in a point of eternal friction with us ... Jefferson 's letter went on with the same heat to a much quoted passage about `` the day that France takes possession of New Orleans . '' Not only did he say that day would be a low point in France 's history , for it would seal America 's marriage with the British fleet and nation , but he added , astonishingly , that it would start a massive shipbuilding program . Negotiation While the transfer of the territory by Spain back to France in 1800 went largely unnoticed , fear of an eventual French invasion spread nationwide when , in 1801 , Napoleon sent a military force to secure New Orleans . Southerners feared that Napoleon would free all the slaves in Louisiana , which could trigger slave uprisings elsewhere . Though Jefferson urged moderation , Federalists sought to use this against Jefferson and called for hostilities against France . Undercutting them , Jefferson took up the banner and threatened an alliance with the United Kingdom , although relations were uneasy in that direction . In 1801 Jefferson supported France in its plan to take back Saint - Domingue ( present - day Haiti ) , which was then under control of Toussaint Louverture after a slave rebellion . Jefferson sent Livingston to Paris in 1801 after discovering the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso . Livingston was authorized to purchase New Orleans . In January 1802 , France sent General Charles Leclerc to Saint - Domingue ( present - day Haiti ) to re-establish slavery , which had been abolished by the constitution of the French Republic of 1795 , as well as to reduce the rights of free people of color and take back control of the island from Toussaint Louverture . Louverture had fended off invasions of St. Domingue by the Spanish and British empires , but had also begun to consolidate power for himself on the island . Before the Revolution , France had derived enormous wealth from St. Domingue at the cost of the lives and freedom of the slaves . Napoleon wanted its revenues and productivity for France restored . Alarmed over the French actions and its intention to re-establish an empire in North America , Jefferson declared neutrality in relation to the Caribbean , refusing credit and other assistance to the French , but allowing war contraband to get through to the rebels to prevent France from regaining a foothold . In November 1803 , France withdrew its 7,000 surviving troops from Saint - Domingue ( more than two - thirds of its troops died there ) and gave up its ambitions in the Western Hemisphere . In 1804 Haiti declared its independence ; but , fearing a slave revolt at home , Jefferson and Congress refused to recognize the new republic , the second in the Western Hemisphere , and imposed a trade embargo against it . This , together with later claims by France to reconquer Haiti , encouraged by the United Kingdom , made it more difficult for Haiti to recover after ten years of wars . In 1803 , Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours , a French nobleman , began to help negotiate with France at the request of Jefferson . Du Pont was living in the United States at the time and had close ties to Jefferson as well as the prominent politicians in France . He engaged in back - channel diplomacy with Napoleon on Jefferson 's behalf during a visit to France and originated the idea of the much larger Louisiana Purchase as a way to defuse potential conflict between the United States and Napoleon over North America . Jefferson disliked the idea of purchasing Louisiana from France , as that could imply that France had a right to be in Louisiana . Jefferson had concerns that a U.S. president did not have the constitutional authority to make such a deal . He also thought that to do so would erode states ' rights by increasing federal executive power . On the other hand , he was aware of the potential threat that France could be in that region and was prepared to go to war to prevent a strong French presence there . Throughout this time , Jefferson had up - to - date intelligence on Napoleon 's military activities and intentions in North America . Part of his evolving strategy involved giving du Pont some information that was withheld from Livingston . He also gave intentionally conflicting instructions to the two . Desperate to avoid possible war with France , Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris in 1803 to negotiate a settlement , with instructions to go to London to negotiate an alliance if the talks in Paris failed . Spain procrastinated until late 1802 in executing the treaty to transfer Louisiana to France , which allowed American hostility to build . Also , Spain 's refusal to cede Florida to France meant that Louisiana would be indefensible . Monroe had been formally expelled from France on his last diplomatic mission , and the choice to send him again conveyed a sense of seriousness . Napoleon needed peace with the United Kingdom to implement the Treaty of San Ildefonso and take possession of Louisiana . Otherwise , Louisiana would be an easy prey for the UK or even for the United States . But in early 1803 , continuing war between France and the UK seemed unavoidable . On March 11 , 1803 , Napoleon began preparing to invade the UK . As Napoleon had failed to re-enslave the emancipated population of Haiti , he abandoned his plans to rebuild France 's New World empire . Without sufficient revenues from sugar colonies in the Caribbean , Louisiana had little value to him . Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France , and war between France and the UK was imminent . Out of anger towards Spain and the unique opportunity to sell something that was useless and not truly his yet , Napoleon decided to sell the entire territory . Although the foreign minister Talleyrand opposed the plan , on April 10 , 1803 , Napoleon told the Treasury Minister François de Barbé - Marbois that he was considering selling the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States . On April 11 , 1803 , just days before Monroe 's arrival , Barbé - Marbois offered Livingston all of Louisiana for $15 million , ( equivalent to about $300 million in 2016 dollars , ) which averages to less than three cents per acre ( 7 ¢ / ha ) . The American representatives were prepared to pay up to $10 million for New Orleans and its environs , but were dumbfounded when the vastly larger territory was offered for $15 million . Jefferson had authorized Livingston only to purchase New Orleans . However , Livingston was certain that the United States would accept the offer . The Americans thought that Napoleon might withdraw the offer at any time , preventing the United States from acquiring New Orleans , so they agreed and signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty on April 30 , 1803 . On July 4 , 1803 , the treaty reached Washington , D.C. . The Louisiana Territory was vast , stretching from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Rupert 's Land in the north , and from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west . Acquiring the territory would double the size of the United States , at a sum of less than 3 cents per acre . Domestic opposition and constitutionality The original treaty of the Louisiana Purchase Henry Adams and other historians have argued that Jefferson acted hypocritically with the Louisiana Purchase , due to his position as a strict constructionist regarding the Constitution since he stretched the intent of that document to justify his purchase . This argument goes as follows : The American purchase of the Louisiana territory was not accomplished without domestic opposition . Jefferson 's philosophical consistency was in question because of his strict interpretation of the Constitution . Many people believed that he and others , including James Madison , were doing something they surely would have argued against with Alexander Hamilton . The Federalists strongly opposed the purchase , favoring close relations with Britain over closer ties to Napoleon , and were concerned that the United States had paid a large sum of money just to declare war on Spain . Both Federalists and Jeffersonians were concerned over the purchase 's constitutionality . Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase . Majority Leader John Randolph led the opposition . The House called for a vote to deny the request for the purchase , but it failed by two votes , 59 -- 57 . The Federalists even tried to prove the land belonged to Spain , not France , but available records proved otherwise . The Federalists also feared that the power of the Atlantic seaboard states would be threatened by the new citizens in the West , whose political and economic priorities were bound to conflict with those of the merchants and bankers of New England . There was also concern that an increase in the number of slave - holding states created out of the new territory would exacerbate divisions between North and South as well . A group of Northern Federalists led by Senator Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts went so far as to explore the idea of a separate northern confederacy . Another concern was whether it was proper to grant citizenship to the French , Spanish , and free black people living in New Orleans , as the treaty would dictate . Critics in Congress worried whether these `` foreigners '' , unacquainted with democracy , could or should become citizens . Spain protested the transfer on two grounds : First , France had previously promised in a note not to alienate Louisiana to a third party and second , France had not fulfilled the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso by having the King of Etruria recognized by all European powers . The French government replied that these objections were baseless since the promise not to alienate Louisiana was not in the treaty of San Ildefonso itself and therefore had no legal force , and the Spanish government had ordered Louisiana to be transferred in October 1802 despite knowing for months that Britain had not recognized the King of Etruria in the Treaty of Amiens . Transfer of Louisiana by Ford P. Kaiser for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition ( 1904 ) Henry Adams claimed `` The sale of Louisiana to the United States was trebly invalid ; if it were French property , Bonaparte could not constitutionally alienate it without the consent of the French Chambers ; if it were Spanish property , he could not alienate it at all ; if Spain had a right of reclamation , his sale was worthless . '' The sale of course was not `` worthless '' -- the U.S. actually did take possession . Furthermore , the Spanish prime minister had authorized the U.S. to negotiate with the French government `` the acquisition of territories which may suit their interests . '' Spain turned the territory over to France in a ceremony in New Orleans on November 30 , a month before France turned it over to American officials . Other historians counter the above arguments regarding Jefferson 's alleged hypocrisy by asserting that countries change their borders in two ways : ( 1 ) conquest , or ( 2 ) an agreement between nations , otherwise known as a treaty . The Louisiana Purchase was the latter , a treaty . The Constitution specifically grants the president the power to negotiate treaties ( Art . II , Sec. 2 ) , which is just what Jefferson did . Jefferson 's Secretary of State , James Madison ( the `` Father of the Constitution '' ) , assured Jefferson that the Louisiana Purchase was well within even the strictest interpretation of the Constitution . Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin added that since the power to negotiate treaties was specifically granted to the president , the only way extending the country 's territory by treaty could not be a presidential power would be if it were specifically excluded by the Constitution ( which it was not ) . Jefferson , as a strict constructionist , was right to be concerned about staying within the bounds of the Constitution , but felt the power of these arguments and was willing to `` acquiesce with satisfaction '' if the Congress approved the treaty . The Senate quickly ratified the treaty , and the House , with equal alacrity , authorized the required funding , as the Constitution specifies . The opposition of New England Federalists to the Louisiana Purchase was primarily economic self - interest , not any legitimate concern over constitutionality or whether France indeed owned Louisiana or was required to sell it back to Spain should it desire to dispose of the territory . The Northerners were not enthusiastic about Western farmers gaining another outlet for their crops that did not require the use of New England ports . Also , many Federalists were speculators in lands in upstate New York and New England and were hoping to sell these lands to farmers , who might go west instead , if the Louisiana Purchase went through . They also feared that this would lead to Western states being formed , which would likely be Republican , and dilute the political power of New England Federalists . When Spain later objected to the United States purchasing Louisiana from France , Madison responded that America had first approached Spain about purchasing the property , but had been told by Spain itself that America would have to treat with France for the territory . Treaty signing Issue of 1953 , commemorating the 150th Anniversary of signing The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed on 30 April by Robert Livingston , James Monroe , and Barbé Marbois in Paris . Jefferson announced the treaty to the American people on July 4 . After the signing of the Louisiana Purchase agreement in 1803 , Livingston made this famous statement , `` We have lived long , but this is the noblest work of our whole lives ... From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank . '' The United States Senate advised and consented to ratification of the treaty with a vote of twenty - four to seven on October 20 . The Senators who voted against the treaty were : Simeon Olcott and William Plumer of New Hampshire , William Wells and Samuel White of Delaware , James Hillhouse and Uriah Tracy of Connecticut , and Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts . On the following day , October 21 , 1803 , the Senate authorized Jefferson to take possession of the territory and establish a temporary military government . In legislation enacted on October 31 , Congress made temporary provisions for local civil government to continue as it had under French and Spanish rule and authorized the President to use military forces to maintain order . Plans were also set forth for several missions to explore and chart the territory , the most famous being the Lewis and Clark Expedition . A timeline of legislation can be found at the Library of Congress : American Memory : The Louisiana Purchase Legislative Timeline -- 1803 - 1804 . Formal transfers and initial organization Flag raising in the Place d'Armes of New Orleans , marking the transfer of sovereignty over French Louisiana to the United States , December 20 , 1803 , as depicted by Thure de Thulstrup France turned over New Orleans , the historic colonial capital , on December 20 , 1803 , at the Cabildo , with a flag - raising ceremony in the Plaza de Armas , now Jackson Square . Just three weeks earlier , on November 30 , 1803 , Spanish officials had formally conveyed the colonial lands and their administration to France . On March 9 and 10 , 1804 , another ceremony , commemorated as Three Flags Day , was conducted in St. Louis , to transfer ownership of Upper Louisiana from Spain to the French First Republic , and then from France to the United States . From March 10 to September 30 , 1804 , Upper Louisiana was supervised as a military district , under Commandant Amos Stoddard . Effective October 1 , 1804 , the purchased territory was organized into the Territory of Orleans ( most of which would become the state of Louisiana ) and the District of Louisiana , which was temporarily under control of the governor and judicial system of the Indiana Territory . The following year , the District of Louisiana was renamed the Territory of Louisiana , aka Louisiana Territory ( 1805 -- 1812 ) . New Orleans was the administrative capital of the Orleans Territory , and St. Louis was the capital of the Louisiana Territory . Boundaries A dispute soon arose between Spain and the United States regarding the extent of Louisiana . The territory 's boundaries had not been defined in the 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau that ceded it from France to Spain , nor in the 1801 Third Treaty of San Ildefonso ceding it back to France , nor the 1803 Louisiana Purchase agreement ceding it to the United States . The United States claimed Louisiana included the entire western portion of the Mississippi River drainage basin to the crest of the Rocky Mountains and land extending southeast to the Rio Grande and West Florida . Spain insisted that Louisiana comprised no more than the western bank of the Mississippi River and the cities of New Orleans and St. Louis . The dispute was ultimately resolved by the Adams -- Onís Treaty of 1819 , with the United States gaining most of what it had claimed in the west . The Purchase was one of several territorial additions to the U.S. The relatively narrow Louisiana of New Spain had been a special province under the jurisdiction of the Captaincy General of Cuba while the vast region to the west was in 1803 still considered part of the Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas . Louisiana had never been considered one of New Spain 's internal provinces . If the territory included all the tributaries of the Mississippi on its western bank , the northern reaches of the Purchase extended into the equally ill - defined British possession -- Rupert 's Land of British North America , now part of Canada . The Purchase originally extended just beyond the 50th parallel . However , the territory north of the 49th parallel ( including the Milk River and Poplar River watersheds ) was ceded to the UK in exchange for parts of the Red River Basin south of 49th parallel in the Anglo - American Convention of 1818 . The eastern boundary of the Louisiana purchase was the Mississippi River , from its source to the 31st parallel , though the source of the Mississippi was , at the time , unknown . The eastern boundary below the 31st parallel was unclear . The U.S. claimed the land as far as the Perdido River , and Spain claimed that the border of its Florida Colony remained the Mississippi River . In early 1804 , Congress passed the Mobile Act , which recognized West Florida as part of the United States . The Adams -- Onís Treaty with Spain ( 1819 ) resolved the issue upon ratification in 1821 . Today , the 31st parallel is the northern boundary of the western half of the Florida Panhandle , and the Perdido is the western boundary of Florida . Because the western boundary was contested at the time of the Purchase , President Jefferson immediately began to organize three missions to explore and map the new territory . All three started from the Mississippi River . The Lewis and Clark Expedition ( 1804 ) traveled up the Missouri River ; the Red River Expedition ( 1806 ) explored the Red River basin ; the Pike Expedition ( 1806 ) also started up the Missouri , but turned south to explore the Arkansas River watershed . The maps and journals of the explorers helped to define the boundaries during the negotiations leading to the Adams -- Onís Treaty , which set the western boundary as follows : north up the Sabine River from the Gulf of Mexico to its intersection with the 32nd parallel , due north to the Red River , up the Red River to the 100th meridian , north to the Arkansas River , up the Arkansas River to its headwaters , due north to the 42nd parallel and due west to its previous boundary . Slavery See also : History of slavery in Louisiana , History of slavery in Missouri , and Slavery in the United States Governing the Louisiana Territory was more difficult than acquiring it . Its European peoples , of ethnic French , Spanish and Mexican descent , were largely Catholic ; in addition , there was a large population of enslaved Africans made up of a high proportion of recent arrivals , as Spain had continued the international slave trade . This was particularly true in the area of the present - day state of Louisiana , which also contained a large number of free people of color . Both present - day Arkansas and Missouri already had some slaveholders in the early 19th century . During this period , south Louisiana received an influx of French - speaking refugee planters , who were permitted to bring their slaves with them , and other refugees fleeing the large slave revolt in Saint - Domingue , today 's Haiti . Many Southern slaveholders feared that acquisition of the new territory might inspire American - held slaves to follow the example of those in Saint - Domingue and revolt . They wanted the US government to establish laws allowing slavery in the newly acquired territory so they could be supported in taking their slaves there to undertake new agricultural enterprises , as well as to reduce the threat of future slave rebellions . The Louisiana Territory was broken into smaller portions for administration , and the territories passed slavery laws similar to those in the southern states but incorporating provisions from the preceding French and Spanish rule ( for instance , Spain had prohibited slavery of Native Americans in 1769 , but some slaves of mixed African - Native American descent were still being held in St. Louis in Upper Louisiana when the U.S. took over ) . In a freedom suit that went from Missouri to the US Supreme Court , slavery of Native Americans was finally ended in 1836 . The institutionalization of slavery under U.S. law in the Louisiana Territory contributed to the American Civil War a half century later . As states organized within the territory , the status of slavery in each state became a matter of contention in Congress , as southern states wanted slavery extended to the west , and northern states just as strongly opposed new states being admitted as `` slave states . '' The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a temporary solution . Asserting U.S. possession Plan of Fort Madison , built in 1808 to establish U.S. control over the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase , drawn 1810 After the early explorations , the U.S. government sought to establish control of the region , since trade along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers was still dominated by British and French traders from Canada and allied Indians , especially the Sauk and Fox . The U.S. adapted the former Spanish facility at Fort Bellefontaine as a fur trading post near St. Louis in 1804 for business with the Sauk and Fox . In 1808 two military forts with trading factories were built , Fort Osage along the Missouri River in western present - day Missouri and Fort Madison along the Upper Mississippi River in eastern present - day Iowa . With tensions increasing with Great Britain , in 1809 Fort Bellefontaine was converted to a U.S. military fort , and was used for that purpose until 1826 . During the War of 1812 , Great Britain and allied Indians defeated U.S. forces in the Upper Mississippi ; the U.S. abandoned Forts Osage and Madison , as well as several other U.S. forts built during the war , including Fort Johnson and Fort Shelby . After U.S. ownership of the region was confirmed in the Treaty of Ghent ( 1814 ) , the U.S. built or expanded forts along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers , including adding to Fort Bellefontaine , and constructing Fort Armstrong ( 1816 ) and Fort Edwards ( 1816 ) in Illinois , Fort Crawford ( 1816 ) in Prairie du Chien Wisconsin , Fort Snelling ( 1819 ) in Minnesota , and Fort Atkinson ( 1819 ) in Nebraska . Financing The American government used $3 million in gold as a down payment , and issued bonds for the balance to pay France for the purchase . Earlier that year , Francis Baring and Company of London had become the U.S. government 's official banking agent in London . Because of this favored position , the U.S. asked the Baring firm to handle the transaction . Francis Baring 's son Alexander was in Paris at the time and helped in the negotiations . Another Baring advantage was a close relationship with Hope and Company of Amsterdam . The two banking houses worked together to facilitate and underwrite the Purchase . Because Napoleon wanted to receive his money as quickly as possible , the two firms received the American bonds and shipped the gold to France . Napoleon used the money to finance his planned invasion of England , which never took place . See also Louisiana portal History portal Alaska Purchase Florida Purchase Corps of Discovery Franco - American alliance List of French possessions and colonies New France Historic regions of the United States Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park Territorial evolution of the United States Territories of the United States on stamps References Footnotes Jump up ^ `` Congressional series of United States public documents '' . U.S. Government Printing Office . January 1 , 1864 -- via Google Books . ^ Jump up to : Herring ( 2008 ) , p. 99 ^ Jump up to : Meinig ( 1995 ) Jump up ^ Warren , Rebecca ( 1976 ) . `` The Role of American Diplomacy in the Louisiana Purchase '' . pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu . Jump up ^ `` Louisiana Purchase History , Facts , & Map '' . Encyclopedia Britannica . Retrieved 2017 - 07 - 21 . Jump up ^ `` Three Flags Day - Naked History '' . Naked History . 2017 - 03 - 15 . Retrieved 2017 - 11 - 21 . Jump up ^ `` Reliving Lewis and Clark : Louisiana Purchase Ceremony '' . news.nationalgeographic.com . Retrieved 2017 - 11 - 21 . Jump up ^ `` 8 Things You May Not Know About the Louisiana Purchase '' . HISTORY.com . Retrieved 2017 - 10 - 13 . Jump up ^ `` Louisiana Purchase - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com '' . HISTORY.com . Retrieved 2017 - 07 - 21 . Jump up ^ Thompson ( 2006 ) , pp. 4 -- 48 Jump up ^ Cerami ( 2003 ) , pp. 57 - 58 ^ Jump up to : Herring ( 2008 ) , p. 100 Jump up ^ `` Milestones : 1801 -- 1829 - Office of the Historian '' . history.state.gov . Retrieved 2017 - 02 - 19 . Jump up ^ Matthewson ( 1995 ) , p. 221 Jump up ^ Matthewson ( 1995 ) , p. 209 Jump up ^ Matthewson ( 1996 ) , pp. 22 -- 23 Jump up ^ Duke ( 1977 ) , pp. 77 -- 83 Jump up ^ Herring ( 2008 ) , p. 101 Jump up ^ Kuepper , Justin ( October 8 , 2012 ) . `` 3 Of The Most Lucrative Land Deals In History '' . Jump up ^ Thomas , Ryland ; Williamson , Samuel H. ( 2018 ) . `` What Was the U.S. GDP Then ? '' . MeasuringWorth . Retrieved January 5 , 2018 . United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the Measuring Worth series . Jump up ^ Burgan ( 2002 ) , p. 36 . Jump up ^ `` Primary Documents of American History : Louisiana Purchase '' . Web Guides . Library of Congress . March 29 , 2011 . Retrieved March 26 , 2014 . Jump up ^ Malone , Roeder & Lang ( 1991 ) , p. 30 Jump up ^ Rodriguez ( 2002 ) , pp. 139 -- 40 Jump up ^ Fleming ( 2003 ) , pp. 149ff Jump up ^ Nugent ( 2009 ) , pp. 65 -- 68 . Jump up ^ Gayarre ( 1867 ) , p. 544 . Jump up ^ Adams ( 2011 ) , pp. 56 -- 57 Jump up ^ Nugent ( 2009 ) , pp. 66 -- 67 Jump up ^ Lawson & Seidman ( 2008 ) , pp. 20 -- 22 Jump up ^ Banning ( 1995 ) , pp. 7 -- 9 , 178 , 326 -- 7 , 330 -- 3 , 345 -- 6 , 360 -- 1 , 371 , 384 . ^ Jump up to : Ketcham ( 2003 ) , pp. 420 -- 2 . Jump up ^ The fledgling United States did not have $15 million in its treasury ; it borrowed the sum from Great Britain , at an annual interest rate of six percent . ( 1 ) Jump up ^ Lewis ( 2003 ) , p. 79 Jump up ^ Peterson , Merrill D. ( 1974 ) . `` James Madison : A Biography in his Own Words '' . Newsweek . pp. 237 -- 46 . Jump up ^ `` America 's Louisiana Purchase : Noble Bargain , Difficult Journey '' . Lpb.org . Retrieved June 11 , 2010 . Jump up ^ `` Louisiana Purchase Thomas Jefferson 's Monticello '' . www.monticello.org . Retrieved 2017 - 11 - 21 . Jump up ^ `` The Louisiana Purchase Legislative Timeline '' . The Louisiana Purchase Legislative Timeline . Library of Congress . Retrieved 2 February 2018 . Jump up ^ Schoultz ( 1998 ) , pp. 15 -- 16 Jump up ^ Haynes ( 2010 ) , pp. 115 -- 16 Jump up ^ Hämäläinen ( 2008 ) , p. 183 Jump up ^ Weber ( 1994 ) , pp. 223 , 293 ^ Jump up to : Herring ( 2008 ) , p. 104 ^ Jump up to : Foley , William E. ( October 1984 ) . `` Slave Freedom Suits before Dred Scott : The Case of Marie Jean Scypion 's Descendants '' . Missouri Historical Review . 79 ( 1 ) : 1 . Retrieved February 18 , 2011 -- via The State Historical Society of Missouri . Jump up ^ Luttig ( 1920 ) . ^ Jump up to : Prucha ( 1969 ) . ^ Jump up to : Ziegler ( 1988 ) . Jump up ^ Fleming ( 2003 ) , pp. 129ff . Works cited Adams , Henry ( 2011 ) ( 1889 ) . History of the United States of America ( 1801 -- 1817 ) . vol. 2 : During the First Administration of Thomas Jefferson . Cambridge University Press . ISBN 9781108033039 . Banning , Lance ( 1995 ) . The Sacred Fire of Liberty : James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic . Ithaca : Cornell University Press . Burgan , Michael ( 2002 ) . The Louisiana Purchase . Capstone . ISBN 9780756502102 . Cerami , Charles A. ( 2003 ) . Jefferson 's Great Gamble . Sourcebooks . ISBN 9781402234354 . Duke , Marc ( 1977 ) . The du Ponts : Portrait of a Dynasty . Saturday Review Press . ISBN 0 - 8415 - 0429 - 6 . Fleming , Thomas J. ( 2003 ) . The Louisiana Purchase . John Wiley & Sons . ISBN 978 - 0 - 471 - 26738 - 6 . Gayarre , Charles ( 1867 ) . History of Louisiana . Hämäläinen , Pekka ( 2008 ) . The Comanche Empire . Yale University Press . ISBN 978 - 0 - 300 - 12654 - 9 . Haynes , Robert V. ( 2010 ) . The Mississippi Territory and the Southwest Frontier , 1795 -- 1817 . University Press of Kentucky . ISBN 978 - 0 - 8131 - 2577 - 0 . Herring , George ( 2008 ) . From Colony to Superpower : U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776 . Oxford University Press . ISBN 0 - 19 - 976553 - 7 . Ketcham , Ralph ( 2003 ) . James Madison : A Biography . Newtown CT : American Political Biography Press . ISBN 9780813912653 . Kennedy , David M. ; Cohen , Lizabeth & Bailey , Thomas Andrew ( 2008 ) . The American Pageant : A History of the American People . Wadsworth . ISBN 978 - 0 - 547 - 16654 - 4 . Lawson , Gary & Seidman , Guy ( 2008 ) . The Constitution of Empire : Territorial Expansion and American Legal History . Yale University Press . ISBN 0300128967 . Lewis , James E. , Jr. ( 2003 ) . The Louisiana Purchase : Jefferson 's Noble Bargain ? . UNC Press Books . Luttig , John C. ( 1920 ) . Journal of a Fur - trading Expedition on the Upper Missouri : 1812 -- 1813 . Kansas City MO : The Missouri Historical Society . Malone , Michael P. ; Roeder , Richard B. & Lang , William L. ( 1991 ) . Montana : A History of Two Centuries . Seattle : University of Washington Press . ISBN 0 - 295 - 97129 - 0 . Meinig , D.W. ( 1995 ) . The Shaping of America : Volume 2 . Yale University Press . ISBN 9780300062908 . Matthewson , Tim ( May 1995 ) . `` Jefferson and Haiti '' . The Journal of Southern History . 61 ( 2 ) : 209 -- 48 . JSTOR 2211576 . Matthewson , Tim ( March 1996 ) . `` Jefferson and the Non-Recognition of Haiti '' . American Philosophical Society . 140 ( 1 ) : 22 -- 48 . JSTOR 987274 . Nugent , Walter ( 2009 ) . Habits of Empire : A History of American Expansionism . Random House . ISBN 978 - 1 - 4000 - 7818 - 9 . Prucha , Francis P. ( 1969 ) . The Sword of the Republic : The United States Army on the Frontier 1783 -- 1846 . New York : Macmillan . Rodriguez , Junius P. ( 2002 ) . The Louisiana Purchase : A Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia . ABC - CLIO . ISBN 9781576071885 . Schoultz , Lars ( 1998 ) . Beneath the United States . Harvard University Press . ISBN 978 - 0 - 674 - 92276 - 1 . Thompson , Linda ( 2006 ) . The Louisiana Purchase . Rourke Publishing . ISBN 978 - 1 - 59515 - 513 - 9 . Weber , David J. ( 1994 ) . The Spanish Frontier in North America . Yale University Press . ISBN 978 - 0 - 300 - 05917 - 5 . Ziegler , Philip ( 1988 ) . The Sixth Great Power : Barings 1762 -- 1929 . London : Collins . ISBN 0 - 00 - 217508 - 8 . Further reading Hermann ( 1900 ) . The Louisiana Purchase and our title west of the Rocky Mountains : with a review of annexation by the United States . Hosmer , James Kendall ( 1902 ) . Louisiana Purchase . New York : D. Appleton & Co . Marshall ( 1914 ) . A History of the Western Boundary of the Louisiana Purchase , 1819 - 1841 . U.S. Dept. of State ( 1903 ) . State papers and correspondence bearing upon the purchase of the territory of Louisiana . External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louisiana Purchase . Wikisource has original text related to this article : Louisiana Purchase Treaty Text of the Louisiana Purchase Treaty Library of Congress : Louisiana Purchase Treaty Teaching about the Louisiana Purchase Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial 1803 -- 2003 * Lewis and Clark Trail Louisiana Purchase and Lewis & Clark student and teacher guide : dates , people , analysis , multimedia New Orleans / Louisiana Purchase 1803 The Haitian Revolution and the Louisiana Purchase Case and Controversies in U.S. History , Page 42 Senator Pickering explains his opposition to the Louisiana Purchase , 1803 . Booknotes interview with Jon Kukla on A Wilderness So Immense : The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America , July 6 , 2003 . Territorial expansion of the United States Thirteen Colonies ( 1776 ) Treaty of Paris ( 1783 ) Louisiana Purchase ( 1803 ) Red River Cession ( 1818 ) Adams -- Onís Treaty ( 1819 ) Texas Annexation ( 1845 ) Oregon Treaty ( 1846 ) Mexican Cession ( 1848 ) Gadsden Purchase ( 1853 ) Guano Islands Act ( 1856 ) Alaska Purchase ( 1867 ) Annexation of Hawaii ( 1898 ) Treaty of Paris ( 1898 ) Tripartite Convention ( 1899 ) Treaty of Cession of Tutuila ( 1900 ) Treaty of Cession of Manuʻa ( 1904 ) Treaty of the Danish West Indies ( 1917 ) Concept : Manifest destiny Thomas Jefferson 3rd President of the United States ( 1801 -- 1809 ) 2nd U.S. Vice President ( 1797 -- 1801 ) 1st U.S. Secretary of State ( 1790 -- 1793 ) U.S. Minister to France ( 1785 -- 1789 ) 2nd Governor of Virginia ( 1779 -- 1781 ) Delegate , Second Continental Congress ( 1775 -- 1776 ) Founding documents of the United States A Summary View of the Rights of British America ( 1774 ) Initial draft , Olive Branch Petition ( 1775 ) Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms ( 1775 ) 1776 Declaration of Independence Committee of Five authored physical history `` All men are created equal '' `` Life , Liberty , and the pursuit of Happiness '' `` Consent of the governed '' 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom freedom of religion French Revolution Co-author , Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ( 1789 ) Presidency Inaugural Address ( 1801 1805 ) Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves Louisiana Purchase Lewis and Clark Expedition Corps of Discovery timeline Empire of Liberty Red River Expedition Pike Expedition Cumberland Road Embargo Act of 1807 Chesapeake -- Leopard affair Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 First Barbary War Native American policy Marbury v. Madison West Point Military Academy State of the Union Addresses ( texts 1801 1802 1805 ) Cabinet Federal judicial appointments Other noted accomplishments Early life and career Founder , University of Virginia history Land Ordinance of 1784 Northwest Ordinance 1787 Anti-Administration party Democratic - Republican Party Jeffersonian democracy First Party System republicanism Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage , Weights , and Measure of the United States ( 1790 ) Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions A Manual of Parliamentary Practice ( 1801 ) Jeffersonian architecture Barboursville Farmington Monticello gardens Poplar Forest University of Virginia The Rotunda The Lawn Virginia State Capitol White House Colonnades Other writings Notes on the State of Virginia ( 1785 ) 1787 European journey memorandums Indian removal letters Jefferson Bible ( 1895 ) Jefferson manuscript collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society The Papers of Thomas Jefferson Related Age of Enlightenment American Enlightenment American Philosophical Society American Revolution patriots Member , Virginia Committee of Correspondence Committee of the States Founding Fathers of the United States Franco - American alliance Jefferson and education Religious views Jefferson and slavery Jefferson and the Library of Congress Jefferson disk Jefferson Pier Pet mockingbird National Gazette Residence Act Compromise of 1790 Sally Hemings Jefferson -- Hemings controversy Betty Hemings Separation of church and state Swivel chair The American Museum magazine Virginia dynasty Elections United States Presidential election 1796 1800 1804 Legacy Bibliography Jefferson Memorial Mount Rushmore Birthday Thomas Jefferson Building Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression Jefferson Lecture Jefferson National Expansion Memorial Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service Jefferson Lab Monticello Association Jefferson City , Missouri Jefferson College Thomas Jefferson School of Law Thomas Jefferson University Washington and Jefferson National Forests Other placenames Currency depictions Jefferson nickel Two - dollar bill U.S. postage stamps Popular culture Ben and Me ( 1953 short ) 1776 ( 1969 musical 1972 film ) Jefferson in Paris ( 1995 film ) Thomas Jefferson ( 1997 film ) Liberty ! ( 1997 documentary series ) Liberty 's Kids ( 2002 animated series ) John Adams ( 2008 miniseries ) Jefferson 's Garden ( 2015 play ) Hamilton ( 2015 musical ) Jefferson -- Eppes Trophy Wine bottles controversy Family Peter Jefferson ( father ) Jane Randolph Jefferson ( mother ) Lucy Jefferson Lewis ( sister ) Randolph Jefferson ( brother ) Isham Randolph ( grandfather ) William Randolph ( great - grandfather ) Martha Jefferson ( wife ) Martha Jefferson Randolph ( daughter ) Mary Jefferson Eppes ( daughter ) Harriet Hemings ( daughter ) Madison Hemings ( son ) Eston Hemings ( son ) Thomas J. Randolph ( grandson ) Francis Eppes ( grandson ) George W. Randolph ( grandson ) John Wayles Jefferson ( grandson ) Thomas Mann Randolph Jr. ( son - in - law ) John Wayles Eppes ( son - in - law ) John Wayles ( father - in - law ) Dabney Carr ( brother - in - law ) Dabney Carr ( nephew ) ← John Adams James Madison → Category James Madison 4th President of the United States ( 1809 -- 1817 ) 5th U.S. Secretary of State ( 1801 -- 1809 ) United States House of Representatives ( 1789 -- 1797 ) Congress of the Confederation ( 1781 -- 1783 ) Virginia House of Delegates ( 1776 -- 1779 , 1784 -- 1786 ) `` Father of the Constitution '' Co-wrote , 1776 Virginia Constitution 1786 Annapolis Convention 1787 Constitutional Convention Virginia Plan Constitution of the United States Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 The Federalist Papers written by Madison No. 10 No. 51 Virginia Ratifying Convention United States Bill of Rights 27th amendment Constitution drafting and ratification timeline Founding Fathers Presidency First inauguration Second inauguration Tecumseh 's War Battle of Tippecanoe War of 1812 origins Burning of Washington The Octagon House Treaty of Ghent Seven Buildings residence results Second Barbary War Era of Good Feelings Second Bank of the United States State of the Union Address ( 1810 1814 1815 1816 ) Cabinet Federal judiciary appointments Other noted accomplisments Co-founder , American Whig Society Supervised the Louisiana Purchase Anti-Administration party Residence Act Compromise of 1790 Democratic - Republican Party First Party System republicanism Library of Congress Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions Report of 1800 Other writings The Papers of James Madison Life Early life and career Belle Grove Plantation , birthplace Montpelier Elections U.S. House of Representatives election , 1789 1790 1792 1794 U.S. presidential election , 1808 1812 Legacy and popular culture James Madison Memorial Building James Madison University James Madison College Madison , Wisconsin Madison Square Madison River Madison Street U.S. postage stamps James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation James Madison Freedom of Information Award James Madison Award James Madison Institute A More Perfect Union ( 1989 film ) Liberty 's Kids ( 2002 miniseries ) Hamilton ( 2015 musical ) Related Age of Enlightenment American Enlightenment Marbury v. Madison National Gazette Paul Jennings Madisonian Model American Philosophical Society The American Museum magazine Virginia dynasty Family Dolley Madison ( wife ) John Payne Todd ( stepson ) James Madison , Sr. ( father ) Nelly Conway Madison ( mother ) William Madison ( brother ) Ambrose Madison ( paternal grandfather ) James Madison ( cousin ) George Madison ( paternal second - cousin ) Thomas Madison ( paternal second - cousin ) John Madison ( great - grandfather ) Lucy Washington ( sister - in - law ) ← Thomas Jefferson James Monroe → Category James Monroe 5th President of the United States ( 1817 -- 1825 ) 5th U.S. Secretary of State ( 1811 -- 1817 ) United States Secretary of War ( 1814 -- 1815 ) Governor of Virginia ( 1799 -- 1802 , 1811 ) United States Minister to the United Kingdom ( 1803 -- 1808 ) United States Minister to France ( 1794 -- 1796 ) United States Senator from Virginia ( 1790 -- 1794 ) Delegate to the Congress of the Confederation from Virginia ( 1783 -- 1786 ) Founding events Virginia Ratifying Convention Founding Fathers Presidency First inauguration Second inauguration Florida Treaty Treaty of 1818 Panic of 1819 Era of Good Feelings Missouri Compromise Seminole Wars Monroe Doctrine Tariff of 1824 State of the Union Address , 1824 Cabinet Federal judiciary appointments Other noted accomplisments Negotiated the Louisiana Purchase Monroe -- Pinkney Treaty War of 1812 Life Early life and career Birthplace and boyhood home Revolutionary War service Battle of Trenton Monroe Hill home and office James Monroe Law Office , Museum , and Memorial Library Ash Lawn -- Highland Oak Hill James Monroe Tomb Elections U.S. Senate election , 1790 1792 Governor of Virginia election , 1799 U.S. presidential election , 1808 1816 1820 Legacy and popular culture Monrovia , capital of Liberia List of places named for James Monroe Monroe , Michigan Monroe , Georgia Monroe County , Kentucky Monroe County , New York Monroe Township , New Jersey Monroe Hill ( 2015 film ) U.S. postage stamps Monroe Doctrine Centennial half dollar Related Virginia dynasty Monroe on slavery American Colonization Society Family Elizabeth Kortright ( wife ) George Hay ( son - in - law ) Samuel L. Gouverneur ( son - in - law ) Spence Monroe ( father ) Elizabeth Jones ( mother ) ← James Madison John Quincy Adams → Commons Wikibooks Wikiquote Wikisource texts US Presidency Portal French overseas empire Former Former French colonies in Africa and the Indian Ocean French North Africa Algeria Morocco Tunisia French West Africa Côte d'Ivoire Dahomey French Sudan Guinea Mauritania Arguin Island Niger Senegal Upper Volta French Togoland James Island Albreda French Equatorial Africa Chad Gabon Middle Congo Ubangi - Shari French Cameroons French Comoros Anjouan Grande Comore Mohéli French Somaliland ( Djibouti ) Madagascar Isle de France Former French colonies in the Americas New France Acadia Louisiana Canada Terre Neuve French Caribbean Dominica Grenada The Grenadines Saint - Domingue Haïti , Dominican Republic Saint Kitts & Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent Tobago Virgin Islands Equinoctial France Berbice France Antarctique Inini French colonization of the Americas French West India Company Former French colonies in Asia and Oceania French India Chandernagor Coromandel Coast Madras Mahé Pondichéry Karaikal Yanaon Indochinese Union Cambodia Laos Vietnam Cochinchina Annam Tonkin Kouang - Tchéou - Wan , China French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon State of Syria Aleppo Damascus Alawite State Greater Lebanon Jabal al - Druze Sanjak of Alexandretta Oceania New Hebrides Vanuatu Port Louis - Philippe ( Akaroa ) France -- Asia relations French East India Company Present Overseas France ( hide ) Inhabited areas Overseas departments French Guiana Guadeloupe Martinique Mayotte Réunion Overseas collectivities French Polynesia St. Barthélemy St. Martin St. Pierre and Miquelon Wallis and Futuna Sui generis collectivity New Caledonia Uninhabited areas Pacific Ocean Clipperton Island Overseas territory ( French Southern and Antarctic Lands ) Île Amsterdam Île Saint - Paul Crozet Islands Kerguelen Islands Adélie Land Scattered islands in the Indian Ocean Bassas da India Europa Island Glorioso Islands Juan de Nova Island Tromelin Island Also known as overseas regions Claimed by Comoros Claimed by Madagascar Claimed by Mauritius History of the United States Timeline Prehistory Pre-Columbian Colonial 1776 -- 89 1789 -- 1849 1849 -- 65 1865 -- 1918 1918 -- 45 1945 -- 64 1964 -- 80 1980 -- 91 1991 -- 2008 2008 -- present Topics American Century Cities Constitution Demographic Diplomatic Economic Education Immigration Medical Merchant Marine Military Musical Religious Slavery Southern Technological and industrial Territorial acquisitions Territorial evolution Voting rights Women This Is America , Charlie Brown Category Portal Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louisiana_Purchase&oldid=837133393 '' Categories : States and territories established in 1803 States and territories disestablished in 1804 Louisiana Purchase Colonial United States ( French ) History of United States expansionism 1803 in France 1803 in New France 1803 in the United States 1803 treaties Treaties involving territorial changes Colonial Louisiana Louisiana Territory Great Plains Midwestern United States Pre-statehood history of Arkansas Pre-statehood history of Iowa Pre-statehood history of Kansas Pre-statehood history of Louisiana Pre-statehood history of Missouri Pre-statehood history of Montana Pre-statehood history of Nebraska Pre-statehood history of North Dakota Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma Pre-statehood history of South Dakota Pre-statehood history of Wyoming History of St. Louis Hidden categories : CS1 : Julian -- Gregorian uncertainty Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2015 Articles needing more detailed references All articles with dead external links Articles with dead external links from January 2018 Articles with permanently dead external links Wikipedia pages semi-protected against vandalism Use mdy dates from February 2015 Articles containing French - language text All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from May 2013 Articles with unsourced statements from August 2014 Articles with unsourced statements from December 2010 Articles with unsourced statements from November 2017 Talk View source Contents About Wikipedia Azərbaycanca Bân - lâm - gú Беларуская Български Brezhoneg Català Чӑвашла Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français Galego 한국어 Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Къарачай - малкъар Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Scots Simple English Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska தமிழ் ไทย Türkçe Українська اردو Vèneto Tiếng Việt 文言 Winaray 中文 37 more Edit links This page was last edited on 18 April 2018 , at 22 : 54 . Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply . By using this site , you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy . Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation , Inc. , a non-profit organization . About Wikipedia 
where was the louisiana purchase signed in 1803
Louisiana Purchase Vente de la Louisiane Expansion of the United States ← 1803 -- 1804 → → The modern United States , with Louisiana Purchase overlay History Established July 4 , 1803 Disestablished October 1 , 1804 Today part of United States Canada Louisiana Purchase Vente de la Louisiane Expansion of the United States ← 1803 -- 1804 → → ← 1803 -- 1804 → → ← 1803 -- 1804 → → The modern United States , with Louisiana Purchase overlay History Established July 4 , 1803 Disestablished October 1 , 1804 Today part of United States Canada The Louisiana Purchase ( French : Vente de la Louisiane `` Sale of Louisiana '' ) was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory ( 828,000 square miles or 2.14 million km2 ) by the United States from France in 1803 . The U.S. paid fifty million francs ( $11,250,000 / € 9,100,000 ) and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million francs ( $3,750,000 ) for a total of sixty - eight million francs ( $15 million , equivalent to $300 million in 2016 ) . The Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces . The territory contained land that forms Arkansas , Missouri , Iowa , Oklahoma , Kansas , and Nebraska ; the portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River ; a large portion of North Dakota ; a large portion of South Dakota ; the northeastern section of New Mexico ; the northern portion of Texas ; the area of Montana , Wyoming , and Colorado east of the Continental Divide ; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River ( plus New Orleans ) ; and small portions of land within the present Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan . Its non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants , of whom half were African slaves . The Kingdom of France controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762 . In 1800 , Napoleon , then the First Consul of the French Republic , hoping to re-establish an empire in North America , regained ownership of Louisiana . However , France 's failure to put down the revolt in Saint - Domingue , coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom , prompted Napoleon to sell Louisiana to the United States to fund his military . The Americans originally sought to purchase only the port city of New Orleans and its adjacent coastal lands , but quickly accepted the bargain . The Louisiana Purchase occurred during the term of the third President of the United States , Thomas Jefferson . Before the purchase was finalized , the decision faced Federalist Party opposition ; they argued that it was unconstitutional to acquire any territory . Jefferson agreed that the U.S. Constitution did not contain explicit provisions for acquiring territory , but he asserted that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties was sufficient . Throughout the second half of the 18th century , Louisiana was a pawn on the chessboard of European politics . It was controlled by the French , who had a few small settlements along the Mississippi and other main rivers . France ceded the territory to Spain in the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau ( 1762 ) . Following French defeat in the Seven Years ' War , Spain gained control of the territory west of the Mississippi and the British the territory to the east of the river . Following the establishment of the United States , the Americans controlled the area east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans . The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi to the sea . As the lands were being gradually settled by a few American migrants , many Americans , including Jefferson , assumed that the territory would be acquired `` piece by piece . '' The risk of another power taking it from a weakened Spain made a `` profound reconsideration '' of this policy necessary . New Orleans was already important for shipping agricultural goods to and from the areas of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains . Pinckney 's Treaty , signed with Spain on October 27 , 1795 , gave American merchants `` right of deposit '' in New Orleans , granting them use of the port to store goods for export . Americans used this right to transport products such as flour , tobacco , pork , bacon , lard , feathers , cider , butter , and cheese . The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi , which had become vital to the growing trade of the western territories . In 1798 , Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans , greatly upsetting Americans . In 1801 , Spanish Governor Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo took over from the Marquess of Casa Calvo , and restored the American right to deposit goods . However , in 1800 Spain had ceded the Louisiana territory back to France as part of Napoleon 's secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso . The territory nominally remained under Spanish control , until a transfer of power to France on 30 November 1803 , just three weeks before the formal cession of the territory to the United States on 20 December 1803 . A further ceremony was held in St. Louis , Upper Louisiana regarding the New Orleans formalities . The 9 -- 10 March 1804 event is remembered as Three Flags Day . James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston had traveled to Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans in January 1803 . Their instructions were to negotiate or purchase control of New Orleans and its environs ; they did not anticipate the much larger acquisition which would follow . The Louisiana Purchase was by far the largest territorial gain in U.S. history . Stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains , the purchase doubled the size of the United States . Before 1803 , Louisiana had been under Spanish control for forty years . Although Spain aided the rebels in the American Revolutionary War , the Spanish did n't want the Americans to settle in their territory . Although the purchase was thought of by some as unjust and unconstitutional , Jefferson determined that his constitutional power to negotiate treaties allowed the purchase of what became fifteen states . In hindsight , the Louisiana Purchase could be considered one of his greatest contributions to the United States . On April 18 , 1802 , Jefferson penned a letter to United States Ambassador to France Robert Livingston . It was an intentional exhortation to make this supposedly mild diplomat strongly warn the French of their perilous course . The letter began : The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas by Spain to France works most sorely on the U.S. On this subject the Secretary of State has written to you fully . Yet I can not forbear recurring to it personally , so deep is the impression it makes in my mind . It completely reverses all the political relations of the U.S. and will form a new epoch in our political course . Of all nations of any consideration France is the one which hitherto has offered the fewest points on which we could have any conflict of right , and the most points of a communion of interests . From these causes we have ever looked to her as our natural friend , as one with which we never could have an occasion of difference . Her growth therefore we viewed as our own , her misfortunes ours . There is on the globe one single spot , the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy . It is New Orleans , through which the produce of three - eighths of our territory must pass to market , and from its fertility it will ere long yield more than half of our whole produce and contain more than half our inhabitants . France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude of defiance . Spain might have retained it quietly for years . Her pacific dispositions , her feeble state , would induce her to increase our facilities there , so that her possession of the place would be hardly felt by us , and it would not perhaps be very long before some circumstance might arise which might make the cession of it to us the price of something of more worth to her . Not so can it ever be in the hands of France . The impetuosity of her temper , the energy and restlessness of her character , placed in a point of eternal friction with us ... Jefferson 's letter went on with the same heat to a much quoted passage about `` the day that France takes possession of New Orleans . '' Not only did he say that day would be a low point in France 's history , for it would seal America 's marriage with the British fleet and nation , but he added , astonishingly , that it would start a massive shipbuilding program . While the transfer of the territory by Spain back to France in 1800 went largely unnoticed , fear of an eventual French invasion spread nationwide when , in 1801 , Napoleon sent a military force to secure New Orleans . Southerners feared that Napoleon would free all the slaves in Louisiana , which could trigger slave uprisings elsewhere . Though Jefferson urged moderation , Federalists sought to use this against Jefferson and called for hostilities against France . Undercutting them , Jefferson took up the banner and threatened an alliance with the United Kingdom , although relations were uneasy in that direction . In 1801 Jefferson supported France in its plan to take back Saint - Domingue ( present - day Haiti ) , which was then under control of Toussaint Louverture after a slave rebellion . Jefferson sent Livingston to Paris in 1801 after discovering the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso . Livingston was authorized to purchase New Orleans . In January 1802 , France sent General Charles Leclerc to Saint - Domingue ( present - day Haiti ) to re-establish slavery , which had been abolished by the constitution of the French Republic of 1795 , as well as to reduce the rights of free people of color and take back control of the island from Toussaint Louverture . Louverture had fended off invasions of St. Domingue by the Spanish and British empires , but had also begun to consolidate power for himself on the island . Before the Revolution , France had derived enormous wealth from St. Domingue at the cost of the lives and freedom of the slaves . Napoleon wanted its revenues and productivity for France restored . Alarmed over the French actions and its intention to re-establish an empire in North America , Jefferson declared neutrality in relation to the Caribbean , refusing credit and other assistance to the French , but allowing war contraband to get through to the rebels to prevent France from regaining a foothold . In November 1803 , France withdrew its 7,000 surviving troops from Saint - Domingue ( more than two - thirds of its troops died there ) and gave up its ambitions in the Western Hemisphere . In 1804 Haiti declared its independence ; but , fearing a slave revolt at home , Jefferson and Congress refused to recognize the new republic , the second in the Western Hemisphere , and imposed a trade embargo against it . This , together with later claims by France to reconquer Haiti , encouraged by the United Kingdom , made it more difficult for Haiti to recover after ten years of wars . In 1803 , Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours , a French nobleman , began to help negotiate with France at the request of Jefferson . Du Pont was living in the United States at the time and had close ties to Jefferson as well as the prominent politicians in France . He engaged in back - channel diplomacy with Napoleon on Jefferson 's behalf during a visit to France and originated the idea of the much larger Louisiana Purchase as a way to defuse potential conflict between the United States and Napoleon over North America . Jefferson disliked the idea of purchasing Louisiana from France , as that could imply that France had a right to be in Louisiana . Jefferson had concerns that a U.S. president did not have the constitutional authority to make such a deal . He also thought that to do so would erode states ' rights by increasing federal executive power . On the other hand , he was aware of the potential threat that France could be in that region and was prepared to go to war to prevent a strong French presence there . Throughout this time , Jefferson had up - to - date intelligence on Napoleon 's military activities and intentions in North America . Part of his evolving strategy involved giving du Pont some information that was withheld from Livingston . He also gave intentionally conflicting instructions to the two . Desperate to avoid possible war with France , Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris in 1803 to negotiate a settlement , with instructions to go to London to negotiate an alliance if the talks in Paris failed . Spain procrastinated until late 1802 in executing the treaty to transfer Louisiana to France , which allowed American hostility to build . Also , Spain 's refusal to cede Florida to France meant that Louisiana would be indefensible . Monroe had been formally expelled from France on his last diplomatic mission , and the choice to send him again conveyed a sense of seriousness . Napoleon needed peace with the United Kingdom to implement the Treaty of San Ildefonso and take possession of Louisiana . Otherwise , Louisiana would be an easy prey for the UK or even for the United States . But in early 1803 , continuing war between France and the UK seemed unavoidable . On March 11 , 1803 , Napoleon began preparing to invade the UK . As Napoleon had failed to re-enslave the emancipated population of Haiti , he abandoned his plans to rebuild France 's New World empire . Without sufficient revenues from sugar colonies in the Caribbean , Louisiana had little value to him . Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France , and war between France and the UK was imminent . Out of anger towards Spain and the unique opportunity to sell something that was useless and not truly his yet , Napoleon decided to sell the entire territory . Although the foreign minister Talleyrand opposed the plan , on April 10 , 1803 , Napoleon told the Treasury Minister François de Barbé - Marbois that he was considering selling the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States . On April 11 , 1803 , just days before Monroe 's arrival , Barbé - Marbois offered Livingston all of Louisiana for $15 million , ( equivalent to about $300 million in 2016 dollars , ) which averages to less than three cents per acre ( 7 ¢ / ha ) . The American representatives were prepared to pay up to $10 million for New Orleans and its environs , but were dumbfounded when the vastly larger territory was offered for $15 million . Jefferson had authorized Livingston only to purchase New Orleans . However , Livingston was certain that the United States would accept the offer . The Americans thought that Napoleon might withdraw the offer at any time , preventing the United States from acquiring New Orleans , so they agreed and signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty on April 30 , 1803 . On July 4 , 1803 , the treaty reached Washington , D.C. . The Louisiana Territory was vast , stretching from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Rupert 's Land in the north , and from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west . Acquiring the territory would double the size of the United States , at a sum of less than 3 cents per acre . Henry Adams and other historians have argued that Jefferson acted hypocritically with the Louisiana Purchase , due to his position as a strict constructionist regarding the Constitution since he stretched the intent of that document to justify his purchase . This argument goes as follows : The American purchase of the Louisiana territory was not accomplished without domestic opposition . Jefferson 's philosophical consistency was in question because of his strict interpretation of the Constitution . Many people believed that he and others , including James Madison , were doing something they surely would have argued against with Alexander Hamilton . The Federalists strongly opposed the purchase , favoring close relations with Britain over closer ties to Napoleon , and were concerned that the United States had paid a large sum of money just to declare war on Spain . Both Federalists and Jeffersonians were concerned over the purchase 's constitutionality . Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase . Majority Leader John Randolph led the opposition . The House called for a vote to deny the request for the purchase , but it failed by two votes , 59 -- 57 . The Federalists even tried to prove the land belonged to Spain , not France , but available records proved otherwise . The Federalists also feared that the power of the Atlantic seaboard states would be threatened by the new citizens in the West , whose political and economic priorities were bound to conflict with those of the merchants and bankers of New England . There was also concern that an increase in the number of slave - holding states created out of the new territory would exacerbate divisions between North and South as well . A group of Northern Federalists led by Senator Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts went so far as to explore the idea of a separate northern confederacy . Another concern was whether it was proper to grant citizenship to the French , Spanish , and free black people living in New Orleans , as the treaty would dictate . Critics in Congress worried whether these `` foreigners '' , unacquainted with democracy , could or should become citizens . Spain protested the transfer on two grounds : First , France had previously promised in a note not to alienate Louisiana to a third party and second , France had not fulfilled the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso by having the King of Etruria recognized by all European powers . The French government replied that these objections were baseless since the promise not to alienate Louisiana was not in the treaty of San Ildefonso itself and therefore had no legal force , and the Spanish government had ordered Louisiana to be transferred in October 1802 despite knowing for months that Britain had not recognized the King of Etruria in the Treaty of Amiens . Henry Adams claimed `` The sale of Louisiana to the United States was trebly invalid ; if it were French property , Bonaparte could not constitutionally alienate it without the consent of the French Chambers ; if it were Spanish property , he could not alienate it at all ; if Spain had a right of reclamation , his sale was worthless . '' The sale of course was not `` worthless '' -- the U.S. actually did take possession . Furthermore , the Spanish prime minister had authorized the U.S. to negotiate with the French government `` the acquisition of territories which may suit their interests . '' Spain turned the territory over to France in a ceremony in New Orleans on November 30 , a month before France turned it over to American officials . Other historians counter the above arguments regarding Jefferson 's alleged hypocrisy by asserting that countries change their borders in two ways : ( 1 ) conquest , or ( 2 ) an agreement between nations , otherwise known as a treaty . The Louisiana Purchase was the latter , a treaty . The Constitution specifically grants the president the power to negotiate treaties ( Art . II , Sec. 2 ) , which is just what Jefferson did . Jefferson 's Secretary of State , James Madison ( the `` Father of the Constitution '' ) , assured Jefferson that the Louisiana Purchase was well within even the strictest interpretation of the Constitution . Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin added that since the power to negotiate treaties was specifically granted to the president , the only way extending the country 's territory by treaty could not be a presidential power would be if it were specifically excluded by the Constitution ( which it was not ) . Jefferson , as a strict constructionist , was right to be concerned about staying within the bounds of the Constitution , but felt the power of these arguments and was willing to `` acquiesce with satisfaction '' if the Congress approved the treaty . The Senate quickly ratified the treaty , and the House , with equal alacrity , authorized the required funding , as the Constitution specifies . The opposition of New England Federalists to the Louisiana Purchase was primarily economic self - interest , not any legitimate concern over constitutionality or whether France indeed owned Louisiana or was required to sell it back to Spain should it desire to dispose of the territory . The Northerners were not enthusiastic about Western farmers gaining another outlet for their crops that did not require the use of New England ports . Also , many Federalists were speculators in lands in upstate New York and New England and were hoping to sell these lands to farmers , who might go west instead , if the Louisiana Purchase went through . They also feared that this would lead to Western states being formed , which would likely be Republican , and dilute the political power of New England Federalists . When Spain later objected to the United States purchasing Louisiana from France , Madison responded that America had first approached Spain about purchasing the property , but had been told by Spain itself that America would have to treat with France for the territory . The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed on 30 April by Robert Livingston , James Monroe , and Barbé Marbois in Paris . Jefferson announced the treaty to the American people on July 4 . After the signing of the Louisiana Purchase agreement in 1803 , Livingston made this famous statement , `` We have lived long , but this is the noblest work of our whole lives ... From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank . '' The United States Senate advised and consented to ratification of the treaty with a vote of twenty - four to seven on October 20 . The Senators who voted against the treaty were : Simeon Olcott and William Plumer of New Hampshire , William Wells and Samuel White of Delaware , James Hillhouse and Uriah Tracy of Connecticut , and Timothy Pickering of Massachusetts . On the following day , October 21 , 1803 , the Senate authorized Jefferson to take possession of the territory and establish a temporary military government . In legislation enacted on October 31 , Congress made temporary provisions for local civil government to continue as it had under French and Spanish rule and authorized the President to use military forces to maintain order . Plans were also set forth for several missions to explore and chart the territory , the most famous being the Lewis and Clark Expedition . A timeline of legislation can be found at the Library of Congress : American Memory : The Louisiana Purchase Legislative Timeline -- 1803 - 1804 . France turned over New Orleans , the historic colonial capital , on December 20 , 1803 , at the Cabildo , with a flag - raising ceremony in the Plaza de Armas , now Jackson Square . Just three weeks earlier , on November 30 , 1803 , Spanish officials had formally conveyed the colonial lands and their administration to France . On March 9 and 10 , 1804 , another ceremony , commemorated as Three Flags Day , was conducted in St. Louis , to transfer ownership of Upper Louisiana from Spain to the French First Republic , and then from France to the United States . From March 10 to September 30 , 1804 , Upper Louisiana was supervised as a military district , under Commandant Amos Stoddard . Effective October 1 , 1804 , the purchased territory was organized into the Territory of Orleans ( most of which would become the state of Louisiana ) and the District of Louisiana , which was temporarily under control of the governor and judicial system of the Indiana Territory . The following year , the District of Louisiana was renamed the Territory of Louisiana , aka Louisiana Territory ( 1805 -- 1812 ) . New Orleans was the administrative capital of the Orleans Territory , and St. Louis was the capital of the Louisiana Territory . A dispute soon arose between Spain and the United States regarding the extent of Louisiana . The territory 's boundaries had not been defined in the 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau that ceded it from France to Spain , nor in the 1801 Third Treaty of San Ildefonso ceding it back to France , nor the 1803 Louisiana Purchase agreement ceding it to the United States . The United States claimed Louisiana included the entire western portion of the Mississippi River drainage basin to the crest of the Rocky Mountains and land extending southeast to the Rio Grande and West Florida . Spain insisted that Louisiana comprised no more than the western bank of the Mississippi River and the cities of New Orleans and St. Louis . The dispute was ultimately resolved by the Adams -- Onís Treaty of 1819 , with the United States gaining most of what it had claimed in the west . The relatively narrow Louisiana of New Spain had been a special province under the jurisdiction of the Captaincy General of Cuba while the vast region to the west was in 1803 still considered part of the Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas . Louisiana had never been considered one of New Spain 's internal provinces . If the territory included all the tributaries of the Mississippi on its western bank , the northern reaches of the Purchase extended into the equally ill - defined British possession -- Rupert 's Land of British North America , now part of Canada . The Purchase originally extended just beyond the 50th parallel . However , the territory north of the 49th parallel ( including the Milk River and Poplar River watersheds ) was ceded to the UK in exchange for parts of the Red River Basin south of 49th parallel in the Anglo - American Convention of 1818 . The eastern boundary of the Louisiana purchase was the Mississippi River , from its source to the 31st parallel , though the source of the Mississippi was , at the time , unknown . The eastern boundary below the 31st parallel was unclear . The U.S. claimed the land as far as the Perdido River , and Spain claimed that the border of its Florida Colony remained the Mississippi River . In early 1804 , Congress passed the Mobile Act , which recognized West Florida as part of the United States . The Adams -- Onís Treaty with Spain ( 1819 ) resolved the issue upon ratification in 1821 . Today , the 31st parallel is the northern boundary of the western half of the Florida Panhandle , and the Perdido is the western boundary of Florida . Because the western boundary was contested at the time of the Purchase , President Jefferson immediately began to organize three missions to explore and map the new territory . All three started from the Mississippi River . The Lewis and Clark Expedition ( 1804 ) traveled up the Missouri River ; the Red River Expedition ( 1806 ) explored the Red River basin ; the Pike Expedition ( 1806 ) also started up the Missouri , but turned south to explore the Arkansas River watershed . The maps and journals of the explorers helped to define the boundaries during the negotiations leading to the Adams -- Onís Treaty , which set the western boundary as follows : north up the Sabine River from the Gulf of Mexico to its intersection with the 32nd parallel , due north to the Red River , up the Red River to the 100th meridian , north to the Arkansas River , up the Arkansas River to its headwaters , due north to the 42nd parallel and due west to its previous boundary . Governing the Louisiana Territory was more difficult than acquiring it . Its European peoples , of ethnic French , Spanish and Mexican descent , were largely Catholic ; in addition , there was a large population of enslaved Africans made up of a high proportion of recent arrivals , as Spain had continued the international slave trade . This was particularly true in the area of the present - day state of Louisiana , which also contained a large number of free people of color . Both present - day Arkansas and Missouri already had some slaveholders in the early 19th century . During this period , south Louisiana received an influx of French - speaking refugee planters , who were permitted to bring their slaves with them , and other refugees fleeing the large slave revolt in Saint - Domingue , today 's Haiti . Many Southern slaveholders feared that acquisition of the new territory might inspire American - held slaves to follow the example of those in Saint - Domingue and revolt . They wanted the US government to establish laws allowing slavery in the newly acquired territory so they could be supported in taking their slaves there to undertake new agricultural enterprises , as well as to reduce the threat of future slave rebellions . The Louisiana Territory was broken into smaller portions for administration , and the territories passed slavery laws similar to those in the southern states but incorporating provisions from the preceding French and Spanish rule ( for instance , Spain had prohibited slavery of Native Americans in 1769 , but some slaves of mixed African - Native American descent were still being held in St. Louis in Upper Louisiana when the U.S. took over ) . In a freedom suit that went from Missouri to the US Supreme Court , slavery of Native Americans was finally ended in 1836 . The institutionalization of slavery under U.S. law in the Louisiana Territory contributed to the American Civil War a half century later . As states organized within the territory , the status of slavery in each state became a matter of contention in Congress , as southern states wanted slavery extended to the west , and northern states just as strongly opposed new states being admitted as `` slave states . '' The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a temporary solution . After the early explorations , the U.S. government sought to establish control of the region , since trade along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers was still dominated by British and French traders from Canada and allied Indians , especially the Sauk and Fox . The U.S. adapted the former Spanish facility at Fort Bellefontaine as a fur trading post near St. Louis in 1804 for business with the Sauk and Fox . In 1808 two military forts with trading factories were built , Fort Osage along the Missouri River in western present - day Missouri and Fort Madison along the Upper Mississippi River in eastern present - day Iowa . With tensions increasing with Great Britain , in 1809 Fort Bellefontaine was converted to a U.S. military fort , and was used for that purpose until 1826 . During the War of 1812 , Great Britain and allied Indians defeated U.S. forces in the Upper Mississippi ; the U.S. abandoned Forts Osage and Madison , as well as several other U.S. forts built during the war , including Fort Johnson and Fort Shelby . After U.S. ownership of the region was confirmed in the Treaty of Ghent ( 1814 ) , the U.S. built or expanded forts along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers , including adding to Fort Bellefontaine , and constructing Fort Armstrong ( 1816 ) and Fort Edwards ( 1816 ) in Illinois , Fort Crawford ( 1816 ) in Prairie du Chien Wisconsin , Fort Snelling ( 1819 ) in Minnesota , and Fort Atkinson ( 1819 ) in Nebraska . The American government used $3 million in gold as a down payment , and issued bonds for the balance to pay France for the purchase . Earlier that year , Francis Baring and Company of London had become the U.S. government 's official banking agent in London . Because of this favored position , the U.S. asked the Baring firm to handle the transaction . Francis Baring 's son Alexander was in Paris at the time and helped in the negotiations . Another Baring advantage was a close relationship with Hope and Company of Amsterdam . The two banking houses worked together to facilitate and underwrite the Purchase . Because Napoleon wanted to receive his money as quickly as possible , the two firms received the American bonds and shipped the gold to France . Napoleon used the money to finance his planned invasion of England , which never took place .
Paris Paris Paris Paris Paris