Map of the Louisiana Purchase Territory, 1903
Agreement to Pay France for the Louisiana Purchase, 04/03/1803
Agreement to Pay France for the Louisiana Purchase, 04/03/1803 (signed by Napoleon Bonaparte)
Treaty between the United States of America and the French Republic ceding the province of Louisiana to the United States, 04/30/1803
Treaty between the United States of America and the French Republic ceding the province of Louisiana to the United States, 04/30/1803 (final page)
todaysdocument:
For roughly 4 cents an acre, the fledgling United States doubled in size with the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, signed 210 years ago with France on April 30, 1803.
Acting on orders from President Thomas Jefferson (who had put his doubts as to the constitutionality of the expansion aside) American agents James Monroe and Robert Livingston had planned only to negotiate for the purchase of New Orleans and Florida from France. Instead they were offered the entire territory for the equivalent of 15 million dollars, an offer they hastily accepted.
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