View source for Louisiana Purchase

{{Short description|1803 acquisition of region of Middle America land by the U.S. from France}}
{{Other uses}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2018}}
{{Infobox former subdivision
| conventional_long_name = Louisiana Purchase <br /> ''Vente de la Louisiane''
| common_name            = Louisiana Purchase
| nation                 = the [[United States]]
| subdivision            = Expansion
| year_start             = 1803
| year_end               = 1804
| date_start             = July 4,
| event_end              = [[Dissolution (law)|Disestablished]]
| date_end               = October 1,
| p1                     = Louisiana (New France)
| flag_p1                = Flag of France.svg
| s1                     = District of Louisiana
| flag_s1                = Star-Spangled Banner flag.svg
| s2                     = Territory of Orleans
| flag_s2                = Star-Spangled Banner flag.svg
| image_map              = Louisiana Purchase.png
| image_map_caption      = Modern map of the United States overlapped with territory bought in the Louisiana Purchase (in white)
| today                  = *United States
**[[Arkansas]]
**[[Iowa]]
**[[Missouri]]
**[[Kansas]]
**[[Oklahoma]]
**[[Nebraska]]
**[[Minnesota]]
**[[Louisiana]]
**[[New Mexico]]
**[[Texas]]
**[[North Dakota]]
**[[South Dakota]]
**[[Wyoming]]
**[[Montana]]
**[[Colorado]]
*[[Canada]]
**[[Alberta]]
**[[Saskatchewan]]
}}
{{Thomas Jefferson series}}
{{Napoleon series}}
The '''Louisiana Purchase''' ({{langx|fr|Vente de la Louisiane|translation=Sale of Louisiana}}) was the acquisition of the [[Louisiana (New France)|territory of Louisiana]] by the [[United States]] from the [[French First Republic]] in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the [[Mississippi River#Watershed|Mississippi River's drainage basin]] west of the river.<ref name="Encyclopedia Britannica 1998 x363">{{cite web | title=Louisiana Purchase Definition, Date, Cost, History, Map, States, Significance, & Facts | website=Encyclopedia Britannica | date=1998-07-20 | url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase | access-date=2023-06-25}}</ref> In return for fifteen million dollars,{{efn|About ${{Inflation|US-GDP|15|1803|fmt=c}} million at {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} prices.}} or approximately eighteen dollars per square mile{{efn|About ${{Inflation|US-GDP|18|1803|fmt=c}} per sq. mi. at {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} prices.}} ($7/km<sup>2</sup>), the United States nominally acquired a total of {{Convert|828000|sqmi|km2 acre|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} now in the [[Central United States]]. However, France only controlled a small fraction of this area, most of which was inhabited by [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]; effectively, for the majority of the area, the United States bought the preemptive right to obtain Indian lands by treaty or by conquest, to the exclusion of other colonial powers.<ref name=lee-2017-slate>{{cite web |last1=Lee |first1=Robert |title=The True Cost of the Louisiana Purchase |work=Slate |date=March 1, 2017 |access-date=1 October 2019 |url=https://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2017/03/how_much_did_the_louisiana_purchase_actually_cost.html}}</ref><ref name=lee-2017-jahist>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Robert |title=Accounting for Conquest: The Price of the Louisiana Purchase of Indian Country |journal=Journal of American History |date=1 March 2017 |volume=103 |issue=4 |pages=921–942 |doi=10.1093/jahist/jaw504}}</ref>

The [[Early modern France|Kingdom of France]] had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1682<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-06-29 |title=Louisiana {{!}} History, Map, Population, Cities, & Facts {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Louisiana-state |access-date=2023-07-04 |website=britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> until [[Louisiana (New Spain)|it was ceded]] to [[Spanish Empire|Spain]] in 1762. In 1800, [[Napoleon|Napoleon Bonaparte]], the First Consul of the French Republic, [[Third Treaty of San Ildefonso|regained ownership]] of Louisiana in exchange for [[Kingdom of Etruria|territories in Tuscany]] as part of a broader effort to re-establish a [[French colonial empire]] in North America. However, France's failure to suppress a [[Haitian Revolution|revolt in Saint-Domingue]] in the Caribbean, coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the [[United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland|United Kingdom]], prompted Napoleon to consider selling Louisiana to the United States. 

Acquisition of Louisiana was a long-term goal of President [[Thomas Jefferson]], who was especially eager to gain control of the crucial [[Mississippi River]] port of [[New Orleans]]. Jefferson tasked [[James Monroe]] and [[Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)|Robert R. Livingston]] with purchasing New Orleans. Negotiating with French Treasury Minister [[François Barbé-Marbois]], the U.S. representatives quickly agreed to purchase the entire territory of Louisiana after it was offered. Overcoming the opposition of the [[Federalist Party]], Jefferson and Secretary of State [[James Madison]] persuaded Congress to ratify and fund the Louisiana Purchase.

The Louisiana Purchase extended United States sovereignty across the Mississippi River, nearly doubling the nominal size of the country. The purchase included land from fifteen present [[U.S. state]]s and two [[Provinces and territories of Canada|Canadian provinces]], including the entirety of [[Arkansas]], [[Missouri]], [[Iowa]], [[Oklahoma]], [[Kansas]], and [[Nebraska]]; large portions of [[North Dakota]] and [[South Dakota]]; the area of [[Montana]], [[Wyoming]], and [[Colorado]] east of the [[Continental Divide of the Americas|Continental Divide]]; the portion of [[Minnesota]] west of the Mississippi River; the northeastern section of [[New Mexico]]; northern portions of [[Texas]]; New Orleans and the portions of the present [[state of Louisiana]] west of the Mississippi River; and small portions of land within [[Alberta]] and [[Saskatchewan]]. At the time of the purchase, the territory of Louisiana's non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were [[History of slavery in Louisiana|enslaved Africans]]. The western borders of the purchase were later settled by the 1819 [[Adams–Onís Treaty]] with Spain, while the northern borders of the purchase were adjusted by the [[Treaty of 1818]] with the British.

The Louisiana Purchase corresponds, nowadays, to more than 26% of the present area of the [[contiguous United States]], which is {{convert|2,959,064.44|sqmi|km2}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/279.html#as|work=The World Factbook|publisher=cia.gov|title=Field Listing: Area|access-date=June 13, 2019|archive-date=July 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200707180005/https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/279.html#as|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Background==
[[File:Louisiana1804a.jpg|thumb|An 1804 map of "[[Louisiana (New France)|Louisiana]]", bounded on the west by the [[Rocky Mountains]]]]

Throughout the second half of the 18th century, the French colony of Louisiana became a pawn for European political intrigue.{{sfnp|Herring|2008|p=99}} The colony was the most substantial presence of [[French colonial empire|France's overseas empire]], with other possessions consisting of a few small settlements along the Mississippi and other main rivers. France ceded the territory to Spain in 1762 in the secret [[Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)|Treaty of Fontainebleau]]. Following French defeat in the [[Seven Years' War]], Spain gained control of the [[Louisiana (New Spain)|territory west of the Mississippi]], and the British received the territory to the east of the river.{{sfnp|Meinig|1995|p={{page needed|date= February 2015}}}}

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 out to sea. As the lands were being gradually settled by 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.{{sfnp|Herring|2008|p=99}} 

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. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi, which had become vital to the growing trade of the western territories.{{sfnp|Meinig|1995|p={{page needed|date= February 2015}}}}

In 1798, Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans, greatly upsetting the Americans. In 1801, Spanish Governor Don [[Juan Manuel de Salcedo]] took over from the [[List of colonial governors of Louisiana#Spanish period|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]].<ref>{{Cite thesis |title=The Role of American Diplomacy in the Louisiana Purchase |last=Warren|first=Rebecca |date=1976 |type=MA thesis |id=Paper 2581 |publisher=Portland State University |doi=10.15760/etd.2578 |via=PDXScholar |url-status=live |url=http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3586&context=open_access_etds|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171013173430/http://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3586&context=open_access_etds |archive-date=October 13, 2017|doi-access=free }}</ref> The subsequent 1801 [[Treaty of Aranjuez (1801)|Treaty of Aranjuez]] established that Spain's cession of Louisiana was a "restoration" of the territory to France, not a retrocession.<ref name =" Chambers">{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/westfloridaitsre00cham |title=West Florida and Its Relation to the Historical Cartography of the United States |first= Henry E. |last=Chambers |publisher=The Johns Hopkins Press |location=Baltimore, Maryland |date=1898 |pages=50–52 |via=Internet Archive}}</ref> The territory nominally remained under Spanish control, until a transfer of power to France on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the formal cession of the territory to the United States on December 20, 1803.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase|title=Louisiana Purchase |encyclopedia=Britannica |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170525200210/https://www.britannica.com/event/Louisiana-Purchase |archive-date=May 25, 2017 |url-status=live |access-date=July 21, 2017}}</ref>

==Negotiation==
[[File:James Monroe (1758-1831).jpg|thumb|right|upright|The future president [[James Monroe]] as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to France helped [[Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)|Robert R. Livingston]] in negotiating the Louisiana Purchase.]]

While the treaty between Spain and France went largely unnoticed in 1800, fear of an eventual French invasion spread across America when, in 1801, Napoleon [[Saint-Domingue expedition|sent a military force to nearby Saint-Domingue]]. Though Jefferson urged moderation, Federalists sought to use this against Jefferson and called for hostilities against France. Undercutting them, Jefferson threatened an alliance with Britain, although relations were uneasy in that direction.{{sfnp|Herring|2008|p=100}} 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]]. However, there was a growing concern in the U.S. that Napoleon would send troops to New Orleans after quelling the rebellion.{{sfnp|Matthewson|1995|pp=221–222}} In hopes of securing control of the mouth of the Mississippi, Jefferson sent Livingston to Paris in 1801 with the authorization to purchase New Orleans.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/louisiana-purchase|title=Milestones: 1801–1829 – Office of the Historian|website=history.state.gov|access-date=February 19, 2017 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131010252/https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/louisiana-purchase|archive-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref>

In December 1801, France sent General [[Charles Leclerc (general, born 1772)|Charles Leclerc]], Napoleon's brother-in-law, on an expedition to Saint-Domingue to reassert French control over the colony, which had become essentially autonomous under Louverture. Louverture, as a French general, had fended off incursions from other European powers, but had also begun to consolidate power for himself on the island. Before the revolution, France had derived enormous wealth from Saint-Domingue at the cost of the lives and freedom of the enslaved. Napoleon wanted the territory's 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.{{sfnp|Matthewson|1995|pp=221–222}}

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 introduced the idea of the much larger Louisiana Purchase as a way to defuse potential conflict between the United States and Napoleon over North America.{{sfnp|Duke|1977|pp=77–83}}

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. Intent on avoiding 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 [[Spanish Florida|Florida]] to France meant that Louisiana would be indefensible.

Napoleon needed peace with Britain to take possession of Louisiana. Otherwise, Louisiana would be an easy prey for a potential invasion from Britain or the U.S. But in early 1803, continuing war between France and Britain seemed unavoidable. On March 11, 1803, Napoleon began [[Napoleon's planned invasion of the United Kingdom|planning an invasion of Great Britain]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Muffat |first=Sophie |date=2022 |title=Building Napoleon's flotillas: An invasion project fraught with difficulties |url=https://www.cairn-int.info/journal-napoleonica-the-journal-2022-4-page-17.htm?contenu=article |journal=Napoleonica: The Journal |language=en |volume=4 |issue=4 |pages=17–36 |issn=2100-0123}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gleijeses |first=Piero |date=2017-03-15 |title=Napoleon, Jefferson, and the Louisiana Purchase |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2016.1196383 |journal=The International History Review |language=en |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=237–255 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2016.1196383 |issn=0707-5332|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In Saint-Domingue, Leclerc's forces took Louverture prisoner, but their expedition soon faltered in the face of fierce resistance and disease. By early 1803, Napoleon decided to abandon 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.{{sfnp|Herring|2008|p=101}}

Although the [[Ministry of Foreign Affairs (France)|foreign minister]] [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord|Talleyrand]] opposed the plan, on April 10, 1803, Napoleon told the Treasury Minister François Barbé-Marbois that he was considering selling the 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&nbsp;million,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1012/3-of-the-most-lucrative-land-deals-in-history.aspx|title=3 Of The Most Lucrative Land Deals In History|first=Justin |last=Kuepper|date=October 8, 2012|access-date=April 12, 2015 |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150423185552/http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/1012/3-of-the-most-lucrative-land-deals-in-history.aspx|archive-date=April 23, 2015}}</ref> which averages to less than three cents per acre (7¢/ha).{{sfnp|Burgan|2002|p=36}}<ref>{{cite web|title=Primary Documents of American History: Louisiana Purchase|work=Web Guides |publisher=Library of Congress|date=March 29, 2011 |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Louisiana.html|access-date=March 26, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110302232522/http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/Louisiana.html |archive-date=March 2, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> The total of $15&nbsp;million is equivalent to about ${{Inflation|US-GDP|15|1803|fmt=c}}&nbsp;million in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars, or {{#expr:({{Inflation|US-GDP|15000000|1803}} / {{Convert|828000|sqmi|acre|comma=off|disp=number}} * 100) round 0}} cents per acre. The American representatives were prepared to pay up to $10&nbsp;million for New Orleans and its environs but were dumbfounded when the vastly larger territory was offered for $15&nbsp;million. Jefferson had authorized Livingston only to purchase New Orleans. However, Livingston was certain that the United States would accept the offer.{{sfnp|Malone|Roeder|Lang|1991|p=30}}

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 (10 Floréal XI in the [[French Republican calendar]]) at the [[Hôtel Tubeuf]] in Paris.<ref>{{cite wikisource |title=Louisiana Purchase Treaty}}</ref> The signers were [[Robert R. Livingston (chancellor)|Robert Livingston]], [[James Monroe]], and [[François Barbé-Marbois]].<ref>Alain Chappet, Roger Martin, Alain Pigeard, ''Le guide de Napoleon: 4000 lieux de mémoire pour revivre l'épopée'' (Paris: Tallandier, 2005), p. 307. {{ISBN|978-2847342468}}</ref> After the signing Livingston famously stated, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives&nbsp;... From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank."<ref>{{cite web|title=America's Louisiana Purchase: Noble Bargain, Difficult Journey|publisher=LPB |access-date=June 11, 2010 |url=http://www.lpb.org/education/tah/lapurchase/quotes.cfm|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610092750/http://www.lpb.org/education/tah/lapurchase/quotes.cfm |archive-date=June 10, 2010}}</ref> On July 4, 1803, the treaty was announced,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-louisiana-purchase-jeffersons-constitutional-gamble |title=The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson's constitutional gamble |date=October 20, 2017 |website=National Constitution Center |access-date=April 29, 2018 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430050035/https://constitutioncenter.org/blog/the-louisiana-purchase-jeffersons-constitutional-gamble |archive-date=April 30, 2018}}</ref> but the documents did not arrive in [[Washington, D.C.]] until July 14.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0101 |title=Purchase of Louisiana, [5 July 1803] |at=Footnote 2 |website=Founders Online |publisher=[[National Archives and Records Administration]] |access-date=April 29, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180430045616/https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Hamilton/01-26-02-0001-0101 |archive-date=April 30, 2018 |url-status=live }}</ref> 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 nearly doubled the size of the United States.

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.{{sfnp|Matthewson|1995|p=209}} In 1804, Haiti declared its independence; but fearing a [[Slave rebellion|slave revolt]] at home, Jefferson and the rest of Congress refused to recognize the new republic, the second in the Western Hemisphere, and imposed a trade [[Economic sanctions|embargo]] against it. This, together with the [[Haiti indemnity controversy|successful French demand for an indemnity]] of 150 million francs in 1825, severely hampered Haiti's ability to repair its [[Economy of Haiti|economy]] after decades of war.{{sfnp|Matthewson|1996|pp=22–23}}

==Domestic opposition and constitutionality==
[[File:louisiana purchase treaty.jpg|thumb|The original treaty of the Louisiana Purchase]]
[[File:Louisianatransfer exposition1904 (cropped).jpg|thumb|''Transfer of Louisiana'' by Ford P. Kaiser for the [[Louisiana Purchase Exposition]] (1904)]]
[[File:Handover ceremony of Lousiana.jpg|thumb|Flag raising in the [[Jackson Square (New Orleans)|Place d'Armes]] (now Jackson Square), New Orleans, marking the transfer of sovereignty over French Louisiana to the United States, December 20, 1803, as depicted by [[Thure de Thulstrup]] in 1902]]

After Monroe and Livingston had returned from France with news of the purchase, an official announcement of the purchase was made on July 4, 1803. This gave Jefferson and his cabinet until October, when the treaty had to be ratified, to discuss the constitutionality of the purchase. Jefferson considered a [[constitutional amendment]] to justify the purchase; however, his cabinet convinced him otherwise. Jefferson justified the purchase by rationalizing, "it is the case of a guardian, investing the money of his ward in purchasing an important adjacent territory; & saying to him when of age, I did this for your good." Jefferson ultimately came to the conclusion before the ratification of the treaty that the purchase was to protect the citizens of the United States therefore making it constitutional.<ref name=Monticello>{{Cite web|title=The Louisiana Purchase |url=https://www.monticello.org/thomas-jefferson/louisiana-lewis-clark/the-louisiana-purchase/ |access-date=2020-03-28|website=Monticello}}</ref>

[[Henry Adams]] and other historians have argued that Jefferson acted hypocritically with the Louisiana Purchase, because of his position as a [[Strict constructionism|strict constructionist]] regarding the Constitution, by stretching the intent of that document to justify his purchase.{{sfnp|Rodriguez|2002|pp=139–40}} The American purchase of the Louisiana territory was not accomplished without domestic opposition. Jefferson's philosophical consistency was in question and many people believed he and others, including [[James Madison]], were doing something they surely would have argued against with [[Alexander Hamilton]]. The [[Federalist Party|Federalists]] strongly opposed the purchase, because of the cost involved, their belief that France would not have been able to resist U.S. and British encroachment into Louisiana, and Jefferson's perceived hypocrisy.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Balleck |first=Barry J. |date=1992 |title=When the Ends Justify the Means: Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase |journal=Presidential Studies Quarterly |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=688–689 |issn=0360-4918 |jstor=27551031}}</ref>

Both Federalists and Jeffersonians were concerned over the purchase's constitutionality. Many members of the [[United States House of Representatives|House of Representatives]] opposed the purchase. Majority Leader [[John Randolph of Roanoke|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.{{sfnp|Fleming|2003|pp=149ff}} The Federalists also feared that the power of the [[East Coast of the United States|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. 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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gannon |first=Kevin M. |date=2001 |title=Escaping "Mr. Jefferson's Plan of Destruction": New England Federalists and the Idea of a Northern Confederacy, 1803–1804 |journal=Journal of the Early Republic |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=413–443 |doi=10.2307/3125268 |jstor=3125268}}</ref>

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.{{sfnp|Ketcham|2003|pp=420–422}}{{sfnp|Lewis|2003|p=79}}

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.{{sfnp|Nugent|2009|pp=65–68}}

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 [[Kingdom of Etruria|Etruria]] recognized by all European powers. The French government replied that these objections were baseless as 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]].{{sfnp|Gayarre|1867|p=544}} Madison, in response to Spain's objections, noted that the United States had first approached Spain about purchasing the property, but had been told by Spain itself that the U.S. would have to deal with France for the territory.<ref>{{cite news|last=Peterson|first=Merrill D.|title=James Madison: A Biography in his Own Words|pages=237–46|work=Newsweek|year=1974}}</ref>[[File:Louisiana Purchase 1953 Issue-3c.jpg|thumb|Issue of 1953, commemorating the 150th anniversary of signing]]

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 [[Sénat conservateur|Chambers]]; if it were Spanish property, he could not alienate it at all; if Spain had a right of reclamation, his sale was worthless."{{sfnp|Adams|2011|pp=56–57}} 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 regarding "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 the city over to American officials.{{sfnp|Nugent|2009|pp=66–67}}

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. Article II, Section 2, of the Constitution specifically grants the president the power to negotiate treaties, which is what Jefferson did.{{sfnp|Lawson|Seidman|2008|pp=20–22}}

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 because 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.{{sfnp|Banning|1995|pp=7–9, 178, 326–327, 330–333, 345–346, 360–361, 371, 384}} The [[United States Senate|Senate]] quickly ratified the treaty, and the House, with equal readiness, authorized the required funding.{{sfnp|Ketcham|2003|pp=420–422}} The fledgling United States did not have $15 million in its treasury; instead, it borrowed the sum from British and Dutch banks, at an annual interest rate of six percent.<ref>{{cite web |title=Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase |url=http://www.americanhistory.about.com/od/thomasjefferson/a/tj_lapurchase.htm |quote=America did not have the money to pay the $15 million outright so they instead borrowed the money from Great Britain at 6% interest. |url-status=dead <!--Actually, content changed--> |archive-date=June 10, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150610090032/http://americanhistory.about.com/od/thomasjefferson/a/tj_lapurchase.htm}}</ref> (See {{section link||Financing}} below.)

The United States Senate consented to ratification of the treaty with a vote of 24 to seven on October 20. 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]].<ref name=Monticello/>

==Formal transfers and initial organization==
France turned over New Orleans, the historic colonial capital, on December 20, 1803, at [[the Cabildo]], with a [[Flag#Hoisting the flag|flag-raising]] ceremony in the Plaza de Armas, now [[Jackson Square (New Orleans)|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 [[Illinois Country|Upper Louisiana]] from Spain to France, and then from France to the United States. From March 10 to September 30, 1804, Upper Louisiana was supervised as a military district, under its first civil [[commandant]], [[Amos Stoddard]], who was appointed by the War Department.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Autobiography Manuscript of Major Amos Stoddard|editor-first=Robert A.|editor-last=Stoddard|first=Amos|last=Stoddard|page=67−69|isbn=978-1537593593|publisher=CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform|year=2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Sketches, Historical and Descriptive, of Louisiana|first=Amos|last=Stoddard|page=103|publisher=Mathew Carey|year=1812|isbn= 9780608399270 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HikVAAAAYAAJ&q=commandant}}</ref>

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 [[Louisiana Territory|Territory of Louisiana]].<ref>"The district of Louisiana changed to the territory of Louisiana". See chapter iii, "Treaty Ceding Louisiana to the United States" (1803 ff.), ''Laws of a Public and General Nature: Of the District of Louisiana, of the Territory of Louisiana, of the Territory of Missouri, and of the State of Missouri, Up to the Year 1824'' (Jefferson City MO: W. Lusk, 1842), 6.</ref> New Orleans was the administrative capital of the Orleans Territory, and St. Louis was the capital of the Louisiana Territory.<ref>{{Cite book | last=Olbrich | first=William L. Jr. |date=2004|chapter=The State of Missouri|title=The Uniting States: Louisiana to Ohio|series=The Uniting States: The Story of Statehood for the Fifty United States |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xu4uoI4DimMC&q=New%20Orleans%20was%20the%20administrative%20capital%20of%20the%20Orleans%20Territory,%20and%20St.%20Louis%20was%20the%20capital%20of%20the%20Louisiana%20Territory&pg=PA672 |location=Connecticut |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-33106-0|editor-last=Shearer|editor-first=Benjamin F. |volume=2|pages=672}}</ref>

==Financing==
[[File:aandeelLouisianaPurchase.jpg|thumb|upright=0.7|''Share issued by Hope & Co. in 1804 to finance the Louisiana Purchase''<ref>{{Cite thesis|title=Private Interest and the Public Sphere: Finance and Politics in France, Britain and the Netherlands during the Age of Revolution, 1789–1812|last=Valmori|first=Niccolò|date=2016|publisher=European University Institute|location=Fiesole, Italy|type=PhD|doi=10.2870/536147}}</ref>]]
To pay for the land, the American government used a mix of sovereign bonds and the assumption of French debts. Earlier in 1803, [[Barings Bank|Francis Baring and Company]] of London had become the U.S. government's official banking agent in London following the failure of [[Bird, Savage & Bird]]. Because of this favored position, the U.S. asked Barings to handle the transaction.<ref name="Barings">{{cite book|title=Transatlantic Finance in the Age of Revolutions. Hope, Baring, and the Financing of the Sale and Purchase of Louisiana |last=Hay |first=Mark Edward |date=2024 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=Cham, Switzerland |isbn=978-3-031-65231-8 |pages=17–45, 89–138}}</ref> Barings had a close relationship with [[Hope & Co.]] of Amsterdam, and the two banking houses worked together to facilitate and underwrite the purchase.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://geneagraphie.com/histories/faHope-Co.pdf |title=Aspecten van de Geschiedenis van Hope & Co en van Gelieerde Ondernemingen|language=nl|trans-title=Aspects of the History of Hope & Co and Affiliated Companies|date=2018-08-31|publisher=Archief van de Firma Hope & Co. met verwante archiefvormers}}</ref> Hopes brought to the transaction experience with issuing sovereign bonds and Barings brought its American connections.<ref name="Barings"/>

[[Sir Francis Baring, 1st Baronet|Francis Baring]]{{'s}} son [[Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton|Alexander]] and Pierre Labouchère from Hopes arrived in Paris in April 1803 to assist with the negotiations.{{sfnp|Ziegler|1988|p=70}}<ref name="Barings"/> With the bankers' help, the French and American negotiators settled on a price of 80 million francs ($15 million), down from an initial price of 100 million francs, a sum the Americans could not afford and the financers could not provide.<ref name="Barings"/> In the final agreement, the value of the U.S. currency was set at {{sfrac|5|3333|10000}} francs per U.S. dollar.<ref>{{cite book|chapter=Convention Between the United States of America and the French Republic (Article III)|orig-date=April 30, 1803|title=United States Statues at Large|volume=8|editor-last=Peters|editor-first=Richard|publisher=Little, Brown & Co. |location=Boston, Massashusetts|date=1867|page=208|chapter-url=https://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=008/llsl008.db&recNum=221|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127221304/http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=llsl&fileName=008/llsl008.db&recNum=222 |archive-date=2023-01-27|url-status=dead|via=Library of Congress}}</ref> In {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars, the $15 million purchase price is equivalent to about ${{Inflation|US-GDP|15|1803|fmt=c}}&nbsp;million.

As part of the deal, the U.S. assumed responsibility for up to 20 million francs ($3.75 million) of French debts owed to U.S. citizens. The remaining 60 million francs ($11.25 million) were financed through U.S. government bonds carrying 6% interest, redeemable between 1819 and 1822.<ref name="Barings"/> In October 1803, the U.S. Treasury had some $5.86 million in [[coin|specie]] on hand, $2 million of which would be used to pay a portion of the debts assumed from France as part of the purchase.<ref>{{cite book|title=Annual Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the State of the Finances: 1789&ndash;1980|chapter=Report on the Finances, October 1803|last=Gallatin|first=Albert|date=January 1803 |author-link=Albert Gallatin|publisher=U.S. Department of the Treasury|page=263|chapter-url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/194/item/5642?start_page=3}}</ref>

Because Napoleon wanted to receive his money as quickly as possible, Barings and Hopes purchased the bonds for 52 million francs, agreeing to an initial 6 million franc payment upon issuance of the bonds followed by 23 monthly payments of 2 million francs each.<ref name="Barings"/> The first group of bonds were issued on January 16, 1804, but the banks had already provided a 10 million franc advance to France in July 1803.<ref name="Barings"/>

In need of funds, Napoleon pressed the banks to complete their purchase of the bonds as quickly as possible. In April 1804, the banks transferred an additional 40.35 million francs to fully discharge their obligations to France. In the end, Barings and Hopes acquired the $11.25 million in bonds for just $9.44 million.<ref name="Barings"/> The last of the bonds were paid off by the United States Treasury in 1823. With interest, the total cost of the Louisiana Purchase bonds amounted to $23,313,567.73.<ref name="Klein-LoC">{{Cite web |last=Klein |first=Michael |title=A Question of Boundaries |url=https://www.loc.gov/collections/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/articles-and-essays/a-question-of-boundaries/ |access-date=2023-05-11 |website=Louisiana: European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase |publisher=Library of Congress |location=Washington, D.C.}}.</ref>

Although the [[War of the Third Coalition]], which brought France into a war with the United Kingdom, began before the purchase was completed, the British government initially allowed the deal to proceed as it was better for the neutral Americans to own the territory than the hostile French.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Financing the Louisiana Purchase |first=Daniel |last=Dematos |url=https://tontinecoffeehouse.com/2018/11/19/financing-the-louisiana-purchase/|date=2018-11-19|website=The Tontine Coffee-House|access-date=2020-05-03}}</ref> In December 1803, the British directed Barings to halt future payments to France. Barings relayed the order to Hopes, which agreed but under the condition that Baring bear the costs of the change and that its Louisiana stock be reallocated to Hopes. Hopes also required Baring to refrain from trading in Louisiana stock without its consent.{{sfnp|Hay|2024|pp=115-118}} In April 1804, the final payments were made to France.{{sfnp|Ziegler|1988|p=71–72}}

==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.{{sfnp|Schoultz|1998|pp=15–16}}

[[File:U.S. Territorial Acquisitions.png|thumb|upright=2.0|The Purchase was one of several territorial additions to the U.S.]]
The U.S. claimed that Louisiana included the entire western portion of the Mississippi River [[drainage basin]] to the crest of the Rocky Mountains and land extending to the [[Rio Grande]] and [[West Florida]].{{sfnp|Haynes|2010|pp=115–116}} Spain insisted that Louisiana comprised no more than the western bank of the Mississippi River and the cities of New Orleans and St. Louis.{{sfnp|Hämäläinen|2008|p=183}} 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.{{sfnp|Weber|1994|pp=223, 293}} 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 north|50th parallel]]. However, the territory north of the 49th parallel (including the [[Milk River (Alberta–Montana)|Milk River]] and [[Poplar River (Montana–Saskatchewan)|Poplar River]] watersheds) was ceded to the UK in exchange for parts of the [[Red River Basin]] south of [[49th parallel north|49th parallel]] in the [[Treaty of 1818|Anglo-American Convention of 1818]].<ref>{{usstat|8|248}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/documents/organization/83046.pdf |title=Treaties in Force |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |access-date=July 14, 2015 }}</ref>

The eastern boundary of the Louisiana purchase was the Mississippi River, from its source to the [[31st parallel north|31st parallel]], though [[Lake Itasca|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. The Adams–Onís Treaty with Spain 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.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?submenu=3#A2S01|title=Statutes & Constitution :Constitution : Online Sunshine|website=leg.state.fl.us|access-date=2020-03-20}}</ref>

Because the western boundary was contested at the time of the purchase, President Jefferson immediately began to organize four missions to explore and map the new territory. All four 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. In addition, the [[Dunbar and Hunter Expedition]] (1804–1805) explored the [[Ouachita River]] watershed.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dunbar |first=William |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NHiOAwAAQBAJ |title=The Forgotten Expedition, 1804–1805: The Louisiana Purchase Journals of Dunbar and Hunter |date=2006 |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |isbn=978-0-8071-5974-3 |location=Baton Rouge |pages=xi–xii |oclc=890944426}}</ref> 

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 (Texas–Louisiana)|Sabine River]] from the Gulf of Mexico to its intersection with the [[32nd parallel north|32nd parallel]], due north to the [[Red River of the South|Red River]], up the Red River to the [[100th meridian west|100th meridian]], north to the Arkansas River, up the Arkansas River to its headwaters, due north to the [[42nd parallel north|42nd parallel]] and due west to its previous boundary.<ref name="Klein-LoC" />

==Slavery==
{{see also|History of slavery in Louisiana|History of slavery in Missouri|Slavery in the United States}}
Governing the Louisiana Territory was more difficult than acquiring it. Its European peoples primarily of ethnic French, Spanish and Mexican descent were largely [[Catholic Church|Catholic]]; in addition, there was a large population of [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved Africans]], as Spain had continued the [[Atlantic slave trade|transatlantic 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 18th and early 19th century.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=The Louisiana Purchase: Liberty, Slavery, and the Incorporation of the Territory of Orleans |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of American History |publisher=Oxford University Press |last=Spear |first=Jennifer M. |date=2018-03-28 |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199329175.013.272 |isbn=978-0-19-932917-5}}</ref>

During this period, south Louisiana received a large influx of French-speaking refugees fleeing the large slave revolt in Saint-Domingue, including [[Planter class|planters]] who brought their slaves with them. 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 U.S. 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.{{sfnp|Herring|2008|p=104}}

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).<ref name="Foley">{{cite journal|title=Slave Freedom Suits before Dred Scott: The Case of Marie Jean Scypion's Descendants |url=http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/mhr&CISOPTR=41510&CISOSHOW=41366 |access-date=February 18, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130113145717/http://statehistoricalsocietyofmissouri.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/mhr&CISOPTR=41510&CISOSHOW=41366|archive-date=2013-01-13 |first=William E. |last=Foley |journal=Missouri Historical Review|volume=79|issue=1|date=October 1984|page=1|via=The State Historical Society of Missouri}}</ref> In a [[freedom suit]] that went from Missouri to the [[Supreme Court of the United States|U.S. Supreme Court]], slavery of Native Americans was finally ended in 1836.<ref name="Foley"/> The institutionalization of slavery under U.S. law in the Louisiana Territory contributed to the [[American Civil War]] a half century later.{{sfnp|Herring|2008|p=104}} 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 and free states|slave states]]". The [[Missouri Compromise]] of 1820 was a temporary solution.<ref>{{cite book|author=Leslie Alexander|title=Encyclopedia of African American History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA340|year=2010|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page=340|isbn=9781851097746}}</ref>

==Asserting U.S. possession==
[[File:Fort Madison 1810.jpg|thumb|upright|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 people|Sauk]] and [[Meskwaki|Fox]]. The U.S. adapted the former Spanish facility at [[Fort Belle Fontaine|Fort Bellefontaine]] as a fur trading post near St. Louis in 1804 for business with the Sauk and Fox.{{sfnp|Luttig|1920|p={{page needed|date= February 2015}}}} In 1808, two military forts with trading factories were built, [[Fort Osage]] along the Missouri River in western present-day Missouri and [[Fort Madison, Iowa|Fort Madison]] along the [[Upper Mississippi River]] in eastern present-day Iowa.{{sfnp|Prucha|1969|pp=99–100}} 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.<ref>Browman, David L (2018). Cantonment Belle Fontaine 805–1826 The First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River. Washington University in St. Louis Press. pp. 4 and 7.</ref>

During the [[War of 1812]], aided by their Indian allies, the British 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 (Wisconsin)|Fort Shelby]]. U.S. ownership of the whole Louisiana Purchase region was confirmed in the [[Treaty of Ghent]] (ratified in February 1815).<ref>James A. Carr, "The Battle of New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent." ''Diplomatic History'' 3.3 (1979): 273-282 doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7709.1979.tb00315.x.</ref> The U.S. later built or expanded forts along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, including adding to Fort Bellefontaine, and constructing [[Fort Armstrong (Illinois)|Fort Armstrong]] (1816) and [[Warsaw, Illinois|Fort Edwards]] (1816) in Illinois, [[Fort Crawford]] (1816) in Wisconsin, [[Fort Snelling]] (1819) in Minnesota, and [[Fort Atkinson (Nebraska)|Fort Atkinson]] (1819) in Nebraska.{{sfnp|Prucha|1969|p={{page needed|date= February 2015}}}}

==Impact on Native Americans==
{{see also|Indian_Territory#Indian_Reserve_and_the_Louisiana_Purchase|label 1=Indian Reserve and the Louisiana Purchase}}
[[File:Map_illustrating_the_plan_of_the_defences_of_the_western_&_north-western_frontier_(NYPL_b20643878-5437624).jpg|thumb|Louisiana Purchase territory shown as [[Native Americans in the United States|American Indian]] land in Gratiot's map of the defenses of the western & north-western frontier, 1837]]
The Louisiana Purchase was negotiated between France and the United States, without consulting the various Indian tribes who lived on the land and who had not ceded the land to any colonial power. The four decades following the Louisiana Purchase was an era of court decisions [[Indian removal|removing]] many tribes from their lands east of the Mississippi for resettlement in the new territory, culminating in the [[Trail of Tears]].<ref name="marasco-2012">{{cite web |last1=Marasco |first1=Sue A. |title=Indian (Native American) Removal |url=https://64parishes.org/entry/indian-native-american-removal |website=64 Parishes Encyclopedia of Louisiana |publisher=Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities |access-date=1 October 2019}}</ref>

The purchase of the Louisiana Territory led to debates over the idea of [[indigenous land rights]] that persisted into the mid 20th century. The many court cases and tribal suits in the 1930s for historical damages flowing from the Louisiana Purchase led to the [[Indian Claims Commission]] Act (ICCA) in 1946. [[Felix S. Cohen]], Interior Department lawyer who helped pass ICCA, is often quoted as saying, "practically all of the real estate acquired by the United States since 1776 was purchased not from Napoleon or any other emperor or czar but from its original Indian owners".<ref name=lee-2017-jahist /> 

In 2017, the total cost to the U.S. government of all subsequent treaties and financial settlements up to the year 2012 for the land acquired in the Louisiana Purchase was estimated to be around $2.6 billion, or ${{Inflation|US-GDP|8.5|2012|r=1}} billion in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}} dollars.<ref name=lee-2017-slate /><ref name=lee-2017-jahist/> This is equivalent to $418 million in 1803 dollars, so the $15 million originally paid to France was roughly 3.5 percent of the total amount paid for this land, to both France and the Indians.<ref name=lee-2017-jahist/><!-- 15/(15+418)=.0346 -->

==See also==
*[[Corps of Discovery]]
*[[Florida Purchase]]
*[[Foreign affairs of the Jefferson administration]]
*[[Franco-American alliance]]
*[[Historic regions of the United States]]
*[[List of French possessions and colonies]]
*[[Louisiana Purchase Historic State Park]]
*[[Territorial evolution of the United States]]
*[[Territories of the United States on stamps]]
*[[Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail]]

==Footnotes==
{{Notelist}}

==References==
{{Reflist|28em}}

==Works cited==
{{refbegin|30em}}
*{{cite book|first=Henry|last=Adams|title=History of the United States of America (1801–1817)|volume=2: During the First Administration of Thomas Jefferson|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LZdBTEL26OAC&pg=PA56|orig-year=1889|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1108033039}}
*{{cite book|last=Banning|first=Lance|year=1995|title=The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780801431524|url-access=registration|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca|isbn=9780801431524}}
*{{cite book|last=Burgan|first=Michael|year=2002|title=The Louisiana Purchase|publisher=Capstone|isbn=978-0756502102|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pFc4NvjxsZQC&q=%22Louisiana+Purchase%22}}
* Carr, James A. "The Battle of New Orleans and the Treaty of Ghent." ''Diplomatic History'' 3.3 (1979): 273–282. doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7709.1979.tb00315.x
*{{cite book|last=Cerami|first=Charles A.|title=Jefferson's Great Gamble|year=2003|publisher=Sourcebooks|isbn=978-1402234354|url=https://archive.org/details/jeffersonsgreatg00cera|url-access=registration}}
*{{cite book|last=Duke|first=Marc|title=The du Ponts: Portrait of a Dynasty|publisher=Saturday Review Press|year=1977|isbn=0-8415-0429-6|url=https://archive.org/details/dupontsportraito00duke}}
*{{cite book|last=Fleming|first=Thomas J.|title=The Louisiana Purchase|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ILeXYsMEFd8C&pg=PA149|year=2003|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-471-26738-6}}
*{{cite book|last=Gayarre|first=Charles|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Places/America/United_States/Louisiana/_Texts/GAYHLA/4/9*.html|title=History of Louisiana|year=1867}}
*{{cite book|last=Hämäläinen|first=Pekka|year=2008|title=The Comanche Empire|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-12654-9}}
*{{cite book|last=Haynes|first=Robert V.|year=2010|title=The Mississippi Territory and the Southwest Frontier, 1795–1817|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PygOrpm2E64C|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=978-0-8131-2577-0}}
*{{cite book|last=Herring|first=George|year=2008|title=From Colony to Superpower: U.S. Foreign Relations Since 1776|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-976553-9}}, pp.&nbsp;101–109.
*{{cite book|last=Ketcham|first=Ralph|title=James Madison: A Biography|publisher=American Political Biography Press|location=Newtown CT|year=2003|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hCAjgs4mmQ4C|isbn=978-0813912653}}
*{{cite book|last1=Kennedy|first1=David M.|last2=Cohen|first2=Lizabeth|last3=Bailey|first3=Thomas Andrew|name-list-style=amp|title=The American Pageant: A History of the American People|year=2008|publisher=Wadsworth|isbn=978-0-547-16654-4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L0wgPAAACAAJ}}
*{{cite book|last1=Lawson|first1=Gary|last2=Seidman|first2=Guy|year=2008|name-list-style=amp|title=The Constitution of Empire: Territorial Expansion and American Legal History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c3uboehs0zUC&pg=PA21|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300128963}}
*{{cite book|last=Lewis| first=James E. Jr. |year=2003|title=The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson's Noble Bargain?|publisher=UNC Press Books}}
*{{cite book|last=Luttig|first=John C.|year=1920|title=Journal of a Fur-trading Expedition on the Upper Missouri: 1812–1813|url=https://archive.org/details/journalafurtrad00luttgoog|location=Kansas City MO|publisher=The Missouri Historical Society}}
*{{cite book|last1=Malone|first1=Michael P.|last2=Roeder|first2=Richard B.|last3=Lang|first3=William L.|name-list-style=amp|title=Montana: A History of Two Centuries|publisher=University of Washington Press|location=Seattle|isbn=0-295-97129-0|year=1991}}
*{{cite journal|last=Matthewson|first=Tim|date=May 1995|title=Jefferson and Haiti|journal=The Journal of Southern History|volume=61|issue=2|pages=209–48|jstor=2211576|doi=10.2307/2211576}}
*{{cite journal|last=Matthewson|first=Tim|date=March 1996|title=Jefferson and the Non-Recognition of Haiti|journal= Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society|volume=140|issue=1|pages=22–48|jstor=987274}}
*{{cite book|last=Meinig|first=D.W.|year=1995|title=The Shaping of America: Volume 2|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300062908|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rk-LFPFl_3YC}}
*{{cite book|last=Nugent|first=Walter|year=2009|title=Habits of Empire: A History of American Expansionism|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-1-4000-7818-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4DAvNnBOufUC}}
*{{cite book|last=Prucha|first=Francis P.|year=1969|title=The Sword of the Republic: The United States Army on the Frontier 1783–1846|publisher=Macmillan|location=New York}}
*{{cite book|last=Rodriguez|first=Junius P.|year=2002|title=The Louisiana Purchase: A Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qs7GAwwdzyQC&pg=PA139|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1576071885}}
*{{cite book|last=Schoultz|first=Lars|year=1998|title=Beneath the United States|publisher=Harvard University Press|isbn=978-0-674-92276-1|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qxhd5QIQGQcC}}
*{{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Linda|year=2006|title=The Louisiana Purchase|publisher=Rourke Publishing|isbn=978-1-59515-513-9}}
*{{cite book|last=Weber|first=David J.|year=1994|title=The Spanish Frontier in North America|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-05917-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KOPdX2qaVrkC}}
*{{cite book|last=Ziegler|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Ziegler|title=The Sixth Great Power: Barings 1762–1929|publisher=Collins|location=London|year=1988|isbn=0-00-217508-8}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
{{external media| float = right| video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?176834-1/wilderness-immense-louisiana-purchase ''Booknotes'' interview with Jon Kukla on ''A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America'', July 6, 2003], [[C-SPAN]]}}
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite journal |doi=10.1080/07075332.2016.1196383 |title=Napoleon, Jefferson, and the Louisiana Purchase |date=2017 |last1=Gleijeses |first1=Piero |journal=The International History Review |volume=39 |issue=2 |pages=237–255 |s2cid=159789666 }}
*{{cite book |last=Hermann |first=Binger |year=1900 |title=The Louisiana Purchase and our title west of the Rocky Mountains: with a review of annexation by the United States|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |url=https://archive.org/details/louisianapurchas00unit/page/n9/mode/2up}}
* {{cite book |last=Hosmer |first=James Kendall |title=The history of the Louisiana purchase |volume= |author-link=James Kendall Hosmer |publisher=New York, D. Appleton and Company |year=1902 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoflouisia00hosm/page/n9/mode/2up }}
* {{cite book |last=Howard |first=James Quay |title=History of the Louisiana purchase |volume= |publisher=Chicago, Callaghan & Company |year=1902 |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoflouisia00howa }}
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first=Everett Somerville |title=The constitutional history of the Louisiana Purchase, 1803–1812 |volume= |publisher=Berkeley, University of California Press |year=1920 |url=https://archive.org/details/constitutionalhi00brow}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Lass |first1=William E. |title=The Northern Boundary of the Louisiana Purchase |journal=Great Plains Quarterly |date=2015 |volume=35 |issue=1 |pages=27–50 |doi=10.1353/gpq.2015.0006|s2cid=161440918 }}
*{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/AHistoryOfTheWesternBoundary|last=Marshall|year=1914|title=A History of the Western Boundary of the Louisiana Purchase, 1819–1841|publisher=University of California Press}}
*{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/statepapersandc03statgoog|author=U.S. Dept. of State|year=1903|title=State papers and correspondence bearing upon the purchase of the territory of Louisiana|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office}}
*{{cite journal|last=Whitridge|first=Arnold|title=The Louisiana Purchase, 1803: America Moves West|journal=History Today|date=July 1953|volume=3|number=7|pages=476–483 |url=https://www.historytoday.com/archive/louisiana-purchase-1803-america-moves-west }}
*{{cite book |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-tCqM8cGzBEC&dq=louisiana+purchase+constitution+controversy&pg=PA42 |title=Case and Controversies in U.S. History |page=42 |chapter=Senator Pickering explains his opposition to the Louisiana Purchase, 1803 |isbn=9780825123207 |last1=Weston Walch |first1=J. |last2=O'Halloran |first2=Kate |date=August 7, 1993 |publisher=Walch }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
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* {{YouTube|MNxmboWs0H8|''America's Louisiana Purchase: Noble Bargain, Difficult Journey''}}
* [https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=6037 Initial Point of the Louisiana Purchase Survey] at the [[Historical Marker Database]]
* {{YouTube|-_E1TvHOVRU|''It Started Here: Early Arkansas and The Louisiana Purchase''}}
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