Louisiana Purchase

Louisiana Purchase—Doubled size of U.S.

Louisiana Purchase, 1803 Thomas Jefferson bought land from Napoleon, the ruler of France Napoleon needed the money for his wars in Europe and Latin America U.S. bought it for $15 million - 3 cents an acre - Roughly $267,290,146.00 today Initially wanted just enough land to own the rights of navigating the Mississippi River. Stretched from Mississippi River to Oregon

Louisiana Purchase, cont. The Louisiana Purchase transformed the country The U.S. was no longer vulnerable to attack from the west by France, Britain or Spain who all owned portions of land– it eliminated France as a potential power in America. Jefferson called Louisiana “ample provision for our posterity and a widespread field for the blessings of freedom” In other words, there is plenty of land on which many generations of people can live and be free

How do you think American’s felt about this new purchase of land?

Pros and Cons of the Louisiana Purchase

Pros “The fertility of the country, its climate and extent, promise in due season important aids to our treasury, an ample provision for our posterity, and a wide-spread field for the blessings of freedom.” -Thomas Jefferson

Pros "I know that the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some ... that the enlargement of our territory would endanger its union.... The larger our association the less will it be shaken by local passions; and in any view is it not better that the opposite bank of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children than by strangers of another family?“ -Thomas Jefferson

– Boston Newspaper 1804 Cons “We are to give money of which we have too little for land which we already have too much.” – Boston Newspaper 1804

Cons According to the Louisiana Treaty, the territory must be formed into states and admitted into the Union. Will Congress be allowed to set any rules for their admission? Since slavery is legal and exists in Louisiana, and the treaty states that we must protect the property of the inhabitants, won’t we be forced to admit the new states as slave states? Doing so will worsen the problem of unequal representation from slave and free states. Rufus King to Timothy Pickering, November 4, 1803

Now its your turn! Silent debate on the pros and cons of the Louisiana Purchase. Each person will be on a side. One person will write a reason FOR (pro) the Louisiana Purchase. The second person will then write a rebuttal (or argument against) the persons argument.