Guide Note

The Louisiana Purchase was made by Thomas Jefferson from Napoleon Bonaparte, the ruler of France for $23,213,568. This transaction doubled the geographical size of the United States.

Fast Facts

1. The original purchase offer was made only for New Orleans
2. The original amount to be spent was $10 million dollars
3. If Napoleon didn't want to attack Great Britain, the U.S. wouldn't have been able to purchase Louisiana
4. Lewis and Clark led the expedition west to inspect the land
5. Completed in 1803

The Louisiana Purchase included all the the current states of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska. It also included parts of Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Mexico, Texas, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and Louisiana.

The territory of Louisiana was officially handed from Spain to France on November 29, 1803. They held the territory for one day, and in a ceremony the French presented it to General James Wilkinson of the United States. A similar ceremony took what near St. Louis on March 9, 1804.

1. "This accession of territory affirms forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride" - Napoleon Bonaparte
2. "Let the land rejoice, for you have bought Louisiana for a song." - General Horatio Gates, 1803
3. "Every eye in the U.S. is now fixed on this affair of Louisiana. Perhaps nothing since the revolutionary war has produced more uneasy sensations through the body of the nation." - Thomas Jefferson