I believe that the Louisiana Purchase was one of the greatest impacts on American society because of the large amount of land and how it helped our economy. In this report, you will see how lucky that the United States is to have obtained this large piece of land from France. There are many reasons why Napoleon had to sell this large piece of land. Napoleon thought that this land could be a great asset to the French if they knew what to do with it.
He didn’t want to sell the Louisiana territory because he still had dreams of having a French empire in America. At this point in time Napoleon’s dream would never come true because France was almost always at war. They didn’t have enough troops to go over to America and guard the Louisiana territory. Another main concern of Napoleon was that France was running very low on money and Napoleon knew that this piece of land would get them the money that they so very needed.
Napoleon stated that this was the very last resort that they would use to get money. Napoleon heard that the Americans might try and take over New Orleans by force with their continental army. Napoleon really didn’t know when, but he thought that the Americans would probably try and do it when the French engage in their next war or battle. With France getting poorer and poorer and his army getting weaker and weaker he decided to give up claims on the Louisiana territory. On April 30, 1803, Napoleon signed a treaty saying that the French were to give up the claims on the territory.
The poor and tired of fighting France sold the Louisiana territory to the United States or the Americans for about fifteen million needed dollars. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States, made many great decisions and accomplished many things in and out of office. I personally think that the greatest accomplishment that Thomas Jefferson ever did was the purchase of the Louisiana territory. There were many reasons why Thomas Jefferson wanted to purchase this piece of land.
The first reason is that this land was great for farming. This land is able to grow many different crops such as: flour, tobacco, cotton, corn, potatoes, apples, and carrots for a few. The ports in New Orleans were a very big asset to the Americans because it would make it easier to trade, import, and export goods from other countries. New Orleans and Florida included in the Louisiana Purchase gave the Americans many different ports for trading. This also helped the United States Navy, with all these new ports the Americans could strengthen their defense and improve the navy. At this time the French were very poor and needed the money so Jefferson knew he would get this piece of land for a very cheap price.
For fifteen million dollars the United States acquired Florida, the Mississippi river, New Orleans, Rocky Mountains, seaports , and the miles and miles of rich farmland all came with the Louisiana Purchase. All in all everything went smoothly, but there was one minor problem with this treaty. Theproblem was that Jefferson still did not how much land that he actually purchased. Heknew it was a lot but, did not know the exact specifications or were it started and ended. Spain and the United States disputed over what land each one of them would get. Themain issue in this dispute was, who would get Florida and who would get Texas.
Eventually United States gave up claims to Texas so Spain could claim Texas. AfterSpain gained Texas they gave up claims to Florida. The United States, right awayclaimed Florida. All this was called the Adams Onis Treaty of 1819. This had a great agreat impact on the American society. The Louisiana territory was purchased by Thomas Jefferson from Napoleonon July 14, 1803.
The total cost of the whole Louisiana Purchase was about fifteen million dollars. That is about two cents an acre. This land was a very rich farmland thatproduced many crops. Included in the in the Louisiana Purchase was New Orleans and Florida’s two big seaports. The New Orleans sea port is in the Gulf of Mexico; itimports and exports foreign and domestic goods every day. As I have stated before this isa very big piece of land.
This land stretched as far west as the Rocky .
