Greatest Deal in History

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The Louisiana Purchase is known as the greatest “real estate deals in history.” This territory included current Louisiana and part of Florida all the way north into Canada and expanded westward. This piece of land went through different periods of ownership between Spain and France before France sold the land to the United States. For a while, many US citizens and congressmen did not know the importance of owning this piece of land, therefore when it came to Congress voting about the purchase it almost failed. Thomas Jefferson was known to be by the rules of the Constitution and was originally afraid about expanded the United States but to him the opportunities outweighed his fear.
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte controlled the Louisiana Territory, but fought against the British over this great deal of land. After continually fighting off the British, Napoleon was losing money. Robert Livingston, a US minister to France, sent by the President to negotiate a deal about the US buying his land. Napoleon, refused at the beginning because he knew owning this land would make a big impact in having a massive empire. At first only the Florida’s and the port of New Orleans was the first offer for ten million dollars and then Napoleon needed money to get out of debit from fighting the British; then the whole territory was up for sell for the price of fifteen million dollars. When looking over the map, it really emphasizes the importance of the size of the land by highlighting the area in red while having the surrounding areas in black and white. The key located on the bottom right hand corner, states the red part represents, “Louisiana Purchase territory ceded by France to the United States by treaty of April 30, 1803 as asserted and m...

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...ds Administration. National Archives, General Records of the U.S. Government, n.d. Web. 06 Feb.
"Louisiana Purchase Treaty.” National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, n.d. Web. 05 Feb. 2014.
McElfresh, Earl B. "The Louisiana Purchase-Main Exploration Routes 1804-1807." Map. UT Libraries. McElfresh Map Co., 2003. Web. 30 Jan. 2014.
Monroe, James. Letter to Government of France. 12 Aug. 1803. National Archives Experience. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Feb. 2014.
Monroe, James, and Robert Livingston. Louisiana Purchase Treaty. 30 Apr. 1803. Between the United States and the French Republic. National Archives and Records Administration, General Records of the U.S. Government.
"Transcription: Louisiana Purchase." National Archives and Records Administration. National Archives and Records Administration, 1996. Web. 08 Feb. 2014.

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