America wanted to expand its borders. Settlers were moving west. They were crossing the Appalachian Mountains. There was a good deal of open space. A large section of that land was owned by France. It was called Louisiana.
Western settlers traded along the rivers. Many of those rivers lead south to New Orleans. New Orleans became an important city for trade for the people that had moved into the areas of the west. Often the Western settlers would do their trading in New Orleans. Settlers that lived in the west produced goods they wanted to take to market. They wanted to sell their extra goods. To go east meant crossing the mountains. It was harder to travel to the east than to the west. Many settlers could get their goods to one of the many rivers that flowed into the Mississippi. This was a cheaper and faster way to move their goods to market to sell.
France owned a large part of the land on the west side of the Mississippi. Their leader, Napolean Bonapart, wanted to make New Orleans an important port for France. At times it looked like France might take greater control of New Orleans. France prepared a couple of large naval fleets to send to America. They wanted to set up a strong base in Haiti and in New Orleans. We thought that if they established a strong base in America, it might hurt our trade. However, a number of things happened that kept France from setting up a major force over here.
President Thomas Jefferson was worried about what would happen. Our relations with France at that time were not so good. The president sent diplomats to France to work things out. The U. S. wanted to do trade along the Mississippi River. They wanted to trade in New Orleans. James Monroe was our top diplomat to France. He had permission to buy New Orleans and West Florida. We knew that Bonaparte wanted to expand his power in America. In the end, he changed his mind. He even agreed to sell Louisiana to the United States. He needed money to carry out his war against the British. This was a good thing for our country.
President Jefferson wanted to buy Louisiana. He got Congress to approve it. The Louisiana Purchase cost $15,000,000. This was a lot of money. But it would mean a lot of land. It was over 600 million acres. The cost of the land was less than four cents per acre. The deal was for much of the land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the country. Westward movement or expansion grew and grew.
Text Credits:
http://www.ushistory.org/us/20c.asp
The American Miracle: Divine Providence in the Rise of the Republic, Michael Medved (The odds were heavily in the favor of the French to establish control and power in America, particularly in New Orleans.)