USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -There are good reasons to believe that French failure in Santo Domingo (the island of Hispaniola), the imminence of renewed war with Great Britain, and financial stringencies may all have prompted Napoleon in 1803 to offer for sale to the United States the entire Louisiana Territory.

Detailed explanation-2: -Louisiana Purchase Negotiations It’s believed that the failure of France to put down a slave revolution in Haiti, the impending war with Great Britain and probable British naval blockade of France – combined with French economic difficulties – may have prompted Napoleon to offer Louisiana for sale to the United States.

Detailed explanation-3: -When France offered to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States in 1803, Jefferson wanted to seize the opportunity to double the size of the nation and to provide future generations with a seemingly inexhaustible supply of new farmland.

Detailed explanation-4: -In this transaction with France, signed on April 30, 1803, the United States purchased 828, 000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. For roughly 4 cents an acre, the United States doubled its size, expanding the nation westward.

Detailed explanation-5: -The Original Goal: Buying New Orleans To him, New Orleans was key: Whoever owned it would be America’s natural enemy because that nation would control the channel through which produce from more than a third of the United States had to pass.