today we're looking at the louisiana purchase
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for resources that go with many of the bellringer videos the louisiana territory was a large chunk
of land in the middle of the north american continent it covered over 828 000 square miles
and today there are 15 states that are completely or partially covered by this territory from 1682
to 1762 the french had control of this area in north america and it was named the louisiana
territory in honor of king louis xiv of france but the french lost control of the territory as a
result of the french and indian war which was part of a larger war being fought between the british
and the french the french indian war was fought from 1754 to 1763 and to learn more about that war
check out my bellringer videos devoted strictly to the war and its outcome as the french and indian
war was coming to an end the spanish joined on the side of the french so when negotiators
met in paris to begin to have peace talks the british french and spanish were all involved
as a result of the treaty of paris of 1763 spain took control of the louisiana territory and the
british gained control of basically everything east of the mississippi river the territory
remained under spanish control right up to 1800 and the spanish had maintained good relations
with the young american nation as america gained its independence from britain in the early 1780s
but around 1800 things were changing in europe the french revolution had taken place causing
massive changes in france but also a military commander named napoleon bonaparte had risen to
power and was beginning to conquer large areas of europe napoleon had ambitions of also conquering
the north american continent and he began to put his plans in motion by secretly acquiring
the louisiana territory from spain in late 1800 the united states was completely unaware of what
was going on until basically american trade ships were forbidden from going past new orleans on the
mississippi river to say the least americans were shocked napoleon's plan was to strengthen
french colonies in the caribbean and use those islands as naval bases to then attack the young
american nation however napoleon's plans began to fall apart in 1803 when there was an uprising of
enslaved people on the island of santo domingo where the countries of haiti and the dominican
republic set today the french lost control of the island and this was to be napoleon's primary naval
base at the same time the expenses for napoleon's military campaigns in europe were beginning
to rack up so napoleon was in need of money to continue his wars in europe now all of a sudden
the louisiana territory was really of little use to napoleon and the french were looking to sell
at about this same time president thomas jefferson had sent negotiators to meet with
the french to discuss america possibly purchasing the trading center of new orleans at the mouth
of the mississippi river as it empties into the gulf of mexico jefferson recognized how important
this trading center would be for america so he was very insistent that it come under american control
foreign minister robert livingston was in france and jefferson had dispatched james monroe to aid
in the negotiations livingston and monroe sat down at the negotiating table with the french
and to their surprise the french not only were offering new orleans but also the entire louisiana
territory and not only that they were willing to sell it extremely cheap they negotiated 15 million
dollars for the entire territory now this is an absolutely amazing deal and just to give you an
idea of how good a deal this was for the united states we paid 15 million dollars for 530 million
acres of land that comes out to approximately 3 cents per acre that we paid but you might be
saying to yourself well that was in 1803 and if you adjust for inflation that isn't really that
good of a deal well actually if you adjust for inflation 15 million dollars in 1803 would equal
around 400 million dollars today which would be about 75 cents per acre and today an acre of
land in the midwest within the louisiana territory usually sells for somewhere between 1200 to 4 000
so yeah this was a crazy incredible deal that the united states got on the territory negotiations
ended on april 30th of 1803 and then the documents to finalize the louisiana purchase were signed on
may 2nd and then sent back to the united states to be reviewed by the u.s senate who again
has to approve all treaties but on october 20th 1803 the senate officially ratified the treaty
then in december of 1803 france officially transferred control of the territory
to the united states shortly thereafter thomas jefferson sent expeditions led by
lewis and clark and zebulon pike to explore the territory to and to map and survey exactly what
the united states had just purchased then barely nine years later in 1812 louisiana
became the first state to enter the union that was part of the louisiana territory the
acquisition of this land and expeditions west sparked migration by americans throughout the
hundreds thousands upon thousands of americans began moving west following
their manifest destiny so with that hopefully you learned something and thanks for watching
you