Louisiana Purchase Essay

563 Words3 Pages

The Louisiana Purchase was a huge deal in history for America, it greatly impacted the US and was an extremely important time in history to remember. Everyone knows the Louisiana Purchase as the May 2, 1803 purchase of land that made the US expand and double in size, while also strengthening America and playing into the ownership of the western half of the Mississippi river. The Louisiana Purchase opened up new horizons for the US and affected every aspect of everything still to this day.
In 1803, France abruptly decided to sell Louisiana to the US and from there the US changed immensely. Thomas Jefferson knew what that 828,000 square miles of land would do for America so he was immediately intrigued by the idea. The Louisiana territory was a huge piece of land that ended up being calculated as larger than Great Britain, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Portugal combined. So the US gaining the territory would be highly beneficial economically, strategically, and materially. At first, Jefferson was a bit doubtful about the purchase but the bargain he was being offered was not an offer he could pass up. …show more content…

If he hadn’t purchased the Louisiana territory in our current time we probably would not have had access to the Mississippi river which was a crucial part of trade and traveling back then and now! “The Mississippi River Basin produces nearly all – 92% – of US agricultural exports, and 78% of the global exports of feed grains and soybeans.” (Keith Good, agricultural economy). The Mississippi river held the nation together in 1803 and still to this day we are still using the Mississippi river for sources of