Louisiana Purchase

noun

U.S. History.

1. a treaty signed with France in 1803 by which the U.S. purchased for $15,000,000 the land extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

2. the land included in this purchase.

Louisiana Purchase

noun

1. the large region of North America sold by Napoleon I to the US in 1803 for 15 million dollars: consists of the W part of the Mississippi basin. Area: about 2 292 150 sq km (885 000 sq miles)

Louisiana Purchase

1. The purchase by the United States from France of the huge Louisiana Territory in 1803. President Thomas Jefferson ordered the purchase negotiations, fearing that the French, then led by Napoleon, wanted to establish an empire in North America. The French had no such ambitions but were happy to exchange their vast landholdings for cash. The area that they sold, extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains, more than doubled the size of the United States.

Example Sentences

The Louisiana Purchase enabled Americans to imagine continental ambitions as a reality.

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When the U.S. acquired these lands through the Louisiana Purchase, the Oregon Treaty and the Mexican-American War, there were no states in these areas to manage vast tracts of land.

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President Emmanuel Macron has sent a communiqué concerning the Louisiana Purchase.

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In other words, the Louisiana Purchase, one of President Thomas Jefferson’s greatest accomplishments, added dangerous fuel to the fire of slave state versus free state.

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A critical gateway between the Mississippi River and global oceans, New Orleans has been an entry and exit point for the United States since before the Louisiana Purchase.

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