Jefferson needed the New Orleans port for the people of the western frontier to transfer their products down the Mississippi River. Originally he offered to buy just New Orleans, but Napoleon offered all of the Louisiana Territory (in part to frustrate the designs of the British, who had taken Canada from France). The 1803 Louisiana Purchase nearly doubled the size of the US, and opened the way for westward expansion.
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The Louisiana Territory, which comprised much of the central and midwestern United States, from Louisiana in the south up to the dakotas in the north.
France ,under Napoleon, sold the Louisiana Territory to the US for $15 million in 1803.
Settlers in the territory wanted the same approach to slavery as in the states they came from.
The state of Louisiana was once part of the Louisiana Territory. Other states that were once part of the Louisiana Territory are Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Iowa, Minnesota, Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Montana are the other states that were once part of the Louisiana Territory.
The Louisiana Territory had been a land purchase transaction by the United States of America of 828,800 square miles of the French territory "Louisiane" in 1803. The U.S. paid 60 million francs ($11,250,000) plus cancellation of debts worth 18 million francs ($3,750,000), a total cost of $15,000,000 for the Louisiana Territory.