What 1803 land deal did the United States purchase from France, nearly doubling its territory?

The Louisiana Purchase was the 1803 land deal through which the United States bought territory from France, nearly doubling its size.

The United States agreed to pay France $15 million for roughly 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains. The agreement was signed on April 30, 1803, and the United States formally took possession later that year.

President Thomas Jefferson wanted control of New Orleans and the Mississippi River, which were vital to western farmers and merchants. Napoleon Bonaparte’s government, facing war in Europe and a failed effort to reestablish French power in the Caribbean, decided to sell the entire Louisiana territory.

The purchase created opportunities for U.S. expansion but also raised constitutional questions and intensified conflicts over Indigenous sovereignty and slavery’s expansion. The territory was explored by the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which began in 1804. The Alaska Purchase occurred much later, in 1867.