What was the Louisiana Purchase price paid by the United States in 1803?

The United States paid $15 million for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.

The amount covered the transfer of approximately 828,000 square miles of French-controlled territory west of the Mississippi River. The agreement was negotiated during Thomas Jefferson’s presidency after France offered to sell the entire Louisiana territory rather than only New Orleans and nearby access to the river.

The financial arrangement included an $11.25 million payment to France and the assumption of $3.75 million in claims by American citizens against France. The purchase price worked out to less than three cents per acre, although the territory’s boundaries and resources were not fully understood by American officials at the time.

The treaties were signed in Paris on April 30, 1803, and the transfer was completed later that year. The deal more than doubled the size of the United States and prompted the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which began in 1804.