 |
If you visited New Orleans today, you would see Spanish and French influences
|
|
|
|
Senate Ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty
October 20, 1803
The United States started negotiating the purchase with France in 1802. President Thomas Jefferson feared that Spain, which had controlled the strategic port of New Orleans since 1762, might give it back to France. Were New Orleans under the control of military dictator Napoleon Bonaparte, Jefferson feared that American settlers living in the Mississippi valley would lose free access to the port. After months of inaction, Napoleon offered to sell the territory to the U.S. in 1803; he needed the money.
page 2 of 3
|
