History glossary
Louisiana Purchase
the 1803 U.S. purchase of Louisiana from France, doubling the size of the country.
- Category
- Land purchase
- Region
- North America
- Date range
- 1803
What it means
The Louisiana Purchase was the 1803 agreement in which the United States bought France's Louisiana territory for about fifteen million dollars. It doubled the country's size and intensified conflicts over expansion, Native sovereignty, and slavery.
Related terms
Stories using this term
The American Revolution and Early Republic
From colonial tensions to independence, this traces the birth and early struggles of the United States of America.
The American Civil War and the Abolition of Slavery
The American Civil War determined the survival of the Union and led to the abolition of slavery, fundamentally reshaping the United States.
