How much louisiana purchase

It took several months for the official news to reach Jefferson in Washington, D. While the deal was instantly popular, there were problems.

Negotiations would need to start with Great Britain and Spain about shared boundaries. And there was a debate about whether and how such a large property purchase was allowed under the Constitution. Jefferson took a strict, literal view of constitutional powers, meaning that specific powers reserved for the President and Executive Branch needed to be spelled out in the Constitution. The ability to buy property from foreign governments was not among these powers listed the Constitution — a fact that his political opponents, the Federalists, were eager to point out to the President.

Close 1 of Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission. These are 10 of the best espresso makers and accessories on sale now. Follow Us. Department of Agriculture. Accessed Oct. Library of Congress. International Markets. Real Estate Investing. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Use precise geolocation data. Select personalised content. Create a personalised content profile. Measure ad performance. Select basic ads. Create a personalised ads profile.

Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. If this bid failed, Monroe was instructed to try to purchase just New Orleans, or, at the very least, secure U. But when Monroe reached Paris on April 12, , he learned from Livingston that a very different offer was on the table. Napoleon's plans to re-establish France in the New World were unraveling.

The French army sent to suppress a rebellion by slaves and free blacks in the sugar-rich colony of Saint Domingue present-day Haiti had been decimated by yellow fever, and a new war with Britain seemed inevitable. France could not afford to send forces to occupy the entire Mississippi Valley, so why not abandon the idea of empire in America and sell the territory to the United States?

Napoleon agreed. Livingston informed Monroe upon his arrival the next day. The acquisition of approximately , square miles would double the size of the United States. Though rumors of the purchase preceded notification from Monroe and Livingston, their message reached Washington in time for an official announcement on July 4, The purchase treaty had to be ratified by the end of October, which gave Jefferson and his Cabinet time to deliberate the issues of boundaries and constitutionality.

Exact boundaries would have to be negotiated with Spain and England and so would not be set for several years, and Jefferson's Cabinet members argued that the constitutional amendment he proposed was not necessary. The Senate ratified the treaty on October 20 by a vote of 24 to 7. Spain, upset by the sale but without the military power to block it, formally returned Louisiana to France on November France officially transferred the territory to the Americans on December 20, and the United States took formal possession on December Jefferson's prediction of a "tornado" that would burst upon the countries on both sides of the Atlantic had been averted, but his belief that the affair of Louisiana would impact upon "their highest destinies" proved prophetic indeed.

Spain secretly agrees to return Louisiana to France in exchange for Etruria, a small kingdom in Italy. Spain cedes Louisiana to France.