DEC 20: U.S. Takes Control of Louisiana Purchase Lands

On Dec. 20, 1803, the United States officially takes control of Louisiana, an enormous area with imprecise boundaries extending from the Mississippi River west to the Rocky Mountains, more than doubling the land area of the new nation.

President Thomas Jefferson paid $15 million ($10 million in cash and $5 in debt relief) for the Louisiana Purchase, acquiring about 828,000 square miles of territory from Napoleon and France for roughly four cents an acre. U.S. envoys, Robert Livingston, U.S. Minister to France, and future president James Monroe, agreed to the price even though they were only authorized to buy New Orleans. 

Map showing perimeter of lands from the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. (Credit: Library of Congress)