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Benefits Of The Louisiana Purchase

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The Louisiana Purchase was a “land deal” made between France and the U.S. in December of 1803, where France sold America 828,000 miles of land along the west side of the Mississippi River for 15 million dollars (approximately 4 cents per acre). People regard it as Thomas Jefferson’s greatest achievement because of how drastically it changed the United States. The purchase greatly expanded America and brought many other benefits along with it. Although it was definitely a major benefit to the United States, even Jefferson had his doubts about the purchase. But despite their many doubts, the U.S. made the decision to ratify the purchase, and because of that decision, America has changed for the better. Although there were a few doubts at the time, the Louisiana Purchase was extremely beneficial to the United States. It was “One of the most colossal land transactions in history”(1), containing modern-day Arkansas, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Nebraska; as well as parts of Minnesota, Louisiana, New Mexico, Texas, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, and two Canadian provinces: Alberta and Saskatchewan. It doubled the amount of land the U.S. owned. “Bigger land area also meant for more farming lands and more places for various business enterprises”(2). With the expansion of the United States farther west, came the total availability of New Orleans and the Mississippi River. This provided security and protection for the states east of the Mississippi and opened up

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