The need to move cargo through the port of New Orleans led to the Louisiana Purchase.
In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson wanted to buy the port of New Orleans from France and sent diplomats to make a $10 million offer. The result, the Louisiana Purchase, was more than they intended to bargain for. They went $5 million over budget and doubled the size of the United States.
Background
France founded New Orleans in 1718. Located on the Lower Mississippi, New Orleans became a critical port for the United States in its early years, when the river served as the main highway to get goods from its western frontier to market.
Three Flags
New Orleans passed from France to Spain in 1763, and a secret treaty in 1800 provided for Spain to return it to France. Faced with loss of access to the port and Napoleon Bonaparte as a neighbor, the United States made an offer to buy New Orleans. France countered with a proposal to sell all of its Mississippi river basin land -- 827,987 square miles that extended from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada.
Growth
New Orleans grew into the second largest port in the United States in the 1840s, according to the Louisiana State Museum. The state legislature created a board of commissioners, known as the Dock Board, to manage the port in 1896.
Tags: United States, from France, Louisiana Purchase, port United, port United States
