1803 DRAPED BUST 10C MS61

What a better way to celebrate Thanksgiving than to celebrate the great expansion of the United States as representatives concluded the Louisiana Purchase on April 30, 1803. Prior to the purchase, France had settled the area in the early seventeenth century. At this time, France owned more of the contiguous United States than other European powers. When the French and Indian war rolled around, France had to cede this territory to Spain. This deal created a powerful allied power between France and Spain, which made England and the United States nervous. As a result of their alliance, Spain promised France, via treaty, to give the Louisiana territory back to them. In response, President Jefferson decided that New Orleans should never be under Napolean Bonaparte's rule and if it should come to that, "we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation." Soon enough France gained more control of the territory while Spain worked with them to bar the United States from the area. Eventually France did come into control of New Orleans which caused President Jefferson to send James Monroe over to assist Robert Livingston in France to negotiate territory purchase terms. With a ten million dollar budget Monroe landed in France on April 12, 1803. After Monroe arrived, France quickly negotiated a price with him and Livingston, which was certainly a surprise to all. It is likely, though, that France sold the territory to fund the recent slave revolt in Haiti which they failed to control and the impending war with Great Britain. Negotiations moved swiftly thereafter; the nations firmly agreed on a price by late April, by October congress ratified the purchase, and by December France formally transferred the territory over to the U.S., doubling its size.