Agreement to Pay France for the Louisiana Purchase
This document marked one of the most monumental acquisitions in U.S. history, acquiring vast territories from France at just 4 cents per acre. The 1803 Louisiana Purchase effectively doubled the size of the nation, adding 828,000 square miles west of the Mississippi River. This document consists of three distinct parts: a treaty of cession and two conventions providing for the exchange of money. Learn more about the Louisiana Purchase from the 2003 Prologue article “Jefferson Buys Louisiana Territory, and the Nation Moves Westward,” written by Wayne T. De Cesar and Susan Page.
The “Agreement to Pay France for the Louisiana Purchase” along with additional enacted treaties, closely related papers, and maps can be found within the record series Perfected Treaties, 1778–1945 in Record Group 11: General Records of the United States Government, 1778–2006. The complete digitized version of this record can be viewed on the National Archives Catalog.
Agreement to Pay France for the Louisiana Purchase. National Archives Identifier: 299807
View and download the Agreement to Pay France for the Louisiana Purchase on the National Archives Catalog. You can explore more of our holdings by visiting our online Catalog or by visiting the National Archives in Washington, DC. This record is located with Record Group 11: General Records of the United States Government, Series: Perfected Treaties, 1778–1945. Many of the records in this collection have yet to be digitized. We encourage researchers to visit us onsite to explore these records and learn more about the archival collections held in the National Archives in Washington, DC.