Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

After learning that France had acquired La. by the treaty of S an I ldefonso and that Americans had been denied the right of deposit on 16 October 1802, Thomas J efferson appointed James M onroe to negotiate the colony's purchase. Weary of colonialism because of the bloody Haitian revolution (1794–1804), France agreed on 30 April to sell the Louisiana Territory (827,990 square miles) for $11,250,000, plus US assumption of $3,750,000 in claims filed against France by American merchants for ship seizures. Senate ratification came on 20 October. Critics charged that territorial acquisition was not authorized by the Constitution, but in 1828 the Supreme Court upheld the government's power to do so in American Insurance Company v. Canter. The US took formal possession on 20 December 1804. Louisville Joint Stock Land Bank v. Radford see F razier -L emke F arm B ankruptcy A ct ... log in or subscribe to read full text