Louisiana Purchase
The
Louisiana Purchase is considered the greatest real estate deal
in history. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory
from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately
four cents an acre. The ratification of the Louisiana Purchase
treaty by the Senate on October 20, 1803, doubled the size
of the United States and opened up the continent to its
westward expansion.
Library of
Congress Web Site | External Web
Sites | Selected
Bibliography
A
Century of Lawmaking for a New Nation: U.S. Congressional
Documents and Debates, 1774-1875
This collection contains congressional publications from 1774 to 1875, including debates, bills, laws, and journals.
- The
Louisiana Purchase: Legislative Timeline 1802-1807 - This timeline explores the role of Congress in the Louisiana Purchase
from 1802 to 1807, including ratification of the treaty,
establishment of a territorial government, confrontation
with Spain over boundary issues, and its limited role
in the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
James Madison Papers, 1723 to 1859
The Madison Papers consist of approximately 12,000 items, spanning the period 1723-1859, captured in some 72,000 digital images.
Search
this collection using the word "Louisiana" to
locate additional documents related to this topic.
James Monroe Papers
The James Monroe Papers at the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress consist of approximately 5,200 items dating from 1758 to 1839. Monroe (1758–1831) was the fifth president of the United States, and one of 23 presidents whose papers are at the Library of Congress. Monroe's papers document his presidency and also his prior careers as secretary of state, secretary of war, delegate to the United States Continental Congress, diplomat, and governor of Virginia.
Consult the guide to using the James Monroe Papers to locate additional items in this collection.
Louisiana:
European Explorations and the Louisiana Purchase
This collection focuses on the various documents—from
maps to newspapers to cultural artifacts—that help
to describe the region of North America that stretched
from as far east as Alabama into what is now the state
of Montana. The 119 items presented here come from the
various special and general collections of the Library
of Congress.
Maps
The Library of Congress has custody of the largest and most comprehensive cartographic collection in the world with collections numbering over 5.5 million maps, 80,000 atlases, 6,000 reference works, over 500 globes and globe gores, 3,000 raised relief models, and a large number of cartographic materials in other formats, including over 19,000 cds/dvds. The online map collections represents only a small fraction that have been converted to digital form.
- Louisiana. This map
of Louisiana was published in the 1804 edition of the
Arrowsmith & Lewis New and Elegant General Atlas.
Search this collection to locate additional maps related
to the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
Printed Ephemera: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera
The Printed Ephemera collection comprises 28,000 primary-source items dating from the seventeenth century to the present and encompasses key events and eras in American history.
Rare Book Selections
The digitized selections in this collection represent a few of the most interesting and important items in the Rare Book and Special Collections Division.
- A faithful picture of the political situation of New Orleans, at the close of the last and the beginning of the present year, 1807. Boston: Re-printed from the New-Orleans edition, 1808.
- An account of Louisiana : laid before Congress by direction of the president of the United States, November 14, 1803: comprising an account of its boundaries, history, cities, towns, and settlements... Providence: Printed by Heaton & Williams, [1803]
Thomas Jefferson Papers, 1606 to 1827
The complete Thomas Jefferson Papers from the Manuscript Division at the Library of Congress consists of approximately 27,000 documents.
Search
on the word "Louisiana" to retrieve over one
hundred documents.
Jump
Back in Time: Senate Ratified the Louisiana Purchase
Treaty, October 20, 1803.
American
Treasures of the Library of Congress - Lewis and Clark
Expedition
Provides maps and documents from the Lewis and Clark
Expedition.
Rivers,
Edens, Empire - Lewis & Clark and the Revealing of
America
This exhibition contains maps, images and documents
on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. The Before
Lewis & Clark section of this exhibition includes
documents and maps related to the Louisiana Purchase.
Thomas
Jefferson
This exhibition focuses on the legacy of Thomas Jefferson--founding
father, farmer, architect, inventor, slaveholder, book
collector, scholar, diplomat, and the third president
of the United States. A section on the
West examines Jefferson’s role in the Louisiana
Purchase and the Lewis and Clark Expedition.
August
18, 1774
Explorer Meriwether Lewis
was born on August 18, 1774 near Charlottesville, Virginia.
October
20, 1803
The Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase treaty on
October 20, 1803.
The Lewis and Clark Expedition, Monticello
The
Lewis & Clark Journey of Discovery, National
Park Service
The Louisiana Purchase, The Lehrman Institute
The
Louisiana Purchase and Associated Documents, The
Avalon Project at Yale Law School
The
Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial: A Heritage Explored,
Louisiana State University
The
Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Celebration: A Nation Reborn
1803-2003, Louisiana Purchase Bicentennial Commission
Our
Documents, The Louisiana Purchase Treaty, National
Archives and Records Administration
Cerami, Charles. Jefferson's Great
Gamble: The Remarkable Story of Jefferson, Napoleon and
the Men Behind the Louisiana
Purchase. Naperville, Ill.: Sourcebooks, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
Fleming, Thomas J. The Louisiana
Purchase. Hoboken, N.J.:
John Wiley & Sons, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
Kastor, Peter J., ed. The Louisiana
Purchase: Emergence of an American Nation. Washington, D.C.: CQ Press, 2002.
[Catalog
Record]
Kennedy, Roger G. Mr. Jefferson's
Lost Cause: Land, Farmers, Slavery, and the Louisiana
Purchase. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
Kukla, Jon. A Wilderness So Immense:
The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America. New York: A.A. Knopf : Distributed
by Random House, 2003. [Catalog
Record]
Rodriguez, Junius P., ed. The Louisiana
Purchase: A Historical and Geographical Encyclopedia. Santa Barbara, Calif.: ABC-CLIO,
2002. [Catalog
Record]
Blumberg, Rhoda. What's the Deal?
Jefferson, Napoleon and the Louisiana Purchase. Washington, DC: National Geographic
Society, 1998. [Catalog
Record]
Burgan, Michael. The Louisiana Purchase. Minneapolis,
Minn.: Compass Point Books, 2002. [Catalog
Record]
Corrick, James A. The Louisiana Purchase. San Diego: Lucent
Books, 2001. [Catalog
Record]
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