Reading in a single sitting 一口气读完这段历史

The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition by the United States of America of 828, 800 square miles (2, 147, 000 km 2 ) of France' s claim to the territory of Louisiana in 1803. The U.S. paid 60 million francs（法郎）（$11, 250, 000）plus cancellation of debts worth 18 million francs ($3, 750, 000), for a total sum of 15 million dollars for the Louisiana territory ($219 million in 2010 dollars).

The Louisiana Purchase encompassed all or part of 15 current U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The land purchased contained all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, parts of Minnesota that were west of the Mississippi River, most of North Dakota, nearly all of South Dakota, northeastern New Mexico, northern Texas, the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide, and Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans. (parts of this area were still claimed by Spain at the time of the Purchase.) In addition, the Purchase contained small portions of land that would eventually become part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The purchase, which doubled the size of the United States, comprises around 23% of current U.S. territory. The population of European immigrants was estimated to be 92, 345 as of the 1810 census .

The purchase was a vital moment in the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. At the time, it faced domestic opposition as being possibly unconstitutional . Although he felt that the U.S.Constitution did not contain any provisions for acquiring territory, Jefferson decided to purchase Louisiana because he felt uneasy about France and Spain having the power to block American trade access to the port of New Orleans.

Napoleon Bonaparte, upon completion of the agreement, stated, "This accession of territory affirms forever the power of the United States, and I have given England a maritime rival who sooner or later will humble her pride."

Jefferson initiated the purchase by sending Livingston to Paris in 1801, after discovering the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France under the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. Livingston was authorized to purchase New Orleans.

In 1803, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, a French nobleman, began to help negotiate with France at the request of Jefferson. He engaged in back-channel diplomacy with Napoleon on Jefferson' s behalf during a visit to France, and originated the idea of the much larger Louisiana Purchase as a way to defuse potential conflict between the United States and Napoleon over North America.

Napoleon was faced with revolution in Saint-Domingue (present-day Republic of Haiti). An expeditionary force under his brother-in-law Charles Leclerc had tried to re-conquer the territory and re-establish slavery. But yellow fever and the fierce resistance of the Haitian Revolution destroyed the French army in what became the only successful slave revolt in history, resulting in the establishment of Haiti（海地）, the first independent black state in the New World. Napoleon had failed to re-enslave Haiti; he therefore abandoned his plans to rebuild France' s New World Empire. Without revenues from sugar colonies in the Caribbean, Louisiana had little value to him. Even though his foreign minister Talleyrand opposed the plan, on April 10, 1803 Napoleon told Treasury Minister Francois de Barbé-Marbois that he was considering selling the whole Louisiana Territory to the U.S.On April 11, 1803, just days before Monroe' s arrival, Barbé-Marbois offered Livingston all of Louisiana instead of just New Orleans, at an expense of $15 million, equivalent to about $219 million in present day terms.

当时法国在北美洲密西西比河与落基山之间拥有面积为82.8万平方英里的路易斯安那。美国13州全部在阿巴拉契亚山脉以东地区，总面积为32万多平方英里。1801年3月，托马斯·杰斐逊就任美国总统（1801-1809），上任伊始就与法国谈判，渴望购得路易斯安那。此时，法英关系转向缓和，拿破仑不仅不想让出路易斯安那，而且还要从西班牙手中夺得佛罗里达。然而，就在不到一年的时间里，法英关系急剧恶化，开战在即。如何最终在世界范围摧毁英国的霸权地位，成了拿破仑的首要考虑。1803年1月11日，杰斐逊派门罗作为特使前往法国商谈。拿破仑态度急转，同意将路易斯安那卖给美国。1804年，法美签订《路易斯安那条约》，美国以每英亩3美分的价格买下整个路易斯安那。美国得到了82.8万平方英里的土地，领土一夜间扩大近两倍。

Key Words in History 历史关键词

1. Louisiana Purchase Treaty 路易斯安那购买条约

On Saturday April 30, 1803, the Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed by Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and BarbéMarbois in Paris. Jefferson announced the treaty to the American people on July 4. After the signing of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, Livingston made this famous statement, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives...From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank." The United States Senate ratified the treaty with a vote of twenty-four to seven on October 20; on the following day, it authorized President Jefferson to take possession of the territory and establish a temporary military government. In legislation enacted on October 31, Congress made temporary provisions for local civil government to continue as it had under French and Spanish rule and authorized the President to use military forces to maintain order. Plans were also set forth for several missions to explore and chart the territory, the most famous being the Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Effective on October 1, 1804, the purchased territory was organized into the Territory of Orleans (most of which became the state of Louisiana) and the District of Louisiana, which was temporarily under the control of the governor and judges of the Indiana Territory.

2. Thomas Jefferson 托马斯·杰斐逊（美国第三任总统）

Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743-July 4, 1826) was the third President of the United States (1801-1809) and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776). An influential Founding Father, Jefferson envisioned America as a great "Empire of Liberty" that would promote republicanism.

He was the second Vice President, (1797-1801) under President John Adams. Winning on an anti-federalist platform, Jefferson took the oath of office and became President of the United States in 1801. As president he negotiated the Louisiana Purchase (1803), and sent the Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804-1806) to explore the vast new territory and lands further west. Jefferson always distrusted Britain as a threat to American security; he rejected a renewal of the Jay Treaty that his ambassadors had negotiated in 1806 with Britain and promoted aggressive action, such as the embargo laws, that contributed to the already escalating tensions with Britain and France leading to war with Britain in 1812 after he left office.

3. Treaty of San ILdefonso 《圣伊尔德丰索密约》

Third Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secretly negotiated treaty between France and Spain in which Spain returned the colonial territory of Louisiana to France. The treaty was concluded on October 1, 1800 between Louis Alexandre Berthier representing France and Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo for Spain. The treaty was negotiated under some duress, as Spain was under pressure from Napoleon. The terms of the treaty did not specify the boundaries of the territory being returned, which later became a point of contention between Spain and the United States after the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, in which France sold its territory to the United States. This treaty also affirmed the earlier Treaty of Alliance signed at San Ildefonso on August 19, 1796. That treaty is sometimes also referred to as the Treaty of San Ildefonso.

Background Knowledge 背景知识补充

1803年，拉丁美洲的法国殖民地海地爆发独立运动，拿破仑迅即派兵镇压。然而，因为不适应海地的热带气候，当时不可一世的法国大军被海地人民打得大败而归。丢失了海地，法国对一年前从西班牙那里拿到手的路易斯安那殖民地也丧失了兴趣。

但是，美国对广袤的路易斯安那却一直垂涎三尺，而且它担心法国占有路易斯安那会对自己的安全构成极大威胁。于是当时的美国总统杰斐逊发表声明，如果法国继续占领路易斯安那，美国就肯定将和英国舰队及政府联合起来。而且欧洲战争一旦爆发，英美联军马上就进入新奥尔良。

拿破仑知道在短暂的和平之后，英法另一次战争就将爆发；他也知道在这场战争之中，法国一定会丧失路易斯安那。因此，他决定将路易斯安那出售给美国。当美国提出要购买路易斯安那时，拿破仑痛快地以1500万美元的价格成交，1英亩（相当于6亩）只合4美分。

1804年3月10日，法国在圣路易举行仪式，正式将路易斯安那主权移交给美国。1804年10月1日起，美国将购买的路易斯安那分组为奥尔良属地（Orleans Territory，其后大多成为路易斯安那州）和临时隶属于印第安那属地（Indiana Territory）的路易斯安那区（District of Louisiana）。

美国从法国购买的路易斯安那，南临墨西哥湾，北达加拿大，东起密西西比河，西至落基山脉，美国现在五个州的全部与九个州的部分土地都是来源于当初购买的路易斯安那。获得路易斯安那使当时美国的领土面积几乎增加一倍，为美国后来进一步向西扩张奠定了基础。 wkVCyAxWpx4isweKh2rkUHWDhJWJ4x5PI6zUnyN6kHolaaK9b6Oxnbf8rf2ayrG7