What important port city was acquired through the Louisiana Purchase?
1 Answer
New Orleans
Explanation:
The United States first only wanted to purchase the port and area surrounding New Orleans. The expanding commerce in the Ohio River Valley, Kentucky, and Tennessee used the Port of New Orleans after shipping their products down the Mississippi. From New Orleans the products could be shipped by sea.
The United States needed the port of New Orleans to be open to commerce for the settlement West of the Appalachian mountains. The United States feared that a hostile government could close the port of New Orleans to US shipping. This is why the United States wanted to purchase New Orleans.
Thomas Jefferson was surprised when France offered to sell the United States not only New Orleans but the entire Missouri River basin. ( the Louisiana Purchase)
The United States not only acquired New Orleans but the entire Louisiana Purchase.
