The Louisiana Purchase (4/10)

Negotiated under President Thomas Jefferson, the United States purchased a massive territory from France, gaining control of the Mississippi River and New Orleans—critical for commerce and national security. The acquisition effectively doubled U.S. size and shifted the country’s strategic future westward. It also set off decades of exploration, settlement, conflict, and political bargaining over the expansion of slavery and the status of new states. The purchase was not merely land—it was leverage, resources, and a continental horizon.
This card marks the instant the republic became an expansionist power by treaty rather than invasion.