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The first three rules to follow in real estate are: “location, location, location.” In other words, where you buy is almost more important than what you buy. Two hundred years ago, the United States government proved the saying true. In 1803, the U.S. extended from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. The new nation had doubled in size since its founding. But what would happen if other countries tried to claim more land in North America? Spain and Great Britain already owned land in the New World. France had recently taken a huge area, Louisiana, from Spain. This territory was right on the western U.S. border. The U.S. feared that the French would establish an empire in North America, blocking U.S. expansion west. Westerners needed the Mississippi River and the port at New Orleans to get their products to market. Trying to make the best of the situation, President Thomas Jefferson offered to buy New Orleans from the French. He was shocked when Napoleon, who badly needed money for his wars, offered to sell the territory. On May 2, 1803, the U.S. signed a treaty with France and purchased Louisiana, gaining about 827,987 square miles of land. The U.S. agreed to pay the French about $15 million, less than 3 cents an acre, for some of the most fertile soil in the world. The transaction became known as the Louisiana
Purchase. Two hundred years later, it is also known as “the greatest
real-estate bargain in history.” |
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