What did the United States obtain in 1803 for fifteen million dollars?

1. Napoleon had forced a weak Spanish government to cede Louisiana back to France. 2. That move alarmed Americans, whose interior trade depended on the port of New Orleans. 3. Napoleon then chose to sell rather than lose the territory in a fresh war with Britain. 4. For fifteen million dollars the United States in 1803 obtained more than 2,600,000 square kilometers. 5. The purchase carried with it the port of New Orleans and control of the central river system. _Source: An Outline of American History (U.S. Information Agency, 1990, public domain), section JEFFERSON’S DEMOCRATIC IDEAS_