The Louisiana Purchase and Its Peoples: Perspectives from the New Orleans Conference

Perspectives from the New Orleans Conference edited by Paul E. Hoffman The Louisiana Purchase, often considered the greatest real estate deal in history, had many important political, economic, and social consequences. Not only did it double the size of the United States of America and secure possession of the Mississippi River for the Americans, the Louisiana Purchase also accelerated the political and economic development of the New World. By removing France from the continental landscape and marginalizing Spain and England, the Purchase placed the United States on the path to North American primacy. But the Louisiana Purchase was much more than the geopolitical reorganization of a continent. These broader implications of the Louisiana Purchase were the subject of the Louisiana Bicentennial Purchase Conference, held in New Orleans in January 2003, as part of the year-long celebration marking the two hundredth anniversary of the transfer of Louisiana from France to the United State