France under Napoleon Bonaparte famously sold the Louisiana territory, a massive 888,000 square mile expanse, to the United States in 1803. What territory had President Thomas Jefferson originally asked to purchase from Napoleon however?

Answer: A small portion of Louisiana and a coastal section of the Florida territories. Napoleon shocked the U.S. envoy by suggesting a counter-offer of the entire territory.

Source: Our Nations Archive by Erik Bruun and Jay Crosby

More at: History

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