The united states had acquired over 828,000 square miles of land that was sold from the french in what's known as the Louisiana purchase for 15 million dollars. The land extended from the rocky mountains the the mississippi river. This almost doubled the size of the united states. The price for Americans to buy an acre was only 4 cents. The westward expansion began immediately and the first state to join the union was louisiana. Some believed that since the constitution never spelled out the purchase of new lands, that our government had no right to make such a large