The Louisiana Purchase
of French-owned territory in 1803 hauled in 828,000
square miles of new territory, nearly doubling the
size of the country. Total cost to the fledgling
U.S. government: $15 million.
The United States
bought the land that is now Alaska in 1867. When
Secretary of State William Henry Seward paid $7.2
million to the previous owner, Imperial Russia, many
thought the deal so bad they called it
"Seward's Folly" or
"Seward's Icebox." Per acre cost: two
cents.
The United States made a less pricey
acquisition in 1815, after the British burned the
Library of Congress. Thomas Jefferson sold Congress
his book collection--6,487 volumes--for $23,950. The
price was determined by the size of the books. -Katy Kelly
