WWL-TV: Louisiana Purchase Documents from HNOC Reveal History of Louisiana Statehood

“The US desperately wanted to get their hands on New Orleans, which was the key to making the western territories of the young republic economically viable. In those days—before steam propulsion, railroads, or highways—you had to flow products down rivers to a port . . . New Orleans was the key. Thomas Jefferson knew, as early as the 1790s, that New Orleans must become part of the United States.”