The Louisiana Purchase cost the United States about four cents per acre.
Notes on verification
Confirmed by NPR and National Archives using the exact 'four cents per acre' phrasing, but precise math ($15M/530.4M acres) yields ~2.8-3 cents, and other reputable sources (Britannica, History Channel) cite 'three cents.' The 'four cents' figure is a commonly used rounded approximation rather than a precise calculation.
Sources
- How the Louisiana Purchase Changed the World (smithsonianmag.com)
- https://www.npr.org/2003/04/30/1248024/the-bicentennial-of-the-louisiana-purchase (npr.org)
- https://www.archives.gov/dc/highlights/louisiana-purchase (archives.gov)
- https://plainshumanities.unl.edu/encyclopedia/doc/egp.pg.043.html (plainshumanities.unl.edu)