Which purchase significantly expanded U.S. territory by acquiring land from France?

• A. Burning of Washington DC
• B. Louisiana Purchase
• C. XYZ Affair
• D. Alien and Sedition Acts

Answer: (B)

Expanding the nation by acquiring large tracts of land shows how the United States grew quickly in the early republic. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 added about 827,000 square miles from France, effectively doubling the country’s size and giving access to crucial trade routes along the Mississippi River. This purchase opened vast areas for settlement, agriculture, and exploration, and it set the stage for westward expansion and the later growth of new states, including opportunities for exploration like the Lewis and Clark expedition.

The other events don’t involve adding territory. The burning of Washington, DC was a wartime act during the War of 1812 that damaged the capital but didn’t expand land. The XYZ Affair was a diplomatic scandal with France that affected relations, not geography. The Alien and Sedition Acts were domestic laws dealing with immigration and speech, not territorial growth.