Louisiana Purchase - Nature of Sale

Nature of Sale

The historian James Loewen is among those who assert that the United States purchased only France's claim to the Louisiana Territory, as the land belonged to the tribes who inhabited the area. In his view, the US acquired the lands slowly throughout the nineteenth century by purchases from individual Native American tribes and by wars against them. The question is discussed at length in the article on Aboriginal title in the United States, as well as in articles on the American Indian Wars and the U.S. Supreme Court case Johnson v. M'Intosh.

The issue of the legitimacy of the Louisiana Purchase is similar to that of the 1867 Alaska Purchase. In that case, the land rights were resolved more than 100 years later with the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (ANCSA). Some Alaska Natives continue to resent the Alaska Federation of Natives' lack of legitimacy to act on their behalf. See also Indian Land Claims Settlements for other cases where native land title claims were extinguished with monetary compensation.