British control of Louisiana could contain US expansion

What if Britain seized Louisiana before Napoleon sold it to the United States?

British control of New Orleans and the Mississippi outlet could constrain US westward expansion and connect Louisiana more closely with British North America.

The scenario covers the whole Louisiana Purchase, although the panel also considers what occupying only modern Louisiana would do. British possession of New Orleans alone would interrupt unrestricted US navigation down the Mississippi to the Gulf and affect industrial development upstream. Control of the wider purchase would block much American westward expansion and link the territory to Canada. British access along the whole Mississippi, or at least free trade on it, would connect the Great Lakes with southern routes. British bank lending adds another constraint: financing an American purchase makes little sense if Britain already occupies the territory. A larger independent Texas is suggested as one possible western neighbour.