Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 9,001
More than half the USA for a bargain price...!
In 1800 the US-Americans have a problem:
Agricultural goods from the areas of the USA lying west of the Appalachian Mountains are mainly shipped via the Mississippi.
However, the Mississippi is controlled by the port of the city of New Orleans, which belonged to Spain...:
Only because of a treaty with Spain did American merchants have the right to use the port of New Orleans at all.
After Napoleon Bonaparte brought the French colony of Louisiana and New Orleans back under French control in 1800, Americans feared losing the right to use the port.
US President Thomas Jefferson...
...thus comes to the conclusion that the best thing to do would be to buy the city of New Orleans and its vicinity from France in order to secure long-term access to the Mississippi.
In 1801 Jefferson sends James Monroe...
...and Robert R. Livingston...
...to Paris to negotiate the purchase. However, they are brusquely rejected - here Livingston - by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte...:
Instead, the French offer the US-Americans a much larger chunk:
Not only should they buy the city and surrounding area of New Orleans, but - according to First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte...
...but instead the entire French colony "Louisiana".
However, this colony does not only consist of today's US state of Louisiana, but is much larger (bigger than the US itself at that time!) and extends over today's states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma , Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, and parts of New Mexico and Texas.
The French "Louisiana" is marked in green in the following map...:
The two American emissaries were willing and authorized to pay up to $10 million for the city of New Orleans and its environs.
But Bonaparte's representatives want only $15 million for the entire area from the Gulf of Mexico to the southern border of Canada and from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains - which makes the speechless Americans drop their jaws and gasp.
But President Jefferson shrinks from that!
For one thing, buying "Louisiana" from France would mean that France had a right to be in Louisiana at all. And besides, in his opinion, such a huge land acquisition is not covered by the US Constitution.
And there is also resistance in France itself: French Foreign Minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord...
...is strictly against the sale because he - rightly so! - saw an end to secret French plans to take over all of North America.
Why is Bonaparte making this special offer to the Americans?
Well, because he just thinks like a general!
If the Americans (or the British, who were based in Canada) simply took the country, how and with what should France have defended it?
The French, at the time the negotiations were going (1803), were about to suffer a humiliating defeat in one of their overseas territories, the colony of Santo Domingo - after which they had to evacuate the island...:
In addition, the Corsican has their nemesis England at the top of their list! All of his geostrategic considerations apply to the island kingdom.
So why doesn't the USA agree to the sale of "Louisiana" and gain support from them in the final shootout with the British...?
And finally:
Bonaparte had certainly read - and understood - the history of the Seven Years' War (from the French point of view, of course!). He wanted to reach for Europe and not be distracted and weakened by any skirmishes in the New World...
Bonaparte gave Talleyrand the brief command "Sell!" - President Jefferson has meanwhile looked into himself and got authorization for the deal from Congress, on April 30, 1803 the contract of sale is signed in Paris...
...the US Senate ratifies it on October 20th and authorizes President Jefferson on October 31st to take possession of the territory and set up an interim military government.
As early as December 20, 1803, the French handed over the last scraps of their formerly huge colony, the city of New Orleans, to the Americans in a short ceremony...
...take down their flag to a gun salute...
...and the last French soldiers and gendarmes are embarked towards France.
The purchase price for more than half of America was actually a bargain for the Americans!
At that time it was 15 million US dollars or 80 million French francs (7 US dollars per km²). Measured in terms of purchasing power, this corresponds to a current value of around 251 million US dollars or just under 117 dollars per km².
Which symbol would be better suited for such a special offer than the commemorative coin that will soon be minted in the USA...?
Consul Bonaparte immediately adds the purchase price to his war chest and sets up new regiments - which will soon make him master of the European continent...:
In 1800 the US-Americans have a problem:
Agricultural goods from the areas of the USA lying west of the Appalachian Mountains are mainly shipped via the Mississippi.
However, the Mississippi is controlled by the port of the city of New Orleans, which belonged to Spain...:
Only because of a treaty with Spain did American merchants have the right to use the port of New Orleans at all.
After Napoleon Bonaparte brought the French colony of Louisiana and New Orleans back under French control in 1800, Americans feared losing the right to use the port.
US President Thomas Jefferson...
...thus comes to the conclusion that the best thing to do would be to buy the city of New Orleans and its vicinity from France in order to secure long-term access to the Mississippi.
In 1801 Jefferson sends James Monroe...
...and Robert R. Livingston...
...to Paris to negotiate the purchase. However, they are brusquely rejected - here Livingston - by First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte...:
Instead, the French offer the US-Americans a much larger chunk:
Not only should they buy the city and surrounding area of New Orleans, but - according to First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte...
...but instead the entire French colony "Louisiana".
However, this colony does not only consist of today's US state of Louisiana, but is much larger (bigger than the US itself at that time!) and extends over today's states of Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma , Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Louisiana, and parts of New Mexico and Texas.
The French "Louisiana" is marked in green in the following map...:
The two American emissaries were willing and authorized to pay up to $10 million for the city of New Orleans and its environs.
But Bonaparte's representatives want only $15 million for the entire area from the Gulf of Mexico to the southern border of Canada and from the Mississippi to the Rocky Mountains - which makes the speechless Americans drop their jaws and gasp.
But President Jefferson shrinks from that!
For one thing, buying "Louisiana" from France would mean that France had a right to be in Louisiana at all. And besides, in his opinion, such a huge land acquisition is not covered by the US Constitution.
And there is also resistance in France itself: French Foreign Minister Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord...
...is strictly against the sale because he - rightly so! - saw an end to secret French plans to take over all of North America.
Why is Bonaparte making this special offer to the Americans?
Well, because he just thinks like a general!
If the Americans (or the British, who were based in Canada) simply took the country, how and with what should France have defended it?
The French, at the time the negotiations were going (1803), were about to suffer a humiliating defeat in one of their overseas territories, the colony of Santo Domingo - after which they had to evacuate the island...:
In addition, the Corsican has their nemesis England at the top of their list! All of his geostrategic considerations apply to the island kingdom.
So why doesn't the USA agree to the sale of "Louisiana" and gain support from them in the final shootout with the British...?
And finally:
Bonaparte had certainly read - and understood - the history of the Seven Years' War (from the French point of view, of course!). He wanted to reach for Europe and not be distracted and weakened by any skirmishes in the New World...
Bonaparte gave Talleyrand the brief command "Sell!" - President Jefferson has meanwhile looked into himself and got authorization for the deal from Congress, on April 30, 1803 the contract of sale is signed in Paris...
...the US Senate ratifies it on October 20th and authorizes President Jefferson on October 31st to take possession of the territory and set up an interim military government.
As early as December 20, 1803, the French handed over the last scraps of their formerly huge colony, the city of New Orleans, to the Americans in a short ceremony...
...take down their flag to a gun salute...
...and the last French soldiers and gendarmes are embarked towards France.
The purchase price for more than half of America was actually a bargain for the Americans!
At that time it was 15 million US dollars or 80 million French francs (7 US dollars per km²). Measured in terms of purchasing power, this corresponds to a current value of around 251 million US dollars or just under 117 dollars per km².
Which symbol would be better suited for such a special offer than the commemorative coin that will soon be minted in the USA...?
Consul Bonaparte immediately adds the purchase price to his war chest and sets up new regiments - which will soon make him master of the European continent...:
