Luck or Diplomacy: An Analysis of the Louisiana Purchase

In late April of 1803 the French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte signed a treaty with the United States that would double America's size when the Louisiana territory changed hands. The Louisiana Purchase, as a price that was so incredibly low it was thought of as a steal by historians, was of incredible significance to the American people. Only in the hands of the French for about three years, the Louisiana territory offered within it the port city of New Orleans. New Orleans was strongly sought after by Thomas Jefferson so that he could prevent France from disrupting American commerce along the Mississippi River. Instead of New Orleans, America instead gained over 820,000 square miles of "open" territory that was perfect for frontier settlers (overlooked, of course, were the indigenous Indians who already inhabited the area). The cost for Thomas Jefferson to double the size of the United States came at 3 cents per acre of land throughout all 828,000 square miles. Though Thomas Jefferson had continuously sought imperialistic expansion to the West, such a low price drives the question as to whether Jefferson was skilled diplomatically or he was just lucky because of the struggles Napoleon faced during his war throughout Europe, mainly with Great Britain.

Napoleon himself expressed a "need" to sell the Louisiana territory to the United States. England, France's longtime rival, had taken from France territories in Canada and Newfoundland and even all but expelled France out of the most profitable and richest areas in Asia. Napoleon believed that, with his dwindling power and struggles with Great Britain, that England would seek to acquire Louisiana. In an attempt to empower the United States in the hope that soon it was "humble [England's] pride" as a new maritime rival. With the thought of the English taking the land or even American expansionists looking westward, was Napoleon's frantic decision to sell lucky for Thomas Jefferson?