Quote:
Originally Posted by Hydrae
Hang on, I always thought Jefferson did the Louisiana purchase. I guess it just happened during his presidency but it sounds like it was a done deal when it got to his desk.
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I've heard two slightly different versions, one at the Monroe Presidential Library when I visited a couple of years ago and one at the Monroe estate. But they're substantially the same.
Apparently, Monroe was sent over to replace the American contact with the French (either the ambassador or some special envoy, I don't recall). The Americans and French had had some initial discussions about an American purchase of New Orleans so the Americans could float stuff down the Mississippi. The price was on the order of $1 million.
So Monroe goes over there and meets with the French, and all of a sudden Napoleon makes a different offer. For $15 million he'll sell America the whole territory.
I don't know if this was a "24 hours - sale ends now!" kind of deal, but apparently Monroe had been given permission to make the New Orleans deal and to use his judgment. It would take months to get word back to Jefferson and get permission back, so Monroe and the guy he was supposed to replace hammered out a deal, got some financing from the Dutch, and paid for it. Voila - America just doubled.
It would be interesting to have been in the meeting when Monroe got back. "Hey, Tom, about that New Orleans thing. I have a surprise."