Summary of The Louisiana Purchase

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The Louisiana Purchase was a land acquisition by the United States from France in 1803. The territory was acquired as a result of a series of accidents, including the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. The United States acquired the land to help with its population growth and commercial expansion. The purchase was controversial at the time, as some saw it as a threat to the still fragile American Union, while others saw the potential benefits of the deal. In 1803, Jefferson called the Senate into session to pass the purchase through, despite objections from some of its critics. The purchase sailed through with a 24-7 vote, with only French forces present to witness it. Two centuries later, the Louisiana Purchase is still important, as it made the United States a transcontinental nation and world power.

• 00:00:00 The Louisiana Purchase was a land acquisition by the United States in 1803. The territory came from France as a result of a series of accidents, including the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. The United States acquired the land to help with its population growth and commercial expansion.
• 00:05:00 In the early 19th century, the population of America's frontier regions was growing and the Spanish were worried that the Americans would overrun them. To keep the Americans from crossing the border, the Spanish closed the Lower Mississippi River to foreigners in 1784. In 1787, James Wilkinson, a brigadier general in the American Revolution and a secret agent for Spain, met with Spanish officials in New Orleans and agreed to use his influence to make Kentucky a province of Spain. Wilkinson's price was $2,000 a year with at least one installment delivered by barrel. Wilkinson's plot, dubbed the Spanish conspiracy, failed from lack of support, but other intrigues would follow threatening the new and very fragile American Union.
• 00:10:00 The video describes how, after the French Revolution, interest in acquiring Louisiana shifted from Spain to France. Jefferson, the American Minister to France, played a part in this by convincing French officials to send an expedition to capture New Orleans. When this plan was revealed to the Spanish, relations between the two countries were improved. Jefferson's ideas about expansion, even when he is "sort of in his most expansive mode," are interesting.
• 00:15:00 The Louisiana Purchase is the purchase of 828,000 square miles of land from France for $15 million in 1803. Jefferson was the third president of the United States and he took a deliberative approach to issues, which differed from Napoleon, who was an impulsive man. The war between France and Spain was incredibly destructive, and Napoleon needed Louisiana only to realize his grander goal - the conquest of Europe and the world. However, when Marie Louise arrived to assume her throne, it was a sham and her new palace was in shambles. Napoleon made promises that he didn't keep, and this is one of them. Louisiana never materialized, and ultimately the French ruler didn't value it for itself.
• 00:20:00 The Louisiana Purchase might never have happened if not for the Haitian Revolution, which saw the slave population revolting. Toussaint L'Ouverture, a former slave who became the black Napoleon, emerged as an extraordinary leader in the rebellion. Jefferson, worried about war, negotiated a peaceful resolution to the conflict with Napoleon's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Charla Claire. However, the pressure was mounting on the President and, in 1802, Jefferson sent a message in code to Madison, warning of the imminent threat of war.
• 00:25:00 In 1802, Jefferson sent a letter to Napoleon warning him of an impending war if Louisiana was taken by France. The French army was unprepared for the guerrilla warfare of the Haitians, and the rebels eventually won the war. This event changed the course of America's conflict with France.
• 00:30:00 In 1802, Napoleon's troops were suffering from disease and high desertion rates, so he sent General LeClair to the Louisiana territory to assess its potential. LeClair reported that the area was ideal for French expansion, and Napoleon decided to take it. However, a last fluky event sealed the mission's fate. In 1803, Congress passed a resolution directing the president to raise a militia to invade New Orleans and seize it from the Spanish. Jefferson instead dug in and held out for his last chance at diplomacy. Monroe was dispatched to Paris, but he was unsuccessful in convincing Napoleon to change his mind. Jefferson's response was limited, but he was restrained all that he asked for was that Monroe should go over there and get the control of the city of New Orleans. If any one of those events hadn't happened, the Louisiana territory would have been French territory.
• 00:35:00 The Louisiana Purchase was an agreement between the United States and France in 1803 that resulted in the acquisition of nearly 40% of the current US territory. The purchase was a major breakthrough for American expansion, and it helped to close down French dreams of reestablishing an American Empire. However, the purchase was controversial from the start, and some critics seized upon the constitutional issue to argue that the government was not authorized to buy the territory. Jefferson spent the summer trying to come up with an amendment to grant the government jurisdiction to purchase territory, but the settlers of St. Louis declined to sell.
• 00:40:00 The Louisiana Purchase led to the United States acquiring more land, including parts of what is now the southwestern United States. This acquisition was controversial at the time, as some saw it as a threat to the still fragile American Union, while others, including Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, saw the potential benefits of the deal. In 1803, Jefferson called the Senate into session to pass the purchase through, despite objections from some of its critics. The purchase sailed through with a 24-7 vote, with only French forces present to witness it. Two centuries later, the Louisiana Purchase is still important, as it made the United States a transcontinental nation and world power.