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the Miss iss ippi River lo coun ter–
ba la nce th e Anglo-Saxon domi–
na ted terr itory of Canada and the
United States (east of the M issis–
sippi). But
apoleon's ambit ions
knew no bounds as he continued to
expand his empire ac ross Europe,
his main concern at th at morn ent.
He rea lized he would need
mone¡1
to
wage tha t war - primarily agáinst
Britai n. Napolcon therefore con–
cluded that if he wou ld se ll the Lou–
isiana Terr itory to th e Un ited
States. this would prov ide him
ba dly needed moncy and would at
the same time ca use America to be
fri end ly toward hi rn .
l t just so happened tha t U.S. Pres–
ident T homas Jefferson had recently
ins tructed the Ame ri can mi nisters in
París to sec if the U.S. could buy the
pon of ew Orleans frorn France or
at lea t ome land on th e eas tern
side of the mouth of the Mississi ppi
so shc couId es tab lish her own port
by which she could thcn secure an
out let for her goods which flowed
dO\\ n the Missi sippi and thence to
Europe.
ei ther Jctfc r on nor hi Ameri-
10
ca n rep rese n ta t ives 1n Pa ri s
d rcamed that Napoleon would not
only sell them the va luable port of
ew Orlea ns. but would offer to se ll
al/
of th e Louisiana Tcrritory west
of the Missis ippi Rivc r - for the
pa ltry sum of only $ 15.000,000! Thi s
pun:hase amoun ted to aboul 4 cenls
per ac re!
Never in the history of thc world
has such a fa ntastic purchase bee n
made. Th is fabulous acqui ition in–
clud ed aU or parts of eleven sta tes
and some of the most fertile land in
thc whole world. This vast te rritory
was later di vided into Arkansas.
M isso uri. Neb raska , l owa a nd
South Dakota. and pans of Colo–
rado. Kansa . Minnesota,
or th
Dakota. Oklahoma and Wyoming.
S ho rt ly afterwards, in 18 19.
Ameri ca was successful in purchas–
in g the Florida territory (i nclud ing
Flo rida and parts of Alabama, Lou–
isiana a nd Miss iss ippi) for the in–
signi fi can! sum of$ 10.000,000. Now,
America owned al! of th c land
east
of th e Mississippi from Canada to
thc G ulf of Mexico. plus the land
ca lled t he Lou is ia na Territory
st retching \vest from th e Mississippi
to the Rocky Moun ta in .
1n 1836. the Texans declared their'
ind cpendence from Mex ico and es–
tab li shed the Lone Star Repu blic.
Th e U.S. didn ' t want to offend Mex–
ico a t th e time and th ercfore d idn' t
permit Texas to be admitted imme–
dia tcly in to the Union. Th e U.S. fi–
na lly did annex Texas in 1845. and
this proved
to
be one more irritation
betwcen Mexico and Amcrica which
fina lly led to th e Mexica n Wa r of
1846- 1847.
In 1846. Britai n a nd the Un ited
Sta tes fi na lly settlccl their bo rcle r
dispute in the northwes t. Prio r Lo
thi da te, Brita in hacl cla imcd the
territory of Oregon and Washing–
ton. \\ he rcas the U.S. had claimed
a ll or tha t terri tory plus British Co–
lumbia. Ra ther than come to blows
both Britain and Amcrica agreed
tha t a ll the land above the 49th pa r–
a llc l - which ran bctwccn the U.S.
a nd the British orthwcst Tcrri tory
\\'Ould be British. and all to the
south would be U.S. tc rri tory except
Va ncouver lsland. which wou ld re–
ma in under the British fl ag.
The.
PLAIN TRUTH July 1976