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N0KFQ > TODAY 21.10.12 16:09l 53 Lines 2514 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Oct 20
Path: IZ3LSV<ED1ZAC<IW0QNL<IK6ZDE<VE2PKT<N4JOA<N4ZKF<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 121020/1951Z 30007@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.53
...
Oct 20, 1803:
U.S. Senate ratifies the Louisiana Purchase
On this day in 1803, the U.S. Senate approves a treaty with
France providing for the purchase of the territory of Louisiana,
which would double the size of the United States.
At the end of 18th century, the Spanish technically owned
Louisiana, the huge region west of the Mississippi that had once
been claimed by France and named for its monarch, King Louis XIV.
Despite Spanish ownership, American settlers in search of new
land were already threatening to overrun the territory by the
early 19th century. Recognizing it could not effectively maintain
control of the region, Spain ceded Louisiana back to France in
1801, sparking intense anxieties in Washington, D.C. Under the
leadership of Napoleon Bonaparte, France had become the most
powerful nation in Europe, and unlike Spain, it had the military
power and the ambition to establish a strong colony in Louisiana
and keep out the Americans.
Realizing that it was essential that the U.S. at least maintain
control of the mouth of the all-important Mississippi River,
early in 1803 President Thomas Jefferson sent James Monroe to
join the French foreign minister, Robert Livingston, in France to
see if Napoleon might be persuaded to sell New Orleans and West
Florida to the U.S. By that spring, the European situation had
changed radically. Napoleon, who had previously envisioned
creating a mighty new French empire in America, was now facing
war with Great Britain. Rather than risk the strong possibility
that Great Britain would quickly capture Louisiana and leave
France with nothing, Napoleon decided to raise money for his war
and simultaneously deny his enemy plum territory by offering to
sell the entire territory to the U.S. for a mere $15 million.
Flabbergasted, Monroe and Livingston decided that they couldn't
pass up such a golden opportunity, and they wisely overstepped
the powers delegated to them and accepted Napoleon's offer.
Despite his misgivings about the constitutionality of the
purchase (the Constitution made no provision for the addition of
territory by treaty), Jefferson finally agreed to send the treaty
to the U.S. Senate for ratification, noting privately, "The less
we say about constitutional difficulties the better." Despite his
concerns, the treaty was ratified and the Louisiana Purchase now
ranks as the greatest achievement of Jefferson's presidency.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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