Having weighed these matters seriously Jefferson determined if
possible to buy new Orleans from the French, and thus make sure of
a passage up and down the great river. And he sent James Monroe to
Paris to arrange this.
A few months earlier nothing would have induced Napoleon to sell
any part of Louisiana, for he dreamed of again founding a New France
across the Atlantic. But now war threatened with Britain. He did
not love the United States, but he hated Britain. He would rather,
he thought, crush Britain than found a New France. To crush Britain,
however, he must have money, and the great idea came to him that he
could make money out of Louisiana by selling it to the Americans.
So he offered it to them for twenty million dollars.
The Americans, however, would not pay so much, and at length after
some bargaining the price of fifteen million dollars was agreed
upon, and the whole of Louisiana passed to the American Government,
and the territory of the United States was made larger by more than
a million square miles.
"We may live long," said Livingston, who with Monroe had carried the
business through, "we may live long, but this is the noblest work
of our lives. It will change vast solitudes into smiling country."
Three greatest events in the History of the United States
And indeed, after the Revolution, and the great Civil War which
was to come later, the Louisiana Purchase is the greatest event in
American History.
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