Haiti was a mess: It was a French colony called Saint Domingue then. An uprising on the island tied up a French expeditionary force that could have been used to support New Orleans, if Napoleon had decided on the military option to keep the territory
Of course, some things were vastly different:
Communications: When Livingston, and later Monroe, were negotiating the purchase in Paris, it would take almost two months to get word back to Jefferson and Madison, and then another long lag waiting for their response . This meant there was no way for Jefferson or Madison to micro-manage the negotiations. They had to put their faith in their envoys. Just to illustrate the time lag: the formal treaty was signed on May 2, 1803 in Paris; Monroe and Livingston wrote a detailed report, which was sent on its way May 13 from Paris. The documents actually reached the White House on July 3.
The direction of regional tension: While we normally think of that period as the North versus the South, there were also important differences between the East and West (of course back then West meant places like Pittsburgh and Marietta, Ohio.) When the best way over the Allegheny Mountains was by horse, citizens of the Ohio Valley and Tennessee Valley area looked to the river port of New Orleans as their link to the outside world, not New York or Philadelphia.
The US and Britain: Most Americans were only a generation or two removed from British citizenship, and the British were our largest trading partner. However, we had just finished one war with them, and there was still another one on the horizon.
To see how all these people and factors come into play, and to see how the US eventually picked up 875,000 square miles for about four cents an acre, read the book. It's not as much fun as a trip to New Orleans for Mardi Gras, but you won't wake up with a headache the next day, either.
Article comments
1 - Dan
Sounds like an interesting read on one facet of Jeffersons' many achievments. I wonder though, what was the "gamble"? Was it an unpopular purchace?
2 - Bruce Kratofil
Dan --
There were a couple of different ways that you could look at it as a gamble.
First, no one really knew what the territory contained -- it hadn't been explored yet.
Second, they had to borrow the money to buy it (from the Dutch)
A third "gamble" aspect may have been tipping Napoleon off as to how important it was to the U.S., and risking that he would decide to keep it.
And yes, a certain segment, especially in the eastern seaboard/New England, had their viewpoint east over the sea -- and not towards the west.
Jefferson, being a proponent of state's rights and a weak and limited Federal govt, also wasn't sure he had the power to do this. He thought maybe this had to be submitted to the states for ratification. Madison talked him out of this.
3 - lisa
This book was really good. Cerami revealed the tricks of the trade on how America really first started. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was the biggest real estate deal in history. And we have to thank Jefferson, Madison, and and Napolean for not being on his toes.