America nearly didn’t happen. At least, not in the way we know it.

For the longest time, the French had active interests in the continent first enthusiastically described and popularised by Amerigo Vespucci; the Spanish and British too, of course. It was reasonable to assume that, over time, the continent would be carved, many times over.

But nothing, outside of Death and Disney, is inevitable. There are limitless counter-factuals for every fact. Everything was up for grabs, once upon a time.

*****

By the end of the 18th century, America’s Manifest Destiny was manifesting lazily. Her pilgrim ruts had reached the banks of the Mississippi, and no further. That river’s navigability, and majestic arterial length, enabled domestic and global trade, and wealth. For some, this was enough.

Old Man River became the New World’s muse. And besides, to the west of his banks lay wolves, wilderness, and the Good Jesus knows what. The pesky native populations beyond the Mississippi didn’t help. Their refusal to be obliterated was a source of mild, Mayfloreal annoyance.

And yet, the new nation needed to be busy. It spoke, on Sundays, of a godly calling to expand.

*****

What happened next was an act of uniquely-American imagination. Posed in a simple question, the proposition was this: what if America bought, rather than fought for, her freedom?

The Louisiana Territory was a gigantic tranche of land immediately west of the Mississippi, representing about one-quarter of the present-day USA, stretching from New Orleans north, until it poked a thumb into what would become Canada. Claim on its ownership had changed hands, between Spain and France, over the previous centuries. Though trappers spread rumours, its interior was fully unexplored by Europeans or Americans.

When Thomas Jefferson acceded to the Presidency in 1801, the Louisiana Territory was under Revolutionary French rule. The ‘Louis’ after whom the place was named had died of gangrene some 80 years previous. France was now a new world.

Wiley President Jefferson knew that the vast Territory had proven painful to European administrators, always operating at a loss. He also saw that the recent revolution in Haiti (in 1791) which ousted France had dampened Napoleon’s interest in the Americas. Busy with other wars, he concluded that the French were in need of money, money, money.

Thus, Jefferson grabbed his shopping trolley and rushed to Paris. Into his deed-cart he threw 828,000 square miles of land, at the knockdown price of $15million. Just 4 Cents Per Acre! The price was right.

The Louisiana Purchase, of 1803, was an audacious bet for the future as well as the biggest land deal in history. Though Jefferson did not know what he was buying, he kinda knew why. This was the torso of a great continent, which would become more powerful if it could unite two shining seas.

Anyway, it always makes sense to buy the field in front of the house.

*****

I have read the original text of The Louisiana Purchase. It is striking in several ways.

Firstly, it is dated ‘the tenth of Floreal, eleventh year of the French Republic’, harking back to a brief period when the Revolutionaries created a calendar with 10-day weeks, and months romantically named after Nature. They hoped the world would join in. Vain hope.

Secondly, the Treaty is signed by ‘His Catholic Majesty’, a reminder that not all revolutions get rid of kings. I need to sit down and figure out all the Louis and Napoleons of France, at some stage. I will need some sustaining, full-bodied red to complete the task.

Thirdly, this vanishingly brief Treaty document is markedly emotional. The French frame their ‘ceding’ (not sale) of the Territory as “strong proof of friendship” with the USA. Perhaps this reflects the brotherly mood of the moment. Or perhaps they’re employing the language of fraternité as a shroud for their commercial intent.

Fourthly, France by that ‘Floreal’ month of 1803, implicitly understood the potential of America, and its powerhouse trade. The text works hard to defend France’s future interests. It asserts France’s right, in perpetuity, to be granted ‘most favoured nation’ status by the USA, and always to have access to the trading ports of the Mississippi.

Lastly, the rights of the native ‘Tribes and Nations’ of the Louisiana Territory are explicitly addressed. The USA undertakes, in signing the document, to stand by previous agreements with prior French and Spanish régimes, unless and until the newly relevant two parties were to agree otherwise. I would like a Broadway musical to explore Jefferson’s real intentions in this regard.

*****

President Jefferson faced down criticism from Congress, whose ratification was required for the Treaty to pass into law. His Louisiana Purchase was deemed variously as too costly, too risky, too shady, too shaky. In response, he argued that the Louisiana Purchase, seen by Europeans as an act of commerce, was actually an act of Destiny.

To the end, some in Congress believed that their President did not have the power to make such a purchase.

But he did. And he did.