A new Madison presidency episode is now available!
March 8, 2020

3.14 – Can I Make a Purchase?

3.14 – Can I Make a Purchase?

Year(s) Discussed: 1803

Despite US Minister to France Robert R Livingston’s best efforts to conclude a treaty with France on his own, the arrival of Special Envoy James Monroe in Paris marked the beginning of a new phase of negotiations which soon led to the acquisition of a large swath of territory for the United States, an event known today as the Louisiana Purchase. Though swift, the diplomatic back and forth in April 1803 proved to be precarious from the first proposal until the signatures were on the final document.

Featured Image: “Hoisting of American Colors over Louisiana” by Thure de Thulstrup [c. 1904], courtesy of Wikipedia


Intro and Outro Music: Selections from “Jefferson and Liberty” as performed by The Itinerant Band

 

Special thanks to Robin for providing the intro quote for this episode!

  • Ammon, Harry. James Monroe: The Quest for National Identity. Charlottesville, VA and London: University Press of Virginia, 1999 [1971].
  • Dangerfield, George. Chancellor Robert R. Livingston of New York, 1746-1813. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co, 1960.
  • DuBois, Laurent. Avengers of the New World: The Story of the Haitian Revolution. Cambridge, MA and London, England, UK: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005 [2004].
  • Ernst, Robert. Rufus King: American Federalist. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1968.
  • Esdaile, Charles. Napoleon’s Wars: An International History. New York: Penguin, 2009 [2007].
  • Hilt, Douglas. The Troubled Trinity: Goody and the Spanish Monarchs. Tuscaloosa, AL and London: University of Alabama Press, 1987.
  • Landry, Jerry. The Presidencies of the United States. 2018-2020. http://presidencies.blubrry.com.
  • Livingston, Robert R. “To James Madison, 20 May 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-05-02-0019. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, pp. 18–20.] [Last Accessed: 20 Feb 2020]
  • Lyon, E Wilson. Louisiana in French Diplomacy 1759-1804. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1934.
  • Malone, Dumas. Jefferson the President First Term, 1801-1805: Jefferson and His Time, Volume Four. Boston: Little, Brown and Co, 1970.
  • Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 9 April 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-04-02-0601. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 4, 8 October 1802 – 15 May 1803, ed. Mary A. Hackett, J. C. A. Stagg, Jeanne Kerr Cross, Susan Holbrook Perdue, and Ellen J. Barber. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1998, pp. 497–498.] [Last Accessed: 9 Feb 2020]
  • Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 18 May 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-05-02-0012. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, pp. 12–13.] [Last Accessed: 20 Feb 2020]
  • Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 7 June 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-05-02-0086. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, pp. 72–77.] [Last Accessed: 20 Feb 2020]
  • Monroe, James. “To James Madison, 8 June 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, accessed September 29, 2019, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Madison/02-05-02-0092. [Original source: The Papers of James Madison, Secretary of State Series, vol. 5, 16 May–31 October 1803, ed. David B. Mattern, J. C. A. Stagg, Ellen J. Barber, Anne Mandeville Colony, and Bradley J. Daigle. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 2000, p. 81.] [Last Accessed: 20 Feb 2020]
  • Schom, Alan. Napoleon Bonaparte. New York: HarperCollins, 1998 [1997].