labehotierre says, in part:
The French were no dummies and so in 1803, they tricked President
Thomas Jefferson into buying New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana,
and in turn they could use the money to fight a war with most of
Europe. The history books refer to this as the Louisiana Purchase.
****************************
I just drove through a good hunk of the Louisiana Purchase a couple of
weeks ago. I am not a geographer, but I would dare say that the real
estate the French used to "trick" Jefferson is a trifle bit bigger
than the whole of France. I am sure this is one where Jefferson got
the last laugh; a lot of real estate the French gave up; I hope the
won their little war.
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