Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The great bargain

Americans are well known for their love of bargains. Garage sales, flea markets, and blue light specials are a big part of the American desire for the best deal possible. One of the greatest deals in American history was the purchase of the Louisiana Territory in 1803. God graciously provided us with all of the territory from the Mississippi river to the Rocky Mountains, for about two cents an acre. The United States originally tried to buy just the area around New Orleans from Spain for ten million dollars. The Spanish owned the land at the time and turned down the offer and said they would not sell us any land. Then in 1800 the Spanish secretly signed a treaty giving all of the Louisiana territory to France. While that sounded like an improvement, the French had some disturbing plans for their new land. Napoleon Bonaparte was the Emperor of France and desired to use Louisiana to launch an attack on America. He sent thousands of troops to Haiti to prepare for an attack on America. His plan was to move the troops up to the Mississippi River, build forts, bring in more troops, and then eventually attempt to take over America. God intervened to disrupt this plan by bringing a disease called malaria to Napoleon’s troops. Then a slave revolt erupted in Haiti and killed many more of the soldiers. When France tried to send reinforcements to Haiti, a huge ice storm hit France and the ships were kept from leaving. It has been said that America was saved from invasion by” Ice and insects”. (Malaria is carried by mosquitoes) When Napoleon realized that his plan to take over America was foiled, he decided to sell the territory to America in order to help pay for his upcoming war with Great Britain. Once again we tried to buy the New Orleans area for 10 million dollars, but Napoleon offered the whole territory for 15 million. This area has become the world’s bread basket. Imagine being able to purchase the greatest farm land in the world for about 2 cents an acre. We have a wonderful God , who mercifully protected us from attack and graciously gave us about one third of our country for just a few cents per acre. Next time you try to by some real estate, just remember the great bargain that God provided for America for the Louisiana Territory.

No comments:

Post a Comment