Most Important Real Estate Deal In History example essay topic

345 words
Forever changing the geographical makeup of the United States, the Louisiana Purchase has come to be regarded as the most important real estate deal in history. While France would use the proceeds from the sale to fund a war it would eventually lose, the young United States of America would continue its westward expansion, eventually becoming the most powerful nation in the world. During the negotiation for the Louisiana Territory, the Americans originally sensed the situation's urgency. However, with America's patience toward the negotiation, and France's dismal economic state, no amount of negotiating techniques could spare France's surrender of the massive territory to the United States at a bargain price. Observing the negotiation process, one notes that and helped the U.S. achieve while doing for France. Or something along those lines.

You need to have an argument, not just a description of the history. Certainly, these results could not have been predicted given the circumstances each country was facing. On the one hand, the United States was a young nation with alien countries surrounding it-the British in present day Canada, the Spanish in the Floridas and the French in Louisiana, which included the whole Mississippi Valley and extended indefinitely westward. France, on the other hand, was involved in a war with the British and questioning whether they could maintain their colonies while simultaneously protecting themselves in Europe. Despite the fact that the deal made sense politically to both countries in the short term, each country had its naysayers. Many in France, for example, thought the country should keep the land in the West, as New Orleans was quickly becoming a major port; these pessimists believed a port city would stimulate much-needed international trade.

France, incidentally, was in the middle of a war and strapped for money; under these circumstances, Napoleon subsequently feared that a British offensive on French soil was imminent. As protecting his country was of the utmost short-term importance, the deal with the United States ultimately had to be made.