Lost Chapters
Louisiana Purchase: Emerald Event
The Louisiana Purchase was the 1803 agreement in which the United States bought about 828,000 square miles of land between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains from France for $15 million. The treaty was signed on April 30, 1803, and it roughly doubled the size of the country. Many Native nations already lived on the land.
- Cost
- 7 crystals
- Type
- Event · Triumph
- Color
- Emerald (Frontier & Explorers)
- Rarity
- Common
- Set
- Liberty & Lightning (Set 1)
Triumph
Add 2 crystals to your pool. Draw a card.
Real estate bargain that doubled America's size without consulting a single original inhabitant of the territory.
The real history
President Thomas Jefferson wanted to be sure American farmers in the Ohio River Valley could ship goods down the Mississippi River to the Gulf of Mexico, which meant keeping access to the port of New Orleans. Robert Livingston and James Monroe represented the United States in the talks with France, and they were authorized to pay up to $10 million for New Orleans and the Floridas.
Napoleon Bonaparte was facing renewed conflict with Britain and needed money after the revolt in Haiti. France offered the entire Louisiana Territory instead. The American negotiators went beyond their instructions and agreed to a price of $15 million, which worked out to about four cents an acre. Francois Barbe-Marbois negotiated for France.
The treaty was dated April 30, 1803. It was really three documents: a treaty of cession and two agreements about money. The land stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border.
Jefferson had trouble with the deal because the Constitution did not say anything about buying new territory, but he decided the national interest came first. The Senate approved the treaty in October 1803.
The land was not empty. Thousands of Native people lived there, and the agreement did not take their rights or interests into account. In the decades that followed, westward expansion brought forced removals and reservations. Jefferson also sent Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the new territory.
Sources
- Louisiana Purchase Treaty (1803), National Archives
- American Originals: The Louisiana Purchase, National Archives
- Thomas Jefferson, Key Events, Miller Center, University of Virginia
How the card plays
Louisiana Purchase costs 7 crystals and is an Emerald Event with Triumph. Add 2 crystals to your pool, then draw a card.
Because it gives back 2 crystals, it effectively costs 5 for a card, so it is more of a tempo play than a ramp spell. Use it on a turn when you have 2 crystals' worth of cheap plays waiting in hand, and the refund pays for them. Sign Your Name costs exactly 2 crystals and draws 2 more cards. Zap is a 2-cost Counter that deals 2 damage to an enemy character. Make Camp costs just 1, so the refund covers it and leaves a crystal spare, and it refreshes a character and gives it +0/+2.
- Playable in decks led by Amelia Earhart, and by any Traveler Leader whose colors include Emerald.
- In the Earhart starter deck (1 copy). Deck code:
LC2-Ax8CIAEhASIBIwIkAiUBJgEnASgCKQEqAisBLAEtAS4BLwEwATEBMgEzATQBNQE2ATcBOAE5AToBOwE8AT0BZQJ0Anuc - A deck holds up to 3 copies of this card.
Questions about Louisiana Purchase
How much did the United States pay France?
The United States paid France $15 million for about 828,000 square miles, roughly four cents an acre.
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