Tomorrow, America will celebrate its birth. But the decisive moment, even the real birth of modern America, argues Alexander Mikaberidze in his new book The Louisiana Purchase: The Grand Bargain and the Making of America, may not have been 1776 at all. It was 1803, the year of the Louisiana Purchase. The year Thomas Jefferson bought the future from Napoleon Bonaparte. This was the moment the young American republic doubled its size in a single transaction, absorbed the heart of a continent and set itself on the path to becoming a global superpower.

The numbers associated with the Louisiana Purchase are staggering. 828,000 square miles. Thirteen states. Fifteen million dollars — four cents an acre, so the mythology tells us. But Mikaberidze reminds us that the deal Jefferson signed did not actually grant the United States the land. Instead, it merely authorised the republic to negotiate the acquisition of land still owned by Native Americans. So it became the founding event of the US-Indian Treaty System that produced over 200 Native American cessions between 1804 and 1970, and cost the Republic billions of dollars.

The Louisiana Purchase was America’s grand Faustian bargain. It was a deal that not only enabled America’s eventual rise as a 20th century superpower, but also the expansion of slavery, the destruction of Native peoples, and the 19th century imperial reach of the Monroe Doctrine. So forget 1776 and save the fireworks to remember 1803. And celebrate with croissants rather than hot dogs. Without Napoleon Bonaparte’s generosity, the United States might be just another regional power like France.

Five Takeaways

• The Decisive Moment. 1803 has a stronger claim than 1776. Independence established the republic. The Louisiana Purchase made it a continental power. 828,000 square miles. 13 states. The Monroe Doctrine. Manifest Destiny. The path to superpower status.

• Four Cents an Acre? The Real Price Was Billions. Jefferson’s deal didn’t grant the land — it authorised the US to negotiate the acquisition of land still owned by Native Americans. The Louisiana Purchase founded the US-Indian Treaty System: over 200 Native cessions, billions of dollars, between 1804 and 1970.

• The Grand Faustian Bargain. Slavery expanded into the new territory (the Missouri crisis of 1820). Native peoples were dispossessed at unprecedented scale. The Monroe Doctrine declared the hemisphere an American sphere. The deal with the devil.

• Napoleon’s Bad Weather. In October 1802, 4,000 French troops were ready to sail for New Orleans. Bad weather stopped them. If they had arrived, France might have retained southern Louisiana, cultivated Native alliances, and constrained American expansion. No continental America without the storm.

• Croissants in Kansas, Tacos in Oklahoma. Without the purchase: French Louisiana, Spanish Texas, Native-controlled hinterlands. The American empire of liberty stops somewhere in Missouri. People in Kansas celebrating today — with croissants. Or tacos. Definitely more tacos.

About the Guest

Alexander Mikaberidze is Professor of History at LSU-Shreveport and the author of The Louisiana Purchase (Oxford University Press, July 3, 2026), Kutuzov, and The Napoleonic Wars. He lives in Shreveport, Louisiana.

References

The Louisiana Purchase by Alexander Mikaberidze (OUP, July 3, 2026): global.oup.com/academic/product/the-louisiana-purchase-9780197548141

About Keen On America

Nobody asks more awkward questions than the Anglo-American writer and filmmaker Andrew Keen.

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Chapters:

00:00:31 July 4 tomorrow and the Louisiana Purchase today
00:02:22 Was this the decisive moment in American history?
00:03:59 828,000 square miles, 13 states
00:05:49 Was Texas included?
00:07:00 Spain, France, Britain: the big players in 1803
00:15:00 The US-Indian Treaty System: the real price
00:25:00 The expansion of slavery
00:35:00 The Grand Faustian Bargain
00:41:51 The Monroe Doctrine
00:45:13 What if Napoleon had sent his troops?
00:48:29 Croissants in Kansas, tacos in Oklahom