It's important to know that though the land negotiated in the Louisiana Purchase was bought from France, it belonged to the Native Americans who had lived there for generations before European settlers. The Native Americans were not involved in the negotiations, and had never ceded their land to France in the first place. They argued their case, and the United States paid various First Nations $2.6 billion dollars for the lands contained in the Louisiana Purchase. This was still well below the actual value of the land. First Nations continued to bring their cases to court through the mid 1900s. In 1946, shortly after WWII, the Indian Claims Commission Act was passed by Congress. This created a standardized process for Native Americans to claim value for their land from the United States government. It took over 50 years to settle all of the cases brought to court.

Two days ago, you learned about our fifth President James Monroe, who was a key negotiator in the Louisiana Purchase. He had been the Minister to France under George Washington from 1794-1796, so he was familiar with the country, its leaders, and the struggles they were having at the time. The two big issues for France were: rising tensions with Britain that could possibility lead to war, and a battle that was happening in the Caribbean on the French Colony of Saint-Domingue.

Jefferson and Monroe knew that France needed money to fund these battles, so they made an offer to buy the land that France had claimed and settled in North America. France took the offer. The war with Britain never happened. The Battle of Saint-Domingue turned out the be the Haitian Revolution. Self-emancipated, former enslaved people rose up against the French colonists and won! This led to Haiti becoming an independent country on January 1, 1804.

Also involved in the negotiations was Robert R. Livingston. Who is that, you ask? Well, it turns out that he is one of our Founding Fathers! He was the Minister to France (1801-1804) while Thomas Jefferson was President, but the two had met before. Though Jefferson gets most of the credit for writing the Declaration of Independence, it was actually a committee of five people who drafted the document. The committee also included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. He was the first Chancellor of New York, and served the state for 25 years, earning him the nickname "The Chancellor".

A fun historical coincidence: Robert R. Livingston administered the very first Oath of Office to our very first President, George Washington, on this very day in 1789!

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