| June 2 |  |
Editor says, what if the Louisiana Purchase was thrown out by the House of Representatives? muses Andrew Beane. This article is also dedicated to one of our favourite books The Probability Broach by L. Neil Smith. Please note that the opinions expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect the views of the author(s). This story was published in the August 2012 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1773, on this day the future President of the United States John Randolph was born at Cawsons, Virginia. The son of rich tobacco planter, both of his parents were descended from the prominent First Families of Virginia.
Triumph of the Quids
By Ed, Andrew Beane & Jared MyersFirst studying under private tutors, Randolph attended Walter Maury's private school, then the College of New Jersey, and Columbia College, New York City. He studied law in Philadelphia, but never practiced and was elected to the sixth US Congress at the age of just twenty-six. He developed a conservative stance, breaking with his cousin Thomas Jefferson to lead the "Quids" or Old Republicans.
In 1803, he emerged as the leading opponent of the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, arguing that the Purchase was fundamentally unconstitutional. As a result of his firebrand leadership, the House of Representatives rejected the motion by 59-57. Of course a compromise was reached, but it was a harsh bargain that only empowered Jefferson to purchase the port city of New Orleans.
It was an unequivocal rejection to the President's "larger republic" philosophy. Because during his own term of office, he radically shaped the political landscape, pointedly arguing that the vastness of the continent had bankcrupted the British, the French and if left unchecked would surely bankrupt the Americans too. It was a hard indisputable truth that taxation was higher than under King George III and local representation would become increasingly threatened by a strong Federal Government. In short, Randolph was advocating states rights as a pre-condition to a truly scaleable "larger republic". And the result was that by the mid 1820s that scaleable framework was in place that could actually incorporate the dozen new states without unnecessarily swelling the size of the central government.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: John Randolph, Presidency, Louisiana Purchase, America, Virginia. Editor says, in reality both Federalists and Jeffersonians were concerned about whether the purchase was unconstitutional. Many members of the United States House of Representatives opposed the purchase. Majority Leader John Randolph led the opposition. The House called for a vote to deny the request for the purchase, but it failed by two votes, 59?57. The Federalists even tried to prove the land belonged to Spain, not France, but available records proved otherwise. In authoring this article we have repurposed content from Wikipedia.
The Louisiana territory encompassed all or part of 15 current U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The land purchased contained all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; parts of Minnesota that were west of the Mississippi River; most of North Dakota; most of South Dakota; northeastern New Mexico; northern Texas; the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide; Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans; and small portions of land that would eventually become part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan.
~ In other words...the purchase played a major role in eventually making America into a great world power thanks to its sheer size.
~ Certainly size was a major factor...
~ Partisan politics: I'm sure this would happen today. Post-Napoleon (who might not make it as far without the $15 million the US paid), who gets Louisiana? Britain, perhaps, which could spur yet another US-Britain war over Mississippi rights.
~ The purchase, coupled with the national unity that developed in the wake of the War of 1812, produced a momentum for the sense of Manifest Destiny. Nothing brings states together like a common military uniform and an equally common vision. I agree with Jeff that Britain might attempt to fill the power vacuum, such that it was, left by a France that is unable to maintain the possession of Louisiana, though the fading empire of Spain would have a fair claim to it as well.
~ I think it would have ended up as US territory one way or another. The Brits were too thin on the ground, the Spaniards were too weak, and France was far far away and had other fish to fry closer to home.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
