| September 13 |  |
Editor says, what if the Louisiana Purchase had caused a major constitutional backlash? 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 September 2011 edition of Changing the Times Magazine.
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In 1803, on this day the second President (and former lawyer) John Adams paid the ultimate price for disregarding the lack of provision for acquiring territory in the U.S. Constitution - by facing charges at an impeachment trial in the US Senate.
Louisiana Question 2 By Ed & Scott PalterThat the trial had been engineered by the leaders of the Democratic Republic Party was of course an ominious sign of growing factionalism. But fortunately for the Republic, Adams had once again extricated himself from bipartisan conflict in order to take a political expedient decision in the broader national interest.
Ever the Statesman, and the worthy successor to General Washington, Adams had fast tracked the purchase of the Louisiana Territory as soon as he learnt that Napolean was having second thoughts. He had taken such a decision over Napoleon once before, stunning the country by signing the Treaty of Alliance to end the proxy-war with France.
On the other hand his revolutionary colleagues Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were surprised and disappointed to find themselves at the head of opposition forces, rather than occupying the White House, as they had confidently expected during the 1800 electoral cycle. But they lost, and were now reduced to a power struggle by obstinately defending the uncompromisable principle that the Purchase had in fact required a constitutional amendment.
Ironically, during the 1796 electoral cycle Jefferson (pictured with Adams and Franklin) had admitted (somewhat disengeniously) that "he [Adams] had always been my senior, from the commencement of my public life" and "I am his junior in life, was his junior in Congress, his junior in the diplomatic line, his junior lately in the civil government". He was right.
Entry posted by Todayinah Editor
© Alternate Historian, 2004-.Story Tags
Permalinks: Post, Day. Browse Thread: Politicians Source: Wikipedia Labels: Louisiana, James Madison, Napoleon, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams. Editor says, in reality the Louisiana Purchase encompassed all or part of fifteen current U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The land purchased contained all of present-day Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, parts of Minnesota that were west of the Mississippi River, most of North Dakota, nearly all of South Dakota, northeastern New Mexico, northern Texas, the portions of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide, and Louisiana west of the Mississippi River, including the city of New Orleans. In addition, the Purchase contained small portions of land that would eventually become part of the Canadian provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. The purchase, which doubled the size of the United States, comprises around twenty-three percent of current U.S. Territory.
~ Some deals are just too good to pass up - no matter what the price you have to pay
~ Since the probable alternative was eventual war with either Spain or France (both were very hoggish about, among other things, navigation on the Mississippi) I don't think that people would make a fuss about the Purchase.
~ Hope this display of factionalism destroys the ideas of political parties for young America. Imagine Washington without petty in-fighting.
~ Actually, the portions of Alb and Sask were substantial. The Metis would have preferred to stay in the US. Imagine THAT situation in Canadian history.
© Today in Alternate History, 2013-. All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
