How the United States Plans to Pay off Its Ginormous New Debt to France
- Now that it's been decided that Louisiana is going to the Americans, the POTUS and first consul authorize our guys (Livingston, Monroe, and Barbé-Marbois) to flesh out the payment details in this convention.
- The United States is going to give the French government 60 million francs. There will be a different doc dealing with France's debts to America.
- Basically, the United States is taking out a mortgage (financed by its friend England) to pay for all this new land.
- Sixty million francs is the same as $11,250,000 in U.S. currency, so here's how this bad boy is going to work: The United States is to pay 6 percent interest on that amount in semiannual payments. They'll pay interest only on the "mortgage" for the first 14 years, and then, starting in the 15th year, they'll pay down the principal by at least $3 million per year.
- The payment itself has to be made in London, Amsterdam, or Paris. (This is probs to prevent situations like America giving some sailor dude in, say, Martinique $11 million in gold and then saying "oh well" if the sailor's ship were captured and robbed and the French didn't get their money.)
- This "stock," which in this instance refers to the French Republic's right to collect the mortgage payments, has to be transferred to France within three months of the United States taking possession of Louisiana.
- Even if the franc/dollar exchange rate changes, the payment plan and mortgage amount won't.
- This convention needs to be ratified within six months; the sooner, the better.
- Livingston, Monroe, and Barbé-Marbois are signing English and French copies of this treaty, and they all declare that the original doc was in French.
- All three are signing and affixing their seals on April 30th, 1803—otherwise known as Floréal the 10th in the 11th year of the French Republic.