Louisiana Purchase Treaty Theme of Language and Communication

It couldn't have been easy, negotiating a deal like this.

Aside from the obvious—hello, biggest real estate deal ever—there were other factors mucking things up. Like the fact that Livingston and Monroe didn't exactly have the authorization to blow $15 mil for the entire Louisiana Territory. And it wasn't like they could pick up the phone or send a text to Jefferson real quick to get more information.

And there was also the question of language.

There's evidence this may be changing today, but for a really, really long time, French and English were two of the most commonly spoken languages on the planet.

This worked out well in 1803 considering François de Barbé-Marbois was a native French speaker who also spoke English while Livingston and Monroe, both Americans, also spoke French.

We have to assume it made negotiations and the actual writing of the purchase documents a lot easier.

And we can see several nods to both languages and cultures—and monetary valuations—throughout each of the three purchase documents.

Our authors were going for detail and clarity, and they definitely nailed it there. But they also nailed it in another category: communicating effectively in different languages from the perspective of different cultures. (It's a long category title, we know.)

Whether we read the French version or the English version, all of the dates and mentions of money are in both languages, and we just think that's très cool.

1. What life experiences led to each of our purchase authors being able to speak both English and French?
2. Why do you think each document stresses that its original was written and agreed upon in French?
3. How do French and American cultures influence each other today?

Countries around the world should just agree that all international documents should be written in one universal language to avoid confusion; some things just don't translate.

If we were Monroe and Livingston, we'd agree to any language to close the deal before Napoleon had second thoughts about it.