Glenn Beck

Well, the next morning, Napoleon ended the debate when he said, I renounce Louisiana.

Across the city, Robert Livingston was summoned to the office of Charles de Talleyrand.

De Talleyrand was Napoleon's foreign minister, crafty, notoriously corrupt.

He was famous for getting rich off bribes from foreign governments, which he liked to call commissions.

Livingston once again made his well-worn pitch.

The United States wished to buy New Orleans.

Well, de Talleyrand barely let him finish.

He blindsided Livingston with an unexpected question.

What if, instead of just New Orleans, the United States bought the entire Louisiana Territory?

All of it.

Well, the very next day, James Monroe arrived in Paris.

He listened in disbelief as Livingston told him about the sudden offer.

They'd been authorized to buy a city.

They were now being offered half a continent?

Napoleon's finance minister urged speed.

Napoleon's mood changed like the weather, and the deal had to be signed before another storm of ambition rolled in.

Livingston wrote urgently to the Secretary of State, James Madison.

But in 1803, under the best conditions, it took a letter a minimum of a month to get across the Atlantic.

So from the time Livingston wrote his letter, it would take at least two months, likely much longer, to receive a reply.

Meanwhile, inside Napoleon's palace, his family erupted.