Louisiana Purchase Day

It was on this day in 1803 that France turned New Orleans over to the US. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty had been signed on April 30th of that year, and on March 10, 1804 a formal ceremony held in St. Louis to transfer ownership of the territory from France to the US. (Real-estate transactions take so long). When purchased, the boundaries of "Louisiana" were not defined, and the land itself was generally unknown. In particular, not wanting to anger Spain, France refused to specify the southern and western boundaries.

Thanks to the efforts of President Thomas Jefferson, and emissaries James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston, we not only doubled the size of the US at around 3 cents per acre, we got a whole lot of cajun cookin and Le Quartier Français, not to mention a Southern Bastion de Jazz, creole and zydeco.

Coincidentally, AZ is off for a few days to the historical and cultural (not to mention atmospheric) vortex of New Orleans - hopefully she can escape the holiday festivities with "R" and take some of it in...