Customer comments on this selection.
 Excellent, flowing narrative.
What's The Deal is 144 pages with about 60 illustrations taking up a half page or full page. These are paintings, ink drawings, and newspaper cartoons. The book begins with a six page list of a "case of characters," with a 2-sentence thumbnail description of each, for example, Rene-Robert La Salle (French explorer who claimed the Louisiana Territory in 1682), James Madison and Robert Livingston (negotiated the Louisiana Purchase Treaty), King Louis XV (gave Louisiana Territory to Spain, that is, to his cousin King Charles III of Spain), and Napoleon (took back the Louisiana Territory and sold it to the U.S.).
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br /Although What's The Deal was written for the "school market," the writing style is never condescending, and there is plenty for any adult to learn.
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br /SPAIN RULES OVER LOUISIANA TERRITORY. At the outset, we learn that the French kings, King Louis XIV and XV, as well as King Charles III failed to see any real value of the Louisiana Territory. We learn of the first three Spanish governors of the Louisiana Territory, Don de Ulloa, "Bloody" O'Reilly, and Don de Unzaga.
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br /BAD BEHAVIOR OF FRENCH. We learn of Edmond Genet of France, sent as a minister to the U.S. He arrived in the U.S. in 1793, and commissioned some privately owned ships, and tried to capture Spanish ships and English ships. Genet's goal was to enlist U.S. citizens to liberate Louisiana from the Spain, for the benefit of France. Eventually, everybody (George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and French government) got disgusted with Genet, and the French gave up on its plot and recalled Genet.
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br /MORE BAD BEHAVIOR OF FRENCH. But the French kept up their bad behavior, and seized American ships and raided American commerce. The French asked the U.S. for bribes, in order to bring the French raids to a halt (this was called the XYZ affair). This was in 1798. In November 9, 1799, Napoleon conducted his coup d'etat.
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br /FRANCE GETS BACK THE LOUISIANA TERRITORY. In 1800, Spain transferred the Louisiana Territory to France. The exchange was supposed to be as follows. The agreement was for Napoleon to give the Kingdom of Etruria (part of northern Italy) to Spain, and Spain was to hand over the Louisiana Territory. But as it turned out, Napoleon kept hold of Etruria.
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br /FRANCE HAS BAD LUCK WITH NEW WORLD TERRITORIES. At this time, Toussaint L'Overture, a former slave, led an uprising against the French in St.Domingue (Haiti) and drove out the French by way of a slave rebellion. At this time, St.Domingue was, for France, and extremely valuable source of sugar, cotton, and indigo. Napoleon's wife, Josephine, had been born on the nearby island of Martinique, and her family owned a plantation on St.Domingue. To view the big picture, what we see is a former slave defeating Napoleon, a man famed for taking command of Austria, Poland, and Italy.
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br /FRANCE SELLS LOUISIANA TERRITORY TO U.S. In spring of 1803, Napoleon needed money to wage war against Egypt and the English. So he decided to sell the Louisiana Territory to the U.S. The price was 15 million dollars, and to get the money, Jefferson borrowed 15 million dollars from an English bank. The goal of the English was to ensure that the French would never own territory south of Canada, while the French goal was to get money to fight the English. The treaty of the Louisiana Purchase was signed in May 1803, and two months later, Jefferson sent Louis and Clark to explore the new territory.
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