“Where is this world heading???”, – this was society’s reaction to Trump’s recent statement about interest in buying Greenland, the proposal for Canada to become the 51st state, and the warning about attempts to regain control of the Panama Canal. Society seemed not quite ready for such a format of geopolitics. Or… is it not really something new?”
As history shows, acquiring lands is not a novelty for the United States. Over the past centuries, they have had several successful land purchase agreements. Let’s take a look together at why and how this periodically happens, and at the same time determine whether this is a transition from wars to a business model in modern politics.
From a small country to a superpower
Today, the USA is a huge country with 50 states, but it was not always this way. In 1789, the area of the United States was only 864 thousand square miles. Over time, the country’s territory grew almost fourfold, not through wars, but thanks to… purchases! Yes, the USA bought lands from other countries and thereby expanded its borders. Let’s see how this happened.
The USA after the Civil War: economic boom
After the Civil War (1861–1865), the USA began to develop at record speeds:
✔ Coal mining increased by 800%!
✔ Railways became 567% longer!
✔ The USA surpassed Britain in steel and industrial goods production.
Thanks to such successes, American leaders understood: to continue developing, it was necessary to expand territory and acquire more resources.
The largest real estate purchase in history
The first major purchase of the USA was the territory of Louisiana in 1803. At that time, President Thomas Jefferson negotiated with France to acquire 2.15 million square kilometers for only 15 million dollars. This was truly “immovable gold”! General Horatio Gates even said, “Let everyone rejoice, for you bought Louisiana for a steal!”
Naturally, France was not thrilled about having to practically give away such vast and promising territories on another continent for pennies. But the reason was very weighty: Napoleon was currently leading economically exhausting wars. War always brings financial losses, and there was practically nowhere for him to get money. This is what cornered the great conqueror and emperor, which led him to engage in such overtly disadvantageous operation for France. However, for ambitious rulers, it’s better to swindle their own country than to be defeated on the battlefield. Similar examples can be observed even in our days, but that is a completely different story.
Why was Louisiana so important?
And the purchase of Louisiana was a true dream for Americans for purely practical reasons:
1️⃣ Access to the Mississippi River – the main transport artery of the USA. Without it, the country’s economy could not develop.
2️⃣ Control over New Orleans – a port through which a large part of trade passed.
3️⃣ Doubling the territory of the USA – the United States became almost twice as big!
What happened next?
The next major purchase was Florida, which the USA obtained from Spain in 1819. It was not exactly a purchase, but rather a political agreement. Spain was going through tough times then, losing colonies and unable to control its territories in America. So, Florida was simply handed over to the USA in exchange for security guarantees. But we will elaborate on this further in the next part of the “Better to sell than to war? – territorial acquisitions as a transition from wars to peaceful land seizures” series.
