Jefferson's Great Gamble: The Remarkable Story of Jefferson, Napoleon and the Men Behind the Louisiana Purchase - Hardcover

Charles A. Cerami

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1570719454 ISBN 13: 9781570719455

Publisher: Sourcebooks Inc, 2003

Synopsis

Jefferson’s Great Gamble tells the incredible story of how four leaders of an upstart nation--Jefferson, Madison, Monroe and Livingston--risked the future of their country and their own careers; outwitted Napoleon Bonaparte, the world’s most powerful ruler; and secured a new future for the United States of America.

For two years before the Louisiana Purchase, the nine principal players in the deal watched France and the United States approach the brink of war over the most coveted spot on the planet: a bustling port known as New Orleans. And until the breakthrough moment when a deal was secured, the men who steered their countries through the tense and often beguiling negotiations knew only that the futures of both nations were being questioned, and that the answer was uncertain.

Jefferson’s Great Gamble is an extraordinary work that redefines one of the most important and overlooked events in American history. Charles A. Cerami reveals the untold thrusts and parries of the Louisiana Purchase, an event that was not just a land sale, but thirty months of high drama, blandishment, posturing and secret maneuvers by some of the most powerful and crafty men of their time. Utilizing original correspondence and firsthand accounts, Cerami paints a vivid and engrossing narrative enriched by the words of the men whose talents and weaknesses kept the negotiations alive during the most unsure moments.

When Thomas Jefferson took office as president of the United States in 1801, Louisiana was at the front of his mind. Jefferson knew that the future of the country hinged on its right to navigate the Mississippi River and have access to New Orleans. His hopes for maintaining this right were almost completely dashed when it was discovered that Napoleon had secretly forced Spain to give the Louisiana Territory to France, and that he had troops on the way to take possession of New Orleans.

Jefferson’s only hope to stop the takeover lay in a great gamble: convincing Napoleon that the United States was willing to go to war over the port city. Jefferson knew that war might fracture the new country, which at the time had roughly one thousand men in its army. He was therefore faced with not only convincing Napoleon that the United States was ready to fight, but bluffing him into thinking that it could win that battle.

To execute his plan, Jefferson turned to his brilliant but troubled foreign-relations team. James Madison, the wily secretary of state, devised with Jefferson a disinformation strategy that was remarkable for its ingenuity and effectiveness. Robert Livingston, the American envoy to France, struggled to negotiate with French officials while being disdained and ignored by Jefferson and Madison, his political rivals. And as the final negotiations approached, James Monroe found himself sailing to Paris with the key to how the United States would execute the endgame.

Napoleon was bombarded by contradicting opinions from his two closest advisors. François de Barbé-Marbois, the impeccably honest finance minister, pushed toward a sale to raise money for a war with England. Charles-Maurice de Tallyrand-Périgord, Napoleon’s witty and corrupt chief advisor, pushed him to hold on to the colony, a position he believed held long-term benefits for France, if not for Napoleon.

To read Jefferson’s Great Gamble is to experience the tense days and nights leading to a decision that changed the face of the world. From the early American infighting to the heated French negotiations to the battle needed years later to secure the purchase, this new history is a story of dedicated men, each driven by love of country, who created an event that Robert Livingston called "the noblest work of our lives."

About this title

About the Author:

Charles A. Cerami is the author of eleven books, including Benjamin Banneker: Surveyor, Astronomer, Publisher, Patriot and A Marshall Plan for the 1990s. Cerami’s articles have been published in The Atlantic Monthly, Playboy, New York Times, Foreign Policy, The Spectator (of London) and Swiss Review of World Affairs.

From Publishers Weekly:

In this bicentennial year of the Louisiana Purchase, it's hard to imagine a more lively, shrewd and vivid narrative of the tangled events leading to it than this book. Compared to Roger Kennedy's zigzagging, unfocused Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause, Cerami's book is notable for its readability and clarity. When he occasionally strays from his subject, he stumbles badly and shouldn't be taken as an authority on history in other times; nor is his tale based on the most recent, pertinent scholarship and available documents. But about the geopolitical and diplomatic circumstances of the purchase, Cerami (A Marshall Plan for the 1990s, etc.) is a master. His greatest achievement is to bring all of the characters involved-not only the well-known figures like Napoleon, Jefferson and James Monroe, but also the less famous but equally significant ones such as Robert Livingston, Louis-Andr‚ Pichon and Francois de Barb‚-Marbois-brilliantly to life. Cerami's book will not satisfy those looking to understand the larger significance of the sudden doubling of American territory-its implications for slavery, politics and the emergence of the U.S. as a continental and world power. But anyone wanting to read the story of a momentous turning point in American history, a story of diplomatic maneuvering and international politics, will be hard-pressed to find a better version than this. Illus.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Sourcebooks Inc
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 1570719454
• ISBN 13: 9781570719455
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272