Financing the Sale and Purchase of Louisiana

This chapter examines how Hope and Baring developed and executed the financial operation to facilitate the cession of Louisiana. It discusses the various stages of the Louisiana operation: the origins of the operation, the financial contract, how Hope and Baring intended to mobilise resources to meet liquidity requirements, the ratification of the diplomatic treaty and conventions on the cession of Louisiana, the creation of Louisiana stock and certificates, the anticipatory payments to France, the political intervention by the Addington government that forced Baring to withdraw from part of the Louisiana operation, the re-allocation of Louisiana stock and the mobilisation of funds, the payments to France, and the redemption by the United States of America. The chapter concludes by quantifying the price paid by the United States of America, the sum received by France, and the profits made by the financial middlemen.