This is an I-Heart podcast.

This is our American stories.

And up next, an important story about our own history.

In 1803, the United States bought the Louisiana territory from France, doubling the size

of this country.

Here's our own Monty Montgomery and Dr. Brad and Deidre Berzer with the story.

The year is 1803.

In four people, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Napoleon are about to get involved in one of the most interesting land deals in history.

Here's Brad Berzer and Deidre Berzer of Hillsdale College with more.

So the Louisiana purchase was one of those fascinating moments in really world history,

not just in American history, but you have that moment where Napoleon is trying so hard to

maintain his grasp and his control on things going on in Europe and in the colonies. But because of the

Haitian revolution, he loses control of the West Indies. And it takes him a lot of money and a lot of

manpower, a lot of resources to try and reclaim that. And when he gets bogged down trying to reclaim Haiti,

he decides that one of the best things to do in the new world

is get rid of Louisiana,

which the French, of course, had controlled for centuries

and wanted to recontrol again.

I mean, they believed that they could recreate New France in some way

and maybe in a very revolutionary

direction.

But once the Haitian revolution happened and Napoleon started losing his grip on the new

...