Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/249

JAMES MONROE 203 tion by which the city of Richmond was threatened. Monroe s star continued in the ascendant. After Thomas Jefferson s election to the presidency in 1801, an opportunity occurred for returning Mr. Monroe to the French mission, from which he had been recalled a few years previously. There were many reasons for believing that the United States could secure possession of the territory beyond the Mississippi belonging to France. The American minister in Paris, Robert R. Livingston, had al ready opened the negotiations, and Monroe was sent as an additional plenipotentiary to second, with his enthusiasm and energy, the effort that had been begun. By their joint efforts it came to pass that in the spring of 1803 a treaty was signed by which France gave up to the United States for a pe cuniary consideration the vast region then known as Louisiana. Livingston remarked to the pleni potentiaries after the treaty was signed: "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our lives." The story of the negotiations that terminated in this sale is full of romance. Bonaparte, Talley rand, and Marbois were the representatives of France ; Jefferson, Livingston, and Monroe guided the interests of the United States. The French were in need of money and the Americans could afford to pay well for the control of the entrance to the Mississippi. England stood ready to seize the coveted prize. The moment was opportune ; the