Episode 07: US vs France: The Second War for Independence
In part, the shrewdness and patience of Thomas Jefferson, and the inspiring military genius of Toussaint Louverture, had boxed Napoleon into making a deal. But what if the fortuitous cascade of events had not led to the annihilation of Napoleon’s expeditionary force and the need to sell the territory? What would Thomas Jefferson and the Americans do to seize the land they viewed as “the spine that would hold the country together.”
In our What If? scenario, the French force does not make a disastrous stop in Santo Domingo but instead lands in New Orleans in early 1803, where the prohibition of US goods from the port city has put their backs against the wall and led to calls for war.
In reality, the blockade had led for calls for war in Congress and in the firebrand press. The Smithsonian Magazine details: “the idea of war was taken up by lawmakers such as Senator James Ross of Pennsylvania, who drafted a resolution calling on Jefferson to form a 50,000-man army to take the city. Soon, the press joined the fray. The United States had the right, thundered the New York Evening Post, “to regulate the future destiny of North America,” while the Charleston Courier advocated “taking possession of the port . . . by force of arms.” As Secretary of State James Madison explained, “The Mississippi is to them everything. It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States, formed into one stream.’”
In a series of widely read letters, Alexander Hamilton argued there were two options: Negotiate and endeavor to purchase, and if this fails, go to war. The other option was to seize the Floridas and New Orleans, and then negotiate with the French.
In our What If? scenario the United States Army, newly created by congress, will go to war with the French, who fight alongside displaced and angry Native Americans. At stake is nothing less than the future of the United States. And leading this new army will be Old Hickory himself, Andrew Jackson, future hero of the War of 1812, 7th President and leader in this Second War for Independence.
