DBWI: The USA purchased Louisiana in 1803

In 1803, French emperor Napoleon offered to sell Louisiana to the USA. President Thomas Jefferson was in favor of the idea but found very little support in Congress for the purchase. Many Senators called it unconstitutional.

Had Napoleon been able to sell Louisiana, he would have had the money to build up France's military and confront the British.

What if Louisiana was purchased by the Americans and became a state? Would it have joined the Confederacy in 1861? Would its Catholic and French speaking population support such a move?

And if Louisiana was a US state, would the American government do a better job in evacuating New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005?
 
OOC: The butterflies! You have killed them! A POD that far back is going to change the weather radically.

IC: A PoD in 1803 more than likely means that the weather in 2005 is completely different from OTL.
 
But there will be still a hurricane. I think the principle is important not the name of the hurricane and the date of it's appearance.
 
OOC: The butterflies! You have killed them! A POD that far back is going to change the weather radically.

IC: A PoD in 1803 more than likely means that the weather in 2005 is completely different from OTL.

OOC: Yes, but some very destructive hurricane is bound to happen at some point. I really hate cries of "Butterflies!" that completely ignore the merits of the post.

IC:

I don't know, Napoleon was pretty desperate to unload the territory, which had become a burden after the Hatian revolt. With the small amounts he would likely have accepted, Napoleon still loses to the British.

I do think that the Americans would have been better able to govern the northern Great Plains region than the French. After Louisiana broke away from the Bourbon monarchy in 1818, there simply were not enough Louisianans to manage the territory. There would have perhaps been a smoother course for Plains settlement. OTL, the violent uprisings of the Americans in Missouri dragged the US into a destructive war with Louisiana.
 
You know, the relation was really interesting. Jefferson once America's number one enemy would always be whatever power held New Orleans until the day America took it. Given that the Louisianans eventually decided to be independent of France or the US, that caused a lot of problems, because the US's only recourse was war. Where else could they expand but west? Canada was certainly off limits, and the Caribbean with it.

The eventual Continental War really changed a lot of things. The US took the northern half of the Louisiana Territory and lapped round the now powerless independent Big Easy.

I mean, if Louisiana hadn't had to retrieve ties to the Second Republic (since it was owned by America), I doubt that the Great War would've even had a North American, and possibly no US component whatsoever!
 
The eventual Continental War really changed a lot of things. The US took the northern half of the Louisiana Territory and lapped round the now powerless independent Big Easy.

Had the US gotten at least Northern Louisiana earlier instead of getting it after the Invasion of Louisiana in 1856, I think that there's a chance that they'd get a better foothold in the Pacific by gaining access to and claiming part of, or all of the Province of Columbia. Besides, that narrow ten-mile wide strip along the 42nd Parallel the US have right now is merely a result of Britain and Mexico not being able to come to an agreement where the 42nd Parallel actually was. And that strip is pretty much useless even today in building a railway or a highway, since the strip is trisected by two lakes. The Strip's only function right now is a very wide border between Columbia and the Mexican State of Alta California administered by the United States.

Also, imagine what would happen when we have a railway from NYC to Vancouver (along the Columbia) within US Territory instead of one from Montreal to Vancouver between Canada and Columbia. Also, that nasty war of the Confederacy would probably be butterflied away since that costly Invasion of Louisiana (which is one of the reasons that really riled the South) would never have happened.
 
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OOC:
Scenario...hurts....brain....

What if Louisiana was purchased by the Americans and became a state?
OOC: You do know that the Louisiana territory was the size of the US and there's no way that thing would have been made a state whole even in a fanciful reality where it never happened and we're thinking logistics if it did.

Would it have joined the Confederacy in 1861?
OOC: Again, Louisiana territory=Size of the US at the time, and spans from North to South. The modern state and French region/territory are not the same. Similarly, the Civil War was caused by the expansion of slavery into new territories following the Mexican war. If you stifle expansion westward at the start, things are gonna be way different.

And if Louisiana was a US state, would the American government do a better job in evacuating New Orleans just before Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005?
OOC: You can at least name the Hurricane something different; the butterflies ensure that at least.
 
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