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Background: In 1804, President Thomas Jefferson offered the governorship of the newly acquired Louisiana Territory to LaFayette; the hero of both the American and French Revolutions. At the time, LaFayette was living in Napoleon's France, and there was little love lost between the two men. The Marquis had only had his citizenship reinstated in 1800, after living in France for a number of years without citizenship and the threat of arrest should he engage in any political activity. For his part, LaFayette views Napoleon as an undemocratic dictator and refused to have any part in the newly crowned Emperor's government (Napoleon seems to have viewed LaFayette as a valuable political symbol if he could have gotten him to play ball; even going so far as to offer to make him Minister to the United States or appoint him to the Senate. LaFayette refused).

In OTL: LaFayette refused Jefferson's offer, stating that he had personal matters to attend to as well as a desire to restore liberty to France, but maintained a long and friendly correspondence with the President (as well as a several other prominent Americans).

But what if he had accepted? Perhaps Napoleon had refused to restore his citizenship after realizing that LaFayette refused to work with his regime, or the overwhelming vote in favor of crowning Napoleon as Emperor disheartened him.

In OTL, the Louisiana territory was split into two parts; the District of Louisiana to the North (which became the Missouri Territory later on) and the Territory of Orleans which encompassed the modern day state of Louisiana. The territorial governor of Orleans/Louisiana was William C. C. Claiborne who would go on to serve two terms as the state's first governor as well. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_C._C._Claiborne)

It seems likely that LaFayette could easily match that same success. Also, he would likely have much better relations with the French speaking elite of the territory than Claiborne initially did.

So, questions:

1) How would LaFayette's efforts to instill Republican values in Louisiana differ from Claiborne's?

2) Would the presence of LaFayette in the territory act as a beacon to anti-Napoleon figures fleeing France and could LaFayette actively encourage this?

3) If LaFayette remains governor as long as his OTL counterpart, this puts him term into the beginning of the War of 1812. As a military hero, it seems likely that he would take part in the defense of his state. Should the War play out similar to OTL, it would likely be he who organizes the defense of New Orleans meaning we may have just butterflied away Andrew Jackson.

4) What would the political impact be of having the LaFayette family as major powers in the state. In OTL, his eldest son George Washington LaFayette had been sent to Harvard for schooling to escape the Terror and it seems likely he would have followed his Father to Louisiana in the ATL. GW Layfette's children in OTL also went on to become vocal liberal political figures in 19th century France. Although much of this would be butterflied away, the Lafayettes forming a liberal political dynasty within the state of Lousiana would be interesting.
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