What if the Louisiana purchase included Haiti?

If you think you can subdue the revolt, you might buy it. France purchased Corsica under similar conditions and managed to crush resistance.

In the spring of 1803, I believe the French still controlled some of the main towns so there would be at least a staging ground for an American invasion.
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I'm sure that would go over very well with the US population. Especially given that the US military was not exactly sufficient st the time to do anything like this. From a quick look at the numbers, they didn't even crack 10,000 men total in the armed forces untik 1809. It was until 1814 that the army was large enoigh to match the Leclerc expedition.
 
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If it isn't revolting, why does he sell it? That little island was one of the most valuable tracts of land on the planet before the revolt.

If he can't defend it from Britain, which considering their naval supremacy is a viable option.

IOTL Haiti cost the French tens of thousands of soldiers and Napoleon's brother in law. If the British decided to try and occupy the island they probably could.

I'm not saying Napoleon should sell a non revolting Haiti, but he did a lot of things he shouldn't have done.
 
If he can't defend it from Britain, which considering their naval supremacy is a viable option.

IOTL Haiti cost the French tens of thousands of soldiers and Napoleon's brother in law. If the British decided to try and occupy the island they probably could.

I'm not saying Napoleon should sell a non revolting Haiti, but he did a lot of things he shouldn't have done.

France, Britain and Spain all tried and failed to defeat the rebel forces. Britain could blockade the island, and prevent France from trading with it, but that's probably the most they can do. I'm not sure if that's reason enough to sell the colony, when presumably the blockade would be temporary.
 
France, Britain and Spain all tried and failed to defeat the rebel forces. Britain could blockade the island, and prevent France from trading with it, but that's probably the most they can do. I'm not sure if that's reason enough to sell the colony, when presumably the blockade would be temporary.

Napoleon just has to decide that it is no longer worth it to hold. Maybe the U.S offers more money to relive the blockade. Also if no rebellion Britain can occupy the island, this should provide good impetus.
 
Napoleon just has to decide that it is no longer worth it to hold. Maybe the U.S offers more money to relive the blockade. Also if no rebellion Britain can occupy the island, this should provide good impetus.

A British occupation would probably destabilize the already incredibly fragile political situation in pre-revolutionary Haiti (aka Saint-Domingue) enough to cause a mass slave revolt similar to that of OTL, thus putting us back to square one in terms of trying to sell it to the US. Society in Saint-Domingue was so stratified that any brief power vacuum basically meant a civil war waiting to happen. Not only do was there a demographically dominant slave population that was always restive, there were also major divisions in the free population of Saint Domingue that OTL brewed over into open conflict as well.
 
A British occupation would probably destabilize the already incredibly fragile political situation in pre-revolutionary Haiti (aka Saint-Domingue) enough to cause a mass slave revolt similar to that of OTL, thus putting us back to square one in terms of trying to sell it to the US. Society in Saint-Domingue was so stratified that any brief power vacuum basically meant a civil war waiting to happen. Not only do was there a demographically dominant slave population that was always restive, there were also major divisions in the free population of Saint Domingue that OTL brewed over into open conflict as well.

Maybe just a British blockade would do to convince Napoleon?
 
Okay it seems that most can accept France sell the island if there's is a rebellion. The problem seems to be a belief that the USA would need a reason to want to buy it.

Is it that the French making it part of the deal with Louisiana to save face along with time, gold, and manpower trying to subdue it, while the Americans nod smile and take their shit covered gold that is Louisiana Purchase with Saint Dominique. With every intent to either release the island, ignore it, or subdue it at a later date, is that difficult to perceive as a possibility?
 
I am aware that I am late to the party but this is a topic that I am greatly interested in personally, and have been working on a timeline off an on for a while on with just this scenario.

First of, yes, it can be sold. Whether anyone would buy it is a completely different question.

I however believe 100% that the Americans would pounce on this if given the opportunity. Whether or not the Americans could subdue the island, I am confident that the Americans would THINK that they could subdue the island. Remember, Jefferson is president, a man whose military prowess though that gunboats could defeat the British navy and that conquering Canada would just be a matter of marching.

Two points were raised in previous posts: militia doesn't like invading foreign territory far from home and that Jefferson was opposed to large standing armies. If the United States owns Haiti (Saint Domingue/San Domingo, or whatever the Americans decide to call it), then the militia isn't invading a foreign territory at all. Plus many of the southern militias would probably jump at the chance to put down a slave rebellion (pure conjecture). Jefferson's opposition to large standing armies wouldn't be too difficult to overcome because the army would be relatively far away, not like it is based in the United States or even near DC.

I also think yellow fever would be less of an issue (though still a major one) than it was for the French. Yellow fever outbreaks were common in the United States, particularly in the south, which means that many of the soldiers, especially southern ones but even some as north as Philadelphia, would have built up an immunity towards it. Yes it would decimate troops from the north, but it wouldn't be quite as catastrophic as it was for the French.

Unlike the french the Americans would also be able to reinforce much easier, without having to cross an ocean and fight off the British.

All of that having been said, could the American's have done it? I think yes they could have if they had the political will to see it through, because it would be nothing short of a bloodbath. Gallatin would be complaining about the drain on the treasury, but I think that it is just too valuable a prize (it was at one point the most valuable real estate in the western hemisphere, there is no reason to think that it would not reclaim at least some of its former glory if it was pacified) for the Americans to give up on. I do think though that it would make the treatment of the Native Americans look genteel when it is done though. I can't imagine what race relations would look like. It very easily could go the other way though, and the Americans would have their bloody nose of an early 19th Century Vietnam allegory.

Two butterflies that I think are interesting. First: An American Haiti means that there is a significant army and possibly navy buildup before war of 1812. I assume the war still happens, but now the Americans are more prepared for it. Second: The Americans got a little liberal with the reading of the territory covered in the Louisiana Purchase treaty and ended up claiming that West Florida (now the Louisiana Florida parishes) were included in the treaty. The first successful rebellion against the Spanish in the New World was the West Florida Republic that lasted a few months before the Americans...intervened. I could see the same thing happening on a larger scale with the eastern 2/3 of Hispaniola. This could kick up a problem with the Spanish and set back relations even further.
 
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