Ed Vebell (American, 1921 - 2018) "Louisiana Purchase" Signed lower right. Original Acrylic painting on Illustration Board. Provenance: Collection of James A. Helzer (1946-2008), Founder of Unicover Corporation. This artwork was originally published on the Fleetwood Commemorative Cover for Epic Events in American History series issued in 1985. When, in his inaugural address of 1801, Jefferson boasted that Americans had "land enough for our descendants to the 1000th and 1000th generation," he little dreamed that within two years he would double its territory. That vast area, stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky mountains, had long belong to France. In 1763 France ceded it to Spain, but at the beginning of the nineteenth century the all-powerful Napoleon forced Spain to "retrocede" it back to France. A weak Spain could not threaten the bold new United States, but a powerful France, ruled by Napoleon, could. Jefferson was no Anglophil, but as soon as he learned of this coup he wrote to his Minister in Paris, "the day that France takes possession of New Orleans, we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation." That did not prove to be necessary. Instead, with the approval of Congress, he instructed his Minister to buy New Orleans for anything up to ten million dollars. Disillusioned and outraged by the inability of French forces to put down a revolution of Black Haitians, and eager to renew his long war with Britain, Napoleon was prepared to abandon the New World for the Old at almost any price. The price proved incredibly low -- twelve million dollars plus taking over American claims against France. On December 20, 1803, the Stars and Stripes went up at New Orleans. It was the greatest real estate bargain since the Dutch bought Manhattan Islands from the Indians for twenty-four dollars. Image Size: 20 x 21 in. Overall Size: 26 x 26.5 in. Unframed. (B06775)