Tag Archives: Louisiana Territory

EDITORIAL: Russia, Land of Liars and Morons


Russia, Nation of Liars and Morons

In 1803, the United States paid the Emperor of France $15 million and purchased 828,800 square miles of land west of the Mississippi, known as the “Louisiana Territory.”  It was full of viable, fertile farmland and other freely accessible natural resources, directly linked to the existing continental United States, and it cost $0.18 per square mile.

Sixty-four years later, the United States paid the Emperor of Russia $7.2 million and purchased 586,412 square miles of territory in the extreme northwest of the North American continent, which has since become the State of Alaska.  Russia had virtually exhausted the fur trade there and, as far as was then known, the territory was absolutely useless.  The U.S. government was mocked and castigated for the “folly” it had engaged in, which cost $0.12 per square mile to indulge in.  Recently, Americans celebrated the anniversary of this transaction, which turned out OK in the end.

A hoard of idiotic, apelike Russians still complain to this day, though, that they did not get a fair deal in the purchase of Alaska. Pravda for instance recently called the deal “one of the strangest in history.” It was nothing of the kind.

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