The reason the area immediately surrounding New Orleans was sparsely populated is because it was underwater and full of alligators, cottonmouths, watermoccasins, wild pigs, wild cats, and so forth. River on one side, lake on the other, and swamp everywhere else. Not to mention the various fortifications, and the hostile Indians.
During the American Revolution, the Louisiana Militia kicked Brit ass up and down the Mississippi Valley. The Brits failed to capture New Orleans during the War of 1812, the New Orleanians beating the troops who beat Napoleon at Waterloo.
That was in the future, maybe in 1803 Napoleon did not look so tough.
As for the economic value in 1803, Jefferson was no fool. No way to use the river for commerce without New Orleans. When Spain retroceded Louisiana to France, the French revoked the right of the Americans to use New Orleans as a port. Initially, all Jefferson tried to purchase was New Orleans and West Florida (which would have given him Baton Rouge). Eventually, he was offered it all, all the way to the Rockies.
An awful lot of territory to try to take from Napoleon by force. |
