The Forgotten Financiers of the Louisiana Purchase European Bankers, the US, and the Rise of International Finance

“Exactly how the financing of the Louisiana Purchase was negotiated and constructed has been missing from the political and historical recounting of that purchase. Larry Neal, Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois, corrects that oversight. He used an extensive reading of what has survived in the Baring Archives … . In the process, he sheds new light on the world of international sovereign debt finance during the Napoleonic era.” (Farley Grubb, Journal of Economic Literature, Vol. 63 (2), June, 2025)