On December twentieth, eighteen oh-three, William Claiborne and General James Wilkinson signed the papers transferring the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States. France had only owned it for twenty days. Napoleon treated an entire territory like a car he bought on impulse and flipped three weeks later.
Thomas Jefferson — a strict constructionist — made the biggest unauthorized purchase in American history because the price was just too good.
The Cabildo also houses Napoleon's death mask — one of only four in existence. In eighteen sixty-six, someone accidentally threw it in the trash during renovations. A former city treasurer rescued it from a junk wagon on Canal Street.
— From the tour: Pirates, Presidents & Purchase Receipts
