![136281-Service File.jpg](/sites/default/files/styles/wide/public/2023-09/136281-Service%20File.jpg?itok=ad7mXEk_)
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Authorization for the sale of the Louisiana Territory, April 24, 1803
This document, which bears the signatures of Napoleon, Emperor of the French, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, Foreign Minister, and Hugues-Bernard Maret, Secretary of State, gave authority to François, marquis de Barbé-Marbois, to negotiate a treaty for the sale of the Louisiana Territory with Robert Livingston, United States Minister to France, and James Monroe. The Louisiana Purchase Treaty was signed six days later, April 30, 1803. The stain on the right is thought to be Madeira wine, used to toast the prospective sale.
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