A revolt by enslaved people put the Louisiana Purchase in motion.

奴隶的暴动推动了路易斯安那购地计划的实施。

France formally acquired the colony of Saint Domingue (in modern-day Haiti) from Spain in 1697. For a century, it served as a major source of stable revenue for France. It grew and exported two-thirds of the country’s domestic product, including coffee, sugar, cotton, and indigo, produced by enslaved laborers on large plantations.

1697年，法国正式从西班牙的手中接过了殖民地-圣多明哥（如今的海地）。一个世纪以来，圣多明哥一直是法国稳定收入的重要来源。这里种植和出口本地三分之二的产品，比如咖啡、蔗糖、棉花和靛蓝。这些产品都来自于奴隶们在大型种植园里的劳作。

The high demand for products, and the inhumane conditions of the industries, fomented revolts by the enslaved workers and by free Black residents inspired by the ideals of liberté, egalité and fraternité then taking over France. When Napoleon sent French soldiers to quell the movements in the 1790s, the revolutionaries stood their ground, while yellow fever and malaria wiped out the troops. Those who survived returned home along with France’s hopes in the Caribbean, both defeated.

对产品的大量需求以及不人道的工作环境激起了奴隶们和自由黑人居民的反抗。当时席卷法国的自由、平等和博爱这一思想也启发了奴隶们和黑人居民。18世纪90年代，拿破仑派法国士兵前往圣多明哥去镇压反抗运动，革命者们在这场镇压中存活了下来，而军队则难逃黄热病和疟疾。那些存活下来的士兵返回了法国，同样受到打击的还有法国在加勒比的希望。

Foment：激起、煽动、助长

Thomas Jefferson wanted to prevent France and Britain from squeezing the U.S.

托马斯·杰斐逊试图阻止法国和英国夹击美国

France needed another lucrative funding source for Napoleon’s ambitions. The emperor turned his attention to selling the Louisiana Territory—an enormous chunk of North America, the western watershed of the Mississippi River, that Spain had relinquished to France in 1800 in the secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. Napoleon didn’t have the military power to patrol this vast territory, and once France lost its Caribbean colonies, the North American land became a boondoggle.

为了满足拿破仑的雄心壮志，法国需要其他有利可图的资金来源。这位皇帝开始把注意力放在出售路易斯安领地那上。路易斯安领地占据了北美洲的大部分地区以及以密西西比河作为分水岭的以西地区。1800年，西班牙在一项秘密的《第三次圣伊德方索条约（Third Treaty of San Ildefonso）》中，将路易斯安那领地割让给了法国。拿破仑没有足够的军事实力来将管辖这片巨大的领地。而一旦法国失去了加勒比地区的殖民地，这块位于北美洲的土地也就失去了价值。

watershed：分水岭

Relinquish：让出（财产、权利）

Boondoggle：毫无意义的工作（或事情）；浪费时间金钱的工作（或事情）

President Thomas Jefferson, after becoming aware of the Third Treaty of Ildefonso in 1802, immediately wanted to avoid a situation in which the U.S. got squeezed between its enemies: British Canada to the north, French Louisiana to the west, and Spanish Florida to the south.

杰斐逊在1802年知道了《第三次圣伊德方索条约》后，就立刻想要使美国摆脱受敌对国夹击的局面：北面是英属加拿大，西面是法属的路易斯安那，南面则是西属的佛罗里达。

At first, Jefferson offered to buy New Orleans.

最初，杰斐逊提出买下新奥尔良。

Before Spain had transferred the Louisiana Territory to France, it had signed a treaty with the U.S. giving merchants and farmers permission to send their goods down the Mississippi River and store them in New Orleans without paying extra taxes. After France took over Louisiana, it revoked these rights, infuriating American business owners.

西班牙将路易斯安那领地转手给法国之前曾和美国签署了一份协议，这份协议允许美国的商人和农民将他们的商品送到密西西比河的下游并将其存放在新奥尔良且不需要支付额外的税费。法国接管路易斯安那后，这些权利就被撤销了，这就激怒了美国的商人。

Jefferson feared Napoleon’s plans for New Orleans and worried the U.S. would need British assistance to survive if Napoleon maintained control of the important port city. “The day that France takes possession of New Orleans … we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation,” Jefferson wrote to Robert Livingston, the U.S. minister to France.

杰斐逊担心拿破仑的新奥尔良计划并担心如果拿破仑继续控制着这座重要的港口城市，美国可能需要英国的帮助才能存活下去。“法国接管新奥尔良后……我们就必须委身于英国和英国的舰队了，”杰斐逊在给美国驻法国公使罗伯特-利文斯顿（Robert Livingston）的信中写道。

Rather than go to war over the broken Mississippi River treaty, Jefferson told Livingston and former Minister to France James Monroe to negotiate with Napoleon to purchase New Orleans and West Florida. Napoleon, however, had by then decided to sell all of Louisiana to the U.S. to raise funds for his impending war with Britain.

杰斐逊并没有因破产的密西西比河条约而开战，相反他让利文斯顿和前驻法国公使詹姆斯·门罗和拿破仑谈判，以求购买新奥尔良和西佛罗里达。拿破仑决定将整个路易斯安那领地都卖给美国，以为与英国之间迫在眉睫的战争而筹集资金。

The United States had to borrow money to complete the Louisiana Purchase.

美国不得不通过借钱才实现了路易斯安那领地的购买

Unfortunately, the United States didn’t have Napoleon’s final asking price: 60 million francs, or $15 million at the time (which included the forgiveness of France’s $3.75 million debt). The U.S. nation also had a debt of over $7 million. The House of Representatives passed bills allowing the U.S. to borrow money to complete the transaction with funds from British and Dutch banks; the terms of the agreements stipulated that the U.S. had 15 years to repay the loan.

不幸的是，对于拿破仑所提出的最终报价（6000万法郎或1500万美元，其中包括被免去的法国375万的债务），美国并没有足够的钱。美国自己还有700多万美金的债务。众议院通过法案，允许美国通过向英国和荷兰银行借款来完成交易；协议规定，美国要在15年内偿还掉借款。

The Louisiana Purchase was one of the biggest land bargains in American history.

路易斯安那购地是美国历史上规模最大的土地交易案之一

When both countries signed the Louisiana Purchase treaty on May 2, 1803 (backdated to April 30), the boundaries of the Louisiana Territory were unclear.

当两个国家在1803年5月2日签署了路易斯安那购地条约（追溯至4月30日）时，路易斯安那地区的边界还尚未明确。

The actual geographic limits weren’t agreed upon until almost 20 years later, when the Convention of 1818 and the Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 established the boundaries. According to A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America by John Kukla, the territory spanned the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. It encompassed 13 present-day states: “Arkansas, Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota west of the Mississippi River, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.”

实际的地理分界线直到20年后才通过《1818 年公约》和《1819 年亚当斯-奥尼斯条约》达成一致。根据《如此广袤的旷野：路易斯安那购地和美国的命运》一书（作者约翰库克拉），这片区域越过密西西比河一直到落基山脉，从北面的加拿大一直到墨西哥湾。它囊括了现在的13个州：“阿肯色州、落基山脉以东的科罗拉多州、爱荷华州、堪萨斯州、路易斯安那州、密西西比河西面的明尼苏达州、密苏里州、蒙大拿州、内布拉斯加州、北达科他州、俄克拉荷马州、南达科他州以及怀俄明州。”

It added 828,000 square miles (around 375 million acres) to the United States, doubling its size, at a cost of about four cents per acre.

这次的购买交易使美国的面积增加了82.8万平方英里（大约3.75亿亩），面积扩大了一倍，而每亩的成本则为4美分。

Jefferson had secretly asked Congress for funds to investigate the Louisiana Territory—before the actual purchase.

在实际购买之前，杰斐逊秘密请求国会拨款以对路易斯安那领地展开调查

On January 18, 1803, Jefferson sent a confidential letter to Congress requesting $2500 to fund an exploration of Louisiana. He realized that westward migration of American settlers would bring them into contact with Indigenous peoples, and he sought to encourage the Native peoples to adopt Western modes of trade and agriculture. Along with those goals, Jefferson wanted to know if there was a navigable water route to the Pacific Ocean—a Northwest Passage—to increase the nation’s trade with Asia.

1803年1月18日，杰斐逊给国会寄了一封密信，要求国会拨款2500美元以为探索路易斯安那提供资金帮助。杰斐逊意识到，美国定居者不断向西迁徙会使他们遇到原住民族，而他也试图鼓励原住民采取西方式的贸易和农业方式。除了这些目标之外，杰斐逊还希望了解这里是否有通往太平洋的可通航河道-一条西北通道，以增加美国与亚洲之间的贸易。

As an avid naturalist, Jefferson also wanted a complete survey of the plants, animals, points of latitude and longitude, soil, and other characteristics of the territory.

作为一名狂热的自然学家，杰斐逊还希望彻底地考察这里的动物、植物、经纬度、土壤以及其他特点。

原文来源：心理牙线

编辑：译锐翻译