Louisiana Purchase Treaty: What's Up With the Closing Lines?

    Louisiana Purchase Treaty: What's Up With the Closing Lines?

      The present convention Shall be ratified in good and due form and the ratifications Shall be exchanged in Six months from the date of the Signature of the Ministers Plenipotentiary, or Sooner if possible.

      In faith of which, the respective Ministers Plenipotentiary have signed the above Articles both in the french and english languages, declaring nevertheless that the present treaty has been originally agreed on and written in the french language, to which they have hereunto affixed their Seals.

      Done at Paris, the tenth of Floreal, eleventh year of the French Republic/30th April 1803. (C2.13.1-C2.13.3).

      We're gonna let y'all in on a little secret: the closing lines of the treaty, first convention, and second convention are all pretty much the same.

      Sure, there's a few minor differences—one says "whereof" (T.10.2) where another says "of which," (C1.3.3) for example—but the gist is the same. And the gist is this:

      • All this stuff needs to be ratified within the next six months.
      • These docs are written in both English and French, but the original documents were in French.
      • Livingston, Monroe, and Barbé-Marbois are signing and affixing their seals on April 30th, 1803, otherwise known as Floréal 10th in the 11th year of the French Republic.

      Got it? Yeah, we thought so. It's not complicated stuff.

      But it does lend a lovely air of authority and solemnity to the whole thing, which is kind of nice. It was a pretty momentous occasion. Even in the moment, they knew it was a big deal. Once they were done signing and seal-affixing and stuff, Livingston said, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives" (source).

      Noble, indeed—in any language.