In today's episode, Zack has 30 minutes to become an "expert" on... the Louisiana Purchase! Apparently, in 1803, you could double the size of your country for the low low price of $15 million dollars! What do you do when you set out to buy one city and get offered half a country? You take it, of course! At least Thomas Jefferson did. This is a wild story. Players include Napoleon (think a 19th century George Costanza), Alexander Hamilton (he and Jefferson did NOT get along), and Toussaint L'Ouverture (we are going to get back to this guy in a future episode). As with much of American history, lots of dark sides to this purchase, but an important moment in history to know about. Katie shows off with her AP US History knowledge, and Zack threatens to switch seats and make her become an "expert" instead. Fun Fact: at that time, the US government did not even HAVE the $15 million dollars they agreed to pay for the Louisiana Purchase, and with interest it really cost $23 million. Good lesson to learn when using those credit cards, kids.

Highlights include: 

- Paying 3 cents per acre to double the size of the country

- Sailing $3 million dollars in gold across the Atlantic

- We owned some CANADA! (for a sec)

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Podcast artwork by Rick Radvanksy

Intro and Outro music by Jake Radvanksy