FREE: 1904 1¢ Robert R. Livingston - US Scott # 323

The listing, 1904 1¢ Robert R. Livingston - US Scott # 323 has ended.

U.S. #323
1904 1¢ Livingston
Louisiana Purchase Commemorative

Issue Date: April 30, 1904
Quantity issued: 79,779,200
Printed by: Bureau of Engraving and Printing
Method: Flat plate
Watermark: Double line USPS
Perforation: 12
Color: Green

The 1904 Louisiana Purchase commemoratives honor the 100th anniversary of the historic event. Promoters of a proposed exposition marking the purchase lobbied for a Congressional bill to subsidize the exposition. President William McKinley signed the bill, prompting the Post Office Department to consider commemorative stamps and the authorization of cancelling slogans to advertise the event. Five commemorative stamps were issued in denominations ranging from 1¢ to 10¢.

Robert R. Livingston is pictured on the 1¢ denomination. As his Minister to France, Thomas Jefferson sent Livingston (and James Monroe) to offer $2 million dollars to buy New Orleans and West Florida from France and Spain. But they couldn’t pass up a bigger bargain and purchased an area (for $15 million) that doubled the size of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase was Livingston’s most notable achievement.

The Louisiana Purchase Changes the Face of America
In 1762, Napoleon Bonaparte sought to create a great French empire in the New World. The center of the empire was to be the nation of Hispaniola. Napoleon envisioned that the Mississippi Valley would be the trade center of the new empire, shipping food and supplies from America to Hispaniola.