My $11,000 Home

Last night, while checking my iPhone's trusty and fun history app, I was stunned to learn how the USA took possession of my hometown, Cape Girardeau, Missouri.

In the 1825 Treaty of St Louis, the Shawnee Nation ceded Cape Girardeau to the USA for $11,000. The USA also gave the Shawnees five years of unlimited access to a blacksmith shop, promising to provide all tools and 300 pounds of iron annually.

The transaction achieved not only a real estate purpose. "Moreover, peace and friendship between the two nations were renewed and perpetuated," according to Wikipedia.

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