The President of the United States of America and the First Consul of the French Republic in the name of the French People desiring to remove all Source of misunderstanding relative to objects of discussion mentioned in the Second and fifth articles of the Convention of the 8th Vendémiaire an 9/30 September 1800 relative to the rights claimed by the United States in virtue of the Treaty concluded at Madrid the 27 of October 1795, between His Catholic Majesty & the Said United States, & willing to Strengthen the union and friendship which at the time of the Said Convention was happily reestablished between the two nations have respectively named their Plenipotentiaries to wit The President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the Said States; Robert R. Livingston Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States and James Monroe Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy extraordinary of the Said States near the Government of the French Republic; And the First Consul in the name of the French people, Citizen Francis Barbé Marbois Minister of the public treasury who after having respectively exchanged their full powers have agreed to the following Articles. (T.0)

Did someone start handing out awards for "Longest Opening Sentence Ever" and we just didn't hear about it? Because this line is definitely a contender.

In just 196 words, we learn this: Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon Bonaparte have granted Robert R. Livingston, James Monroe, and François de Barbé-Marbois the authority to put together the following document, which is not only a symbol of France and America's friendship but will also clear up any leftover misunderstandings resulting from Pinckney's Treaty and the Treaty of Mortefontaine.

Know how many words it took us to say that? 51.

But international treaties and conventions have never been known for being succinct, so we guess our negotiators were just keeping it real with the first sentence of the treaty document. Slight variations on that long and windy sentence appear at the beginning of each of the convention docs as well.

(For the curious, the opening sentences of Conventions 1 and 2 clock in at 162 and 177 words, respectively.)

Brevity may be the soul of wit, but these guys weren't trying to be witty. They were making history, and sometimes making history requires a lot of words. Especially when you have to write out everyone's full name and title, and write the dates using two different calendars.

So while we do usually love nice, brief introductions, we'll give these guys a pass on their long-windedness. After all, they changed the course of history.

Certainly that's worth at least 196 words.