Part 5/9:
John Law’s ambitions expanded further as he acquired the troubled Mississippi Company, a trading company with rights to exploit Louisiana. He leveraged the allure of New World wealth to drum up investments, enticing the French nobility and the public into investing in shares of the newly envisioned empire.
As the shares skyrocketed, speculation proliferated, and wealth seemed to flow freely. The rise of these shares was astronomical; in 1719, their value surged by twenty times, creating a class of "nouveaux riches." Law's methods garnered him unprecedented power, as he became responsible for much of France's economy.