Jefferson ultimately came to the conclusion before the ratification of the treaty that the purchase was to protect the citizens of the United States therefore making it constitutional. According to the Library of Congress, Napoleon did not have enough troops to occupy Louisiana while simultaneously subduing Saint-Domingue. [60] With tensions increasing with Great Britain, in 1809 Fort Bellefontaine was converted to a U.S. military fort and was used for that purpose until 1826. American diplomats Robert Livingston and James Monroepurchased the Louisiana Territory from the French for $15 million dollars, or four cents an acre, in 1803. Copyright 2023 History in Charts | Powered by Astra WordPress Theme. [22] In 1804 Haiti declared its independence; but fearing a slave revolt at home, Jefferson and the rest of Congress refused to recognize the new republic, the second in the Western Hemisphere, and imposed a trade embargo against it. The Louisiana territory was now worthless to him, and he immediately sought to offload the territory to the United States. Spain procrastinated until late 1802 in executing the treaty to transfer Louisiana to France, which allowed American hostility to build. The French government replied that these objections were baseless since the promise not to alienate Louisiana was not in the treaty of San Ildefonso itself and therefore had no legal force, and the Spanish government had ordered Louisiana to be transferred in October 1802 despite knowing for months that Britain had not recognized the King of Etruria in the Treaty of Amiens. The Similarities And Differences Between The Lewis And Clark Expedition. Interested in reaching out? [24], The opposition of New England Federalists to the Louisiana Purchase was primarily economic self-interest, not any legitimate concern over constitutionality or whether France indeed owned Louisiana or was required to sell it back to Spain should it desire to dispose of the territory. Britain B. Spain C. RussiaD. The United . Lucien said that the legislative chambers of the French government would not approve it, to which Napoleon replied that he would do it without their consent. President Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury. [37][38], Effective October 1, 1804, the purchased territory was organized into the Territory of Orleans (most of which would become the state of Louisiana) and the District of Louisiana, which was temporarily under control of the governor and judicial system of the Indiana Territory. Though Jefferson urged moderation, Federalists sought to use this against Jefferson and called for hostilities against France. In this light the deal can be seen as a win-win between Napoleon and the United States. The eastern boundary below the 31st parallel was unclear. In 1791, influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution, a slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. The Territory of Louisiana or Louisiana Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 4, 1805, [1] until June 4, 1812, when it was renamed the Missouri Territory. With a $15 million investment, the United States acquired more than 800,000 acres, almost doubling the country's land holdings. As it turns out, France, or more accurately its ruler Napoleon Bonaparte, had some good reasons for doing it. Who owned Louisiana before the US? - 2023 This secret deal did not remain secret for long. "The district of Louisiana changed to the territory of Louisiana". To Napoleon's line of thinking, if the United States took control of Louisiana, then it would deny Britain the opportunity of conquering it. This would allow the Americans to retain clear access to the river. The Library of Congress explains how President Thomas Jefferson realized the precariousness of having France as a neighbor. In November 1803, France withdrew its 7,000 surviving troops from Saint-Domingue (more than two-thirds of its troops died there) and gave up its ambitions in the Western Hemisphere. On January 1, 1804, Haiti declared its independence. As described by Louisiana State University, France even went so far as to send convicts from debtors' prisons to the colony in 1717 in order to increase its settlement. By the 1720s, several settlements had developed, the chief of which was the territory's capital at New Orleans. On March 9 and 10, 1804, another ceremony, commemorated as Three Flags Day, was conducted in St. Louis, to transfer ownership of Upper Louisiana from Spain to France, and then from France to the United States. Its European peoples, of ethnic French, Spanish and Mexican descent, were largely Catholic; in addition, there was a large population of enslaved Africans made up of a high proportion of recent arrivals, as Spain had continued the transatlantic slave trade. In 1800, Napoleon, the First Consul of the French Republic, regained ownership of Louisiana as part of a broader effort to re-establish a French colonial empire in North America. Military expenditures accounted for nearly 60% of the overall budget, a staggering number to maintain.2. While the concept of "manifest destiny" would not make it into the American lexicon until 1845, the idea that the United States had a divine mission to expand had been in place since the earliest colonial times. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, the French colony of Louisiana became a pawn for European political intrigue. [52] If the territory included all the tributaries of the Mississippi on its western bank, the northern reaches of the purchase extended into the equally ill-defined British possessionRupert's Land of British North America, now part of Canada. The rest was history. Pamela Martin In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte surprised U.S. negotiators with an offer to sell the Louisiana Territory for approximately 4 cents per acre. Pinckney's Treaty, signed with Spain on October 27, 1795, gave American merchants "right of deposit" in New Orleans, granting them use of the port to store goods for export. Just three weeks earlier, on November 30, 1803, Spanish officials had formally conveyed the colonial lands and their administration to France. [27], Spain protested the transfer on two grounds: First, France had previously promised in a note not to alienate Louisiana to a third party and second, France had not fulfilled the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso by having the King of Etruria recognized by all European powers. The many court cases and tribal suits in the 1930s for historical damages flowing from the Louisiana Purchase led to the Indian Claims Commission Act (ICCA) in 1946. On March 11, 1803, Napoleon began preparing to invade Great Britain. By April 30, 1803, they hashed out an agreement where the Americans would pay $15 million, a considerable reduction, although its constitutionality was debated. While Washington was president, the political parties that formed in the United States were the _______ Party, led by Hamilton and the _______ Party, led by Jefferson. The Real Reason France Sold The Louisiana Territory To The United States The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. Andrew Jackson. [25] The American purchase of the Louisiana territory was not accomplished without domestic opposition. Everybody who has taken grade-school history knows the story. While Napoleon originally tried to sell the territory for $22 million, the two sides eventually agreed to a sale at $15 million. A U.S. Slaves were routinely terrorized in a race-based social order. Furthermore, the French had no administration over the territory and few French settlers lived on the land. In the end, Barings and Hopes acquired the $11.25 million in bonds for just $9.44 million. Jefferson, as a strict constructionist, was right to be concerned about staying within the bounds of the Constitution, but felt the power of these arguments and was willing to "acquiesce with satisfaction" if the Congress approved the treaty. This was possible because the Louisiana territory did not only encompass Louisiana as the state that exists today. United States and France conclude the Louisiana Purchase [4] New Orleans was already important for shipping agricultural goods to and from the areas of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains. [21] The Louisiana Territory was vast, stretching from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to Rupert's Land in the north, and from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west. True False. Advertisement lollol The Louisiana Territory was sold to the United States by France on December 20th, 1803, for the bargin of less than three cents per acre. Alain Chappet, Roger Martin, Alain Pigeard. In the 1780s, it produced 60% of the world's coffee and supplied Britain and France with 40% of its sugar. The Louisiana Purchase was the latter, a treaty. [T]his little event, of France possessing herself of Louisiana, . 50721. As the lands were being gradually settled by American migrants, many Americans, including Jefferson, assumed that the territory would be acquired "piece by piece." is the embryo of a tornado which will burst on the countries on both shores . Felix S. Cohen, Interior Department Lawyer who helped pass ICCA, is often quoted as saying, "practically all of the real estate acquired by the United States since 1776 was purchased not from Napoleon or any other emperor or czar but from its original Indian owners", roughly estimating that Indians had received twenty times as much as France had for the territory bought by the United States, "somewhat in excess of 800 million dollars". Louisiana Purchase - Wikipedia Lucien later reported in a memoirthat the pair sought out their brother in the Tuileries, where they found the ruler indulging in a bath. Aside from the obvious drive for conquest by Napoleon, he knew that when war started between the two countries, Britain would attempt to take Louisiana. Browman, David L (2018). Louis. The AdamsOns Treaty with Spain resolved the issue upon ratification in 1821. As the United States spread across the Appalachians, the Mississippi River became an increasingly important conduit for the produce of America's West (which at that time referred to the . He was assisted by James Monroe. Already at the time, American frontier settlers slowly trickled into the territory. Another concern was whether it was proper to grant citizenship to the French, Spanish, and free black people living in New Orleans, as the treaty would dictate. Ambassador who was sent to France to negotiate the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. Why did Napoleon Sell the Louisiana Territory? [citation needed]. His strategy was to use Louisiana to supply the flour, salted meat, timber, and other resources necessary to support his troops on the island colony. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25723883. 4 and 7. successful French demand for an indemnity, Indian Territory Indian Reserve and Louisiana Purchase, Foreign affairs of the Jefferson administration, Territorial evolution of the United States, Territories of the United States on stamps, "The True Cost of the Louisiana Purchase", "Congressional series of United States public documents", "Milestones: 18011829 Office of the Historian", "3 Of The Most Lucrative Land Deals In History", "Primary Documents of American History: Louisiana Purchase", "America's Louisiana Purchase: Noble Bargain, Difficult Journey", "The Louisiana Purchase: Jefferson's constitutional gamble", National Archives and Records Administration, "Aspecten van de Geschiedenis van Hope & Co en van Gelieerde Ondernemingen", "Convention Between the United States of America and the French Republic (Article III)", "Statutes & Constitution :Constitution: Online Sunshine", "Slave Freedom Suits before Dred Scott: The Case of Marie Jean Scypion's Descendants", Case and Controversies in U.S. History, Page 42, Territorial expansion of the United States, Acquisition of the Northern Mariana Islands (1986), A Summary View of the Rights of British America, Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, 1777 draft and 1786 passage, Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, Plan for Establishing Uniformity in the Coinage, Weights, and Measures of the United States, Proposals for concerted operation among the powers at war with the Pyratical states of Barbary, Jefferson manuscript collection at the Massachusetts Historical Society, Member, Virginia Committee of Correspondence, Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, Thomas Jefferson Star for Foreign Service, Washington and Jefferson National Forests, Louisiana Purchase Exposition gold dollar, Memorial to the 56 Signers of the Declaration of Independence, Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, Constitution drafting and ratification timeline, Co-author, George Washington's Farewell Address, 1789 Virginia's 5th congressional district election, James Madison Memorial Fellowship Foundation, James Madison Freedom of Information Award, James Monroe Law Office, Museum, and Memorial Library, The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton, December 26, 1776, United States Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Jefferson Memorial Committee of Five pediment, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louisiana_Purchase&oldid=1137551974, States and territories established in 1803, States and territories disestablished in 1804, Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from February 2015, Short description is different from Wikidata, All Wikipedia articles written in American English, Articles with unsourced statements from February 2021, Articles with unsourced statements from January 2022, Pages using Sister project links with hidden wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Gleijeses, Piero. As the Library of Congress describes, Saint-Domingue was incredibly valuable. Why Was Washingtons Farewell Address Important? What reason did Madison give Congress for declaring war in 1812? This, together with the successful French demand for an indemnity of 150 million francs in 1825, severely hampered Haiti's ability to repair its economy after decades of war. [42] In October 1803, the U.S. Treasury had some $5.86 million in specie on hand, $2 million of which would be used to pay a portion of the debts assumed from France as part of the purchase. As for France, it never seriously established a colonial presence in the Americas again. While Napoleon originally tried to sell the territory for $22 million, the two sides eventually agreed to a sale at $15 million. [citation needed], Governing the Louisiana Territory was more difficult than acquiring it. Jefferson's philosophical consistency was in question because of his strict interpretation of the Constitution. The two powers were at peace in early 1803, having signed the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, which, as explained by Britannica, ended hostilities between the two nations. As part of the deal, the U.S. assumed responsibility for 20 million francs ($3.75 million) of French debts owed to U.S. citizens. The Louisiana Territory was a vast stretch of land of over 500 million acres from the Mississippi River Delta to the present-day border between Montana and Canada. Where Saint Domingue would be the crown jewel with its lucrative sugar plantations, Louisiana would be the bread basket supplying the empire with grains. U.S History 13.Test Matching Flashcards | Quizlet The Real Reason France Sold The Louisiana Territory To The United States, National Museum of American History/Wikimedia Commons, National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons. Knowing that war was imminent, Napoleon sensed two opportunities by selling the Louisiana territory. It was the French who sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States. Also, many Federalists were speculators in lands in upstate New York and New England and were hoping to sell these lands to farmers, who might go west instead, if the Louisiana Purchase went through. The first reason that Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory was that the French government was in need of money. [45] In 2021 dollars, the $15 million purchase price is equivalent to $336.92million. However, in 1800 Spain had ceded the Louisiana territory back to France as part of Napoleon's secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. "[19] On July 4, 1803, the treaty was announced,[20] but the documents did not arrive in Washington, D.C. until July 14. This situation would further expand and strengthen the British empireNapoleons worst-case scenario. Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase. [33] The fledgling United States did not have $15 million in its treasury; it borrowed the sum from Great Britain, at an annual interest rate of six percent. Louverture, as a French general, had fended off incursions from other European powers, but had also begun to consolidate power for himself on the island. 1) Sloane, William M. The World Aspects of the Louisiana Purchase. The American Historical Review, vol. ", This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 06:28. Napoleon Bonaparte used the cash to finance his war efforts, but he was finally and permanently defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. The problem with Saint-Domingue was that its entire economy was supported by and depended entirely upon slavery. Without that, the United States' international influence would be less, as would its influence over the development of democracies. While 3-4 cents an acre was not a massive deal, from Napoleon's perspective he received a large sum of money for land he had just received and had virtually no control over. The confederations that are called perpetual, only last till one of the contracting parties finds it to its interest to break them, and it is to prevent the danger, to which the colossal power of England exposes us, that I would provide a remedy. The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by United States president, Thomas Jefferson, in 1803. [30], Other historians counter the above arguments regarding Jefferson's alleged hypocrisy by asserting that countries change their borders in two ways: (1) conquest, or (2) an agreement between nations, otherwise known as a treaty. Without the profits from Saint-Domingue, it did not make sense to try to defend the sprawling Louisiana Territory, and Napoleon was worried about the British. How did Jefferson acquire Louisiana Territory? Napoleon brought stabilization to the regime, though direct taxes on the population made up a sky-high ~60% of all government revenues, compared to just 30% pre-revolution.2, In addition, Napoleons government maintained a large standing army to protect the nation and ward off enemies. In a letter, Thomas Jefferson wrote that France's repossession of the territory "is the embryo of a tornado which will burst on the countries on both shores of the Atlantic and involve in it's effects their highest destinies.". This could weaken Britain's war effort against France and give Napoleon victory. [26] The Federalists also feared that the power of the Atlantic seaboard states would be threatened by the new citizens in the West, whose political and economic priorities were bound to conflict with those of the merchants and bankers of New England. Napoleon informed his brothers of the sale and asked for their opinion. The French ruler was just about to embark on a series of devastating wars. They wanted the U.S. government to establish laws allowing slavery in the newly acquired territory so they could be supported in taking their slaves there to undertake new agricultural enterprises, as well as to reduce the threat of future slave rebellions. The jewel of the French overseas empire was Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean, which is today's Haiti on the large island of Hispaniola. It was the first and only time that a slave revolt had seen such success, and this epochal event in San-Domingue is linked with the Louisiana Purchase. First, an empowered United States could effectively act as a formidable rival to Britain. Please feel free to fill out our Contact Form. Among Eurocentric circles, the Louisiana Purchase was seen as one of the greatest land deals in history. He engaged in back-channel diplomacy with Napoleon on Jefferson's behalf during a visit to France and originated the idea of the much larger Louisiana Purchase as a way to defuse potential conflict between the United States and Napoleon over North America.[11]. What Napoleon needed was a way to divest himself of the territory while at the same time preventing it from falling into British hands. See chapter iii, "Treaty Ceding Louisiana to the United States" (1803 ff.). II, Sec. The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. However, Livingston was certain that the United States would accept the offer.[16]. The British would have likely garrisoned New Orleans and would have occupied it for a very long time because they and their ally Spain did not recognize any treaties and land deals conducted by Napoleon since 1800, especially the Louisiana Purchase. To learn more about US history, check out this timeline of the history of the United States. Washington University in St. Louis Press. While Napoleon had grand plans for the Louisiana territory, those dreams were far off. Overcoming the opposition of the Federalist Party, Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison persuaded Congress to ratify and fund the Louisiana Purchase. Furthermore, the Spanish prime minister had authorized the U.S. to negotiate with the French government "the acquisition of territories which may suit their interests." Napoleon's brothers, Lucien and Joseph, objected, thinking it a black mark on France's reputation and glory. The Northerners were not enthusiastic about Western farmers gaining another outlet for their crops that did not require the use of New England ports. The land that was purchased was very, very cheap. He stood up and then splashed back down into the water so heavily that his brothers got soaked. "[29] The sale of course was not "worthless"the U.S. actually did take possession. How was the Louisiana Territory acquired? There was no arguing with Napoleon, who would, after all,crown himself Emperor in 1804. ", The Historic New Orleans Collection provides more nuance to the negotiations of the Louisiana Purchase. Upon word of the Louisiana territory transfer from Spain to France, some hot-headed members of Congress proposed a preemptive strike against New Orleans. With the failure to retake Saint-Domingue and the inevitability of renewed war between France and Britain, Napoleon refigured his political calculus. Livingston wrote to James Madison, "We shall do all we can to cheapen the purchase, but my present sentiment is that we shall buy.". [62] The U.S. later built or expanded forts along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers, including adding to Fort Bellefontaine, and constructing Fort Armstrong (1816) and Fort Edwards (1816) in Illinois, Fort Crawford (1816) in Wisconsin, Fort Snelling (1819) in Minnesota, and Fort Atkinson (1819) in Nebraska. How did France obtain the Louisiana Territory? - 2023 According to the memoirs of Franois Barb-Marbois, in what was a prophetic statement foreshadowing the American Civil War, Napoleon said, "Perhaps it will also be objected to me, that the Americans may be found too powerful for Europe in two or three centuries: but my foresight does not embrace such remote fears. They wrote an enthusiasticletter to Secretary of State James Madison: "An acquisition of so great an extent was, we well Know, not contemplated by our appointment; but we are persuaded that the Circumstances and Considerations which induced us to make it, will justify us, in the measure, to our Government and Country.".