The idea was taken up by lawmakers such as Senator James Ross of Pennsylvania, who drafted a resolution calling on Jefferson to form a 50,000-man army to take the city. The lack of instructions and the necessity of consulting ones government are always legitimate excuses in order to obtain delays in political affairs, he once wrote. Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase. To Napoleon's line of thinking, if the United States took control of Louisiana, then it would deny Britain the opportunity of conquering it. [3] The western borders of the purchase were later settled by the 1819 AdamsOns Treaty with Spain, while the northern borders of the purchase were adjusted by the Treaty of 1818 with Britain. Meanwhile, Louisiana, which also became a state after the purchase, remained a slave state, and New Orleans remained a critical hub of the slave trade. The soldiers there were untrained and undisciplined, he lamented, and the whole colony was not worth a straw at the present time. Concluding that the area was valueless, Louis XV gave the territory to his Bourbon cousin Charles III of Spain in 1763. 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. Answer (1 of 2): Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. The Louisiana Purchase was the latter, a treaty. Plenty of sunshine. 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, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Louisiana_Purchase&oldid=1150213397, Gleijeses, Piero. Napoleon Bonaparte used the cash to finance his war efforts, but he was finally and permanently defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Privacy Statement The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi out to sea. France acquired Louisiana from Spain in 1800 and took possession in 1802. Acquisition of Louisiana was a long-term goal of President Thomas Jefferson, who was especially eager to gain control of the crucial Mississippi River port of New Orleans. 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. [51] The dispute was ultimately resolved by the AdamsOns Treaty of 1819, with the United States gaining most of what it had claimed in the west. The final price after the 15-year bonds were paid was $27 million, still a very good deal for the United States, and not really a bad one for Napoleon, considering the pressure he was under to dump the territory. On January 1, 1804, Haiti declared its independence. So many slaves died of yellow feverand ill treatment that the entire slave population turned overevery 20 years, and slaves were held in subjugation through a strict caste system. By doubling the size of the U.S., the purchase added vast swaths of territory that, pro-slavery advocates argued, should be filled with slaves. In 1718, French explorer Jean-Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, founded a settlement near the site of La Salles proclamation, and named it la Nouvelle Orlans for Philippe, Duke of Orlans and Regent of France. 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. i. France was promised control over Canada. The difficulties and risks . There he confirmed Napolons desire to sell the territory for $22,500,000. Because of this favored position, the U.S. asked Barings to handle the transaction. The French ruler was just about to embark on a series of devastating wars. When it came to profit and geopolitical importance, Napoleon was far more interested in the Caribbean. In exchange, the United States acquired the vast domain of Louisiana Territory, some 828,000 square miles of land. In his initial meeting with Napolon after taking up his Paris post in 1801, Livingston had been warned about Old World ways. As told by Michigan State University, both of them were shocked when the French minister, Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand, asked how much they would pay for the entire territory. What Napoleon needed was a way to divest himself of the territory while at the same time preventing it from falling into British hands. "[29] The sale of course was not "worthless"the U.S. actually did take possession. | READ MORE, 2023 Smithsonian Magazine Barings relayed to order to Hopes, which declined to comply, allowing the final payments to be made to France in April 1804. This was emphasized when in the memoir of Franois Barb-Marbois, Napoleon gave up his claim to the territory saying, "Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Why did France sell Louisiana? The Louisiana Territory, in Napolons view, was useful mainly as a granary for Saint Domingue. Jefferson justified the purchase by rationalizing, "it is the case of a guardian, investing the money of his ward in purchasing an important adjacent territory; & saying to him when of age, I did this for your good." Throughout this time, Jefferson had up-to-date intelligence on Napoleon's military activities and intentions in North America. The Boston Columbian Centinel editorialized, We are to give money of which we have too little for land of which we already have too much. And Congressman Joseph Quincy of Massachusetts so opposed the deal that he favored secession by the Northeastern states, amicably if they can; violently if they must.. by force of arms. As Secretary of State James Madison explained, The Mississippi is to them everything. Many Southern slaveholders feared that acquisition of the new territory might inspire American-held slaves to follow the example of those in Saint-Domingue and revolt. Part of his evolving strategy involved giving du Pont some information that was withheld from Livingston. In 1799, he had seized power in a coup d'tat in France and wanted to restore French glory in the Americas. Refinement, he declared, does not exist in the United States. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) The Republican secretaries of state in Ohio, West Virginia and Missouri have promoted their states' elections as fair and secure. According to Slavery and Remembrance, the French imported nearly 800,000 enslaved Africans to the colony for brutal plantation work in what was one of the most violent slavery systems in the Americas. National Geographic also adds that it paved the way for the imperial expansion and conquest of the Native American tribes of the West. [61], During the War of 1812, Great Britain hoped to annex all or at least portions of the Louisiana Purchase should they successfully defeat the U.S. Aided by their Indian allies, the British defeated U.S. forces in the Upper Mississippi; the U.S. abandoned Forts Osage and Madison, as well as several other U.S. forts built during the war, including Fort Johnson and Fort Shelby. But when the colonial government back in St. Domingue refused to recognize the law, the groundwork was laid for violence and revolt. [42], Although the War of the Third Coalition, which brought France into a war with the United Kingdom, began before the purchase was completed, the British government initially allowed the deal to proceed as it was better for the neutral Americans to own the territory than the hostile French. 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. Beginning in the 17th century, France explored the Mississippi River valley and established scattered settlements in the region. [12], Although the foreign minister Talleyrand opposed the plan, on April 10, 1803, Napoleon told the Treasury Minister Franois Barb-Marbois that he was considering selling the entire Louisiana Territory to the United States. In 1791, influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution, a slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. Advertising Notice The whole thing came as a total surprise to him and his negotiating team in Paris, because it was, after all, Napolons idea, not his., Showing up unexpectedly at the dinner party Livingston gave on April 12 for Monroes arrival, Barb-Marbois discreetly asked Livingston to meet him later that night at the treasury office. Selling the Louisiana territory gave Napoleon a significant windfall from a territory he was probably going to lose anyway. [5], In 1798, Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans, greatly upsetting Americans. Find History on Facebook (Opens in a new window), Find History on Twitter (Opens in a new window), Find History on YouTube (Opens in a new window), Find History on Instagram (Opens in a new window), Find History on TikTok (Opens in a new window), The American Presidency with Bill Clinton, https://www.history.com/news/louisiana-purchase-price-french-colonial-slave-rebellion, The Louisiana Purchase Was Driven by a Slave Rebellion. A.to fund its European wars B.to create a North American empire C.to fund its war against Haitian revolutionaries . But by the time Victor assembled enough men and ships in January 1803, ice blocked the Dutchport, making it impossible for him to set sail. He took possession of the whole Mississippi River basin, he avowed, in the name of the most high, mighty, invincible and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by Grace of God king of France and Navarre, 14th of that name. And it was in honor of Louis XIV that he named the land Louisiana. Monroe, along with the minister to France, Robert Livingston, made the inquiry. In 1796, Spain allied itself with France, leading Britain to use its powerful navy to cut off Spain from America. The Louisiana Purchase (1803) was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million . France retook it in 1800 when it more or less invaded Spain. By the sale, Napolon hoped to create a huge country in the Western Hemisphere to serve as a counterweight to Britain and maybe make trouble for it., On April 11, when Livingston called on Talleyrand for what he thought was yet another futile attempt to deal, the foreign minister, after the de rigueur small talk, suddenly asked whether the United States would perchance wish to buy the whole of the Louisiana Territory. The acquisition of the area would increase the size of the country two-fold; it was one of the largest property proceedings in history, involving more land than today's France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and the British . Lucien later reported in a memoirthat the pair sought out their brother in the Tuileries, where they found the ruler indulging in a bath. 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. By early 1803, Napoleon decided to abandon his plans to rebuild France's New World empire. [1][2] More recently, the total cost to the U.S. government of all subsequent treaties and financial settlements over the land has been estimated to be around 2.6 billion dollars. In financial straits at the time, Monroe sold his china and furniture to raise travel funds, asked a neighbor to manage his properties, and sailed for France on March 8, 1803, with Jeffersons parting admonition ringing in his ears: The future destinies of this republic depended on his success. How was the Louisiana Territory acquired? The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. 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. Start your free trial today. The Louisiana Purchase is considered one America's most important and prosperous investments. [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. WATCH: Full episodes of The American Presidency with Bill Clinton online now. One man is everything.. What was the most important effect of the Louisiana Purchase? The exhibition points up how intertwined the two nations were at the time. Besides, we may hereafter expect rivalries among the members of the Union. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million and nearly doubled the size of the U.S. Recent post: Does Cu Sell Alcohol? Why did France want to sell the Louisiana Territory See answers Advertisement Advertisement countsbrycem countsbrycem Answer: to fund its European wars. [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. They approached the French with the offer to buy New Orleans, a port city of vital significance to American trade that they worried about France owning. Thomas Jefferson New Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi were transferred to Spain in 1762, and French territories east of the Mississippi, including Canada, were ceded to Britain the next year. This was coupled with the importation of enslaved Africans. They also feared that this would lead to Western states being formed, which would likely be Republican, and dilute the political power of New England Federalists. [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. What we wanted to do was enrich peoples understanding of the significance of this moment, says Gail Feigenbaum, lead curator of the show. Erin Blakemore is a journalist from Boulder, Colorado. [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. In a letter to U.S. minister to France Robert Livingston, President Thomas Jefferson stated, The day that France takes possession of New Orleanswe must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation.. [4] New Orleans was already important for shipping agricultural goods to and from the areas of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains. The entire economy of Americas Western territories was in jeopardy. In legislation enacted on October 31, Congress made temporary provisions for local civil government to continue as it had under French and Spanish rule and authorized the President to use military forces to maintain order. iv. What was known at the time as the Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. It is not only New Orleans that I will cede, it is the whole colony without reservation. In 1718, the French established New Orleans, and scant groups of colonists moved in. This was particularly true in the area of the present-day state of Louisiana, which also contained a large number of free people of color. The following year, the District of Louisiana was renamed the Territory of Louisiana. Americans cried Huzzah! and waved their hats, while French and Spanish residents sulked in glum silence. On the following day, October 21, 1803, the Senate authorized Jefferson to take possession of the territory and establish a temporary military government. How did the French Own Louisiana? The scene caused a servant to faint, and when Lucien lingered to try to argue the point, Napoleon said to his brother that if he opposed him he would break him like a snuffbox which he smashed into the floor. The four decades following the Louisiana Purchase was an era of court decisions removing many tribes from their lands east of the Mississippi for resettlement in the new territory, culminating in the Trail of Tears. France turned over New Orleans, the historic colonial capital, on December 20, 1803, at the Cabildo, with a flag-raising ceremony in the Plaza de Armas, now Jackson Square. Albany, GA (31701) Today. The Louisiana Territory was established, as described by Smithsonian Magazine, in 1682, when the French explorer Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River, put up a cross and column, and declared to a group of puzzled Native Americans that the entire river basin belonged to France. When the United States found out that instead of Spain as their neighbor, it was to be France under Napoleon with imperial ambitions, the Americans feared that their access to the Mississippi would be cut off. [25] The American purchase of the Louisiana territory was not accomplished without domestic opposition. Thomas Jeffersonand his cabinet, themselves terrified of a French presence so close to the United States, used this conundrum as an opening. Children in pens. The treaty called for the return of the vast territory to France in exchange for the small kingdom of Etruria in northern Italy, which Charles wanted for his daughter Louisetta. Free shipping for many products! Barb-Marbois received his orders on April 11, 1803, when Napolon summoned him. [32] The Senate quickly ratified the treaty, and the House, with equal readiness, authorized the required funding, as the Constitution specifies. Or, as Jefferson put it in his usual understated way, The fertility of thecountry, its climate and extent, promise in due season importantaids to our treasury, an ample provision for our posterity, and a wide-spread field for the blessings of freedom., American historians today are more outspoken in their enthusiasm for the acquisition. 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. That same month Jefferson asked James Monroe, a former member of Congress and former governor of Virginia, to join Livingston in Paris as minister extraordinary with discretionary powers to spend $9,375,000 to secure New Orleans and parts of the Floridas (to consolidate the U.S. position in the southeastern part of the continent). She has been a regular contributor to History.com since 2017. The bank then turned over ownership of the Louisiana Territory to the United States in return for bonds, which were repaid over 15 years at 6 percent interest, making the final purchase price around $27 million. It remained in Spanish hands until 1800, when Napoleon Bonaparte negotiated a secret treaty with Spain and took the vast holding back in exchange for tiny Etruria in Northern Italy. The purchase originally extended just beyond the 50th parallel. It was all in a days work at the New Orleans, Louisiana slavemarket, the largest and most lucrative in the pre-Civil War United States. [42] The first group of bonds were issued on January 16, 1804, but the banks had already provided a 10 million franc advance to France in July 1803. France had surrendered its North American possessions at the end of the French and Indian War. But Napolons troops in Saint Domingue were being decimated by a revolution and an outbreak of yellow fever. This success stuck in Napoleon's craw. But though the victory eliminated slavery in Haiti, slavery increased in the country that purchased the land Haiti had spooked France into selling. The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. 2), which is just what Jefferson did. The Louisiana Purchase was one of history's greatest bargains, a chance for the United States to buy what promised to be one of France's largest and wealthiest territories and eliminate a. By April 30, 1803, they hashed out an agreement where the Americans would pay $15 million, a considerable reduction, although its constitutionality was debated. By the time of the Louisiana Purchase, its population of whites, slaves of African origin and free persons of color was about 8,000. By Edmund Duncan May 31, 2022. In fact, Talleyrand was intruding on a deal that Napolon had assigned to the French finance minister, Franois de Barb-Marbois. Both present-day Arkansas and Missouri already had some slaveholders in the 18th and early 19th century. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi, which had become vital to the growing trade of the western territories. As farmers headed into the newly created Missouri territory with their slaves, lawmakers tussled over the issue of which parts should have slavery. [43] Hopes brought to the transaction experience with issuing sovereign bonds and Barings brought its American connections.[42]. Both Federalists and Jeffersonians were concerned over the purchase's constitutionality. French historians point out that Napolon had several reasons for this decision. What if France did not sell Louisiana? The U.S. claimed that Louisiana included the entire western portion of the Mississippi River drainage basin to the crest of the Rocky Mountains and land extending to the Rio Grande and West Florida. This must have been a wrenching moment for Jefferson, who had long been a Francophile. When Joseph continued to object, Napoleon shouted, "You are insolent!" And John Trumbulls huge painting The Signing of the Declaration of Independence documents the historic American event that so greatly impressed and influenced French revolutionary thinkers. When Livingston tried to discuss the territory, Talleyrand simply denied that there was any treaty between France and Spain. By any measure, it was one of the most colossal land transactions in history, involving an area larger than todays France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland and the British Isles combined. There was no arguing with Napoleon, who would, after all,crown himself Emperor in 1804. However, France's failure to suppress a revolt in Saint-Domingue, coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom, prompted Napoleon to consider selling Louisiana to the United States. [citation needed]. . Britain and France renewed hostilities on May 18, 1803, shortly after the deal was finalized. Since the late 1780s, Americans had been moving westward into the Ohio River and Tennessee River valleys, and these settlers were highly dependent on free access to the Mississippi River and the strategic port of New Orleans. In 1801, Spanish Governor Don Juan Manuel de Salcedo took over from the Marquess of Casa Calvo, and restored the American right to deposit goods. Napoleon's goal: an American empire. [18] After the signing Livingston famously stated, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank. Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States, formed into one stream.. [63], The Louisiana Purchase was negotiated between France and the United States, without consulting the various Indian tribes who lived on the land and who had not ceded the land to any colonial power. However, one has to question whether the French ruler considered the consequences of selling France's interest in Louisiana. The French were fascinated by Americawhich they often symbolized in paintings and drawings as a befeathered Noble Savage standing beside an alligatorbut they could not decide whether it was a new Eden or, as the naturalist Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon declared, a primitive place fit only for degenerate life-forms. The vast territory was named after Louis XIV, the so-called Sun King. The revolution brought the colony to a state of insurrection and civil war. As explained by Medium, in 1803, even before final Haitian independence, it had dawned on Napoleon that his prospects for developing an American empire were growing increasingly faint. Thus, the correct answer is option A. Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France, and war between France and the UK was imminent. Napolons brothers Joseph and Lucien had gone to see him at the Tuileries Palace on April 7, determined to convince him not to sell the territory. Behind the scenes, he plotted to take the island back over and reinstitute slavery. [6] The territory nominally remained under Spanish control, until a transfer of power to France on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the formal cession of the territory to the United States on December 20, 1803.[7]. France wanted to sell the Louisiana Territory to raise funds for Napoleon Bonaparte's war effortsin Europe and to cut its losses in the Americas after losing its colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti). The treaty was signed by Barb-Marbois, Livingston and Monroe on May 2 and backdated to April 30. Having arrived in New Orleans from Paris with his wife and three daughters just nine months earlier, in March 1803, the cultivated, worldly French functionary had expected to reign for six or eight years as colonial prefect over the vast territory of Louisiana, which was to be Frances North American empire. France needed money to finance wars. Critics in Congress worried whether these "foreigners", unacquainted with democracy, could or should become citizens. He wanted Saint-Domingue and its incredibly profitable sugar and coffee plantations restored and under French control, with the old system reinstated. Slavery was now legal in Missouri, and the new state added pro-slave members to Congress. Peace is our passion, he declared, and expressed the concern that hotheaded members of the opposition Federalist Party might force us into war. He had already instructed Livingston in early 1802 to approach Napolons foreign minister, Charles Maurice de Talleyrand, to try to prevent the cession of the territory to France, if this had not already occurred, or, if the deal was done, to try to purchase New Orleans.
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