who sold the louisiana territory to the united states

II, Sec. However, as Slate Magazine describes, the United States did not so much buy the land but rather the imperial rights to conquer it and take it from the Native Americans who'd lived there for millennia. Jefferson had authorized Livingston only to purchase New Orleans. As a result, the State Department describes how the president began military preparations along the Mississippi and sent James Monroe to France with authorization to buy New Orleans and West Florida for up to $10 million. Napoleon quipped after the Louisiana treaty: Napoleon was correct in that the Jeffersonian Democrats favored closer relations with France over Spain. [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. 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. The great expansion of the United States achieved by the Louisiana Purchase did receive criticism, though . Who was President at the time of the Embargo Act? 2) White, Eugene Nelson. While Napoleon originally tried to sell the territory for $22 million, the two sides eventually agreed to a sale at $15 million. [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. 1) Sloane, William M. The World Aspects of the Louisiana Purchase. The American Historical Review, vol. He added later, "I require money to make war on the richest nation in the world.". ", This page was last edited on 5 February 2023, at 06:28. [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. In 1799, he had seized power in a coup d'tat in France and wanted to restore French glory in the Americas. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase Europe was held under a temporary peace as a result of the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. Jefferson sent Livingston to Paris in 1801[9] with the authorization to purchase New Orleans. By April 30, 1803, they hashed out an agreement where the Americans would pay $15 million, a considerable reduction, although its constitutionality was debated. He bought the Louisiana territory from France, which was being led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time, for 15,000,000 USD (about $320,000,000 in 2020 dollars). Slaves were routinely terrorized in a race-based social order. D. was forced to sell the land after losing a war to the United States. When it came to profit and geopolitical importance, Napoleon was far more interested in the Caribbean. The Library of Congress explains how President Thomas Jefferson realized the precariousness of having France as a neighbor. The territory made up all or part of fifteen modern U.S. states between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. The resources and land from theLouisiana territory considerably helped the United States become the global power it is today. Napoleon's brothers, Lucien and Joseph, objected, thinking it a black mark on France's reputation and glory. As a result, Napoleon's view of Louisiana transformed from that of an outpost to that of a poker chip, ready to cash in. [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. 3, 1904, pp. The relatively narrow Louisiana of New Spain had been a special province under the jurisdiction of the Captaincy General of Cuba, while the vast region to the west was in 1803 still considered part of the Commandancy General of the Provincias Internas. According to the census of 1810, there were 20,845 Americans in the Territory of Louisiana, among whom were 3,011 slaves. 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. Many people believed that he and others, including James Madison, were doing something they surely would have argued against with Alexander Hamilton. The U.S. claimed the land as far as the Perdido River, and Spain claimed that the border of its Florida Colony remained the Mississippi River. Napoleon Bonaparte used the cash to finance his war efforts, but he was finally and permanently defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. It was even subject to a speculative bubble which ruined fortunes. "The district of Louisiana changed to the territory of Louisiana". Throughout the second half of the 18th century, the French colony of Louisiana became a pawn for European political intrigue. "Napoleon, Jefferson, and the Louisiana Purchase. The territory utterly transformed the nation over the next decades, in both good and bad ways. [17] The signers were Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Franois Barb-Marbois. 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. [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. The Lewis and Clark expedition followed shortly thereafter. The Significance and Purpose of the Treaty of Tordesillas. 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. Napoleon was reported to have said of Louisiana in his treasury minister's memoir, "To attempt obstinately to retain it would be folly.". Even though Europeans had ostensibly laid claim to Louisiana for centuries, it remained largely undeveloped, with few wanting to move there. Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase. [citation needed], During this period, south Louisiana received an influx of French-speaking refugee planters, who were permitted to bring their slaves with them, and other refugees fleeing the large slave revolt in Saint-Domingue. 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.. Who claimed the Louisiana Territory for France? This was possible because the Louisiana territory did not only encompass Louisiana as the state that exists today. 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. To France, it was a backwater sort of like owning Mediterranean Avenue in Monopoly. The deal helped Jefferson win reelection in 1804 by a landslide. leader of the Democratic-Republican Party, sold Louisiana Territory to the United States, The first capital of the United States was Washington, D.C. With a $15 million investment, the United States acquired more than 800,000 acres, almost doubling the country's land holdings. The formidable British navy could easily blockade the territory and seize it for themselves. This sale was made under the direction of Napoleon's government in order to help France pay for their war materials. 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. The Constitution specifically grants the president the power to negotiate treaties (Art. The remaining 60 million francs ($11.25 million) were financed through U.S. government bonds carrying 6% interest, redeemable between 1819 and 1822. In January 1802, France sent General Charles Leclerc on an expedition to Saint-Domingue to reassert French control over a colony that had become essentially autonomous under Louverture. 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. French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte ultimately sold the Louisiana territory to the United States for four reasons: the French government needed money, an impending war with Great Britain, the fallout from the Haitian Revolution, and the difficulty in maintaining a North American colony. Monroe, along with the minister to France, Robert Livingston, made the inquiry. How did the purchase of the Louisiana territory benefit the United States? The problem with Saint-Domingue was that its entire economy was supported by and depended entirely upon slavery. Napoleon foresaw the United States as a future ally that could one day match Britain in might. True False, Federalists believed in a strict following of the Constitution exactly as it was worded. However, France only controlled a small fraction of this area, most of which was inhabited by Native Americans; effectively, for the majority of the area, the United States bought the "preemptive" right to obtain "Indian" lands by treaty or by conquest, to the exclusion of other colonial powers.[1][2]. Would that make the United States too powerful? Was the 1887 Dawes Severalty Act Successful? As discussed in the Journal of Economic History, France had a historically bad reputation for credit and finance due to the upheavals of the French Revolution. The purchase doubled the size of the United States, greatly strengthened the country materially and strategically, provided a powerful impetus to . Alarmed over the French actions and its intention to re-establish an empire in North America, Jefferson declared neutrality in relation to the Caribbean, refusing credit and other assistance to the French, but allowing war contraband to get through to the rebels to prevent France from regaining a foothold. Otherwise, Louisiana would be an easy prey for a potential invasion from Britain or the U.S. 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. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803. Why did Napoleon Sell the Louisiana Territory? To Napoleon's line of thinking, if the United States took control of Louisiana, then it would deny Britain the opportunity of conquering it. Besides, we may hereafter expect rivalries among the members of the Union. This secret deal did not remain secret for long. Part of his evolving strategy involved giving du Pont some information that was withheld from Livingston. [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. It cannot be understated just how important the Louisiana Purchase was to the United States. Washington University in St. Louis Press. Also, Spain's refusal to cede Florida to France meant that Louisiana would be indefensible. This would allow the Americans to retain clear access to the river. [42] Barings had a close relationship with Hope & Co. of Amsterdam, and the two banking houses worked together to facilitate and underwrite the purchase. James Monroe 5. [citation needed], In Saint-Domingue, Leclerc's forces took Louverture prisoner, but their expedition soon faltered in the face of fierce resistance and disease. He was assisted by James Monroe. As tensions in Europe continued to grow, the unprofitable territory seemed to be more of a liability than asset. While Napoleon had his reasons for the sale of the Louisiana territory, the treaty has gone down in history as one of the most impactful for the United States. While the dreams of colonial domination evaporated, Napoleon turned his attention towards establishing an empire across the European continent instead. Napoleon sold the territory to the United States for only three cents an acre. The jewel of the French overseas empire was Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean, which is today's Haiti on the large island of Hispaniola. Because of this favored position, the U.S. asked Barings to handle the transaction. However, the territory, like a regifted picture frame, was swapped among European powers. The Louisiana Purchase (French: Vente de la Louisiane, lit. Desperate to avoid possible war with France, Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris in 1803 to negotiate a settlement, with instructions to go to London to negotiate an alliance if the talks in Paris failed. From March 10 to September 30, 1804, Upper Louisiana was supervised as a military district, under its first civil commandant, Amos Stoddard, who was appointed by the War Department. [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. 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. 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. 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. . Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? How did Jefferson acquire Louisiana Territory? 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. "[19] On July 4, 1803, the treaty was announced,[20] but the documents did not arrive in Washington, D.C. until July 14. [39] New Orleans was the administrative capital of the Orleans Territory, and St. Louis was the capital of the Louisiana Territory. [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. There was no arguing with Napoleon, who would, after all,crown himself Emperor in 1804. 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.". American Indians were also present in large numbers. 5057. National Geographic also adds that it paved the way for the imperial expansion and conquest of the Native American tribes of the West. 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. But although the Americans never asked for it, Napoleon dangled the entire territory in front of them on April 11, 1803. What reason did Madison give Congress for declaring war in 1812? Pamela Martin In 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte surprised U.S. negotiators with an offer to sell the Louisiana Territory for approximately 4 cents per acre. How was the Louisiana Territory acquired? [56] The maps and journals of the explorers helped to define the boundaries during the negotiations leading to the AdamsOns Treaty, which set the western boundary as follows: north up the Sabine River from the Gulf of Mexico to its intersection with the 32nd parallel, due north to the Red River, up the Red River to the 100th meridian, north to the Arkansas River, up the Arkansas River to its headwaters, due north to the 42nd parallel and due west to its previous boundary. Who sold the Louisiana Territory to the Jefferson? Du Pont was living in the United States at the time and had close ties to Jefferson as well as the prominent politicians in France. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2123552. The additional land helped lead to the Indian Removal Act of 1830 and the various frontier wars and broken treaties with the Plains natives of the late 1800s. He bought the Louisiana territory from France, which was being led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time, for 15,000,000 USD. Your email address will not be published. William Marbury. Both present-day Arkansas and Missouri already had some slaveholders in the 18th and early 19th century. The Sac and the Fox lived on the northern Mississippi River, the Osage on the Missouri River and on the Arkansas River in present eastern Oklahoma, and the Quapaw at the . By the 1720s, several settlements had developed, the chief of which was the territory's capital at New Orleans. [5], In 1798, Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans, greatly upsetting Americans. In the 1780s, it produced 60% of the world's coffee and supplied Britain and France with 40% of its sugar. 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. The United States was leery of Frances intentions with the territory, and the port city of New Orleans was critical to the US economy.2. This could weaken Britain's war effort against France and give Napoleon victory. According to the Library of Congress, the Louisiana Territory was mainly ignored by the French government and remained unprofitable. 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. Barings relayed to order to Hopes, which declined to comply, allowing the final payments to be made to France in April 1804. Francis Scott Key. While this was just a rumor, he had made up his mind to sell the territory. Who was President at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion? These wars, the Napoleonic Wars, lasted from 1803 to 1815 and led, as described by the New World Encyclopedia, to a brief French dominance of Europe. Napoleon saw in the sale of Louisiana something he needed more than anything else cold, hard cash. Why Was Washingtons Farewell Address Important? In 1791, influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution, a slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. Advertisement chelseann013 Answer: He needed money to pay for the war with Britain Advertisement Advertisement The U.S. adapted the former Spanish facility at Fort Bellefontaine as a fur trading post near St. Louis in 1804 for business with the Sauk and Fox. 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. PBS describes how by 1812, France had increased its army strength to 600,000 men, not to mention the thousands in the navy. Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France, and war between France and the UK was imminent. (land, gold, and to start a new life). The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. 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. Just three weeks earlier, on November 30, 1803, Spanish officials had formally conveyed the colonial lands and their administration to France. 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. Overcoming the opposition of the Federalist Party, Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison persuaded Congress to ratify and fund the Louisiana Purchase. In 1763, Louis XV gave Louisiana to his cousin, Charles III of Spain. The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803. The island colony of Saint Domingue was the most profitable of all French colonies given its vast sugar plantations. Even more puzzling, the French had just reacquired the Louisiana territory and critical port city of New Orleans in the secret 1800 Treaty of San Ildefonso with Spain. [24], Henry Adams and other historians have argued that Jefferson acted hypocritically with the Louisiana Purchase, because of his position as a strict constructionist regarding the Constitution since he stretched the intent of that document to justify his purchase. [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. [34] The United States Senate advised and consented to ratification of the treaty with a vote of twenty-four to seven on October 20. The Significance of the Zimmermann Telegram. [14][15] The total of $15million is equivalent to about $337million in 2021 dollars, or 64 cents per acre. As for France, it never seriously established a colonial presence in the Americas again. Please feel free to fill out our Contact Form. However, Livingston was certain that the United States would accept the offer.[16]. 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. Knowing that war was imminent, Napoleon sensed two opportunities by selling the Louisiana territory. Furthermore, the French had no administration over the territory and few French settlers lived on the land. 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. B. felt that the United States would be the best country to manage the land. The Americans thought that Napoleon might withdraw the offer at any time, preventing the United States from acquiring New Orleans, so they agreed and signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty on April 30, 1803, (10 Floral XI in the French Republican calendar) at the Htel Tubeuf in Paris. Upon word of the Louisiana territory transfer from Spain to France, some hot-headed members of Congress proposed a preemptive strike against New Orleans. [53][54], The eastern boundary of the Louisiana purchase was the Mississippi River, from its source to the 31st parallel, though the source of the Mississippi was, at the time, unknown. Since 1762, Spain had owned the territory of Louisiana, which included 828,000 square miles. President Jefferson's Secretary of State. The Louisiana territory was now worthless to him, and he immediately sought to offload the territory to the United States. That leads to the question as to why on Earth would France sell so much land, or at least the rights to it 828,000 acres for what amounted to 4 cents an acre? However, the territory north of the 49th parallel (including the Milk River and Poplar River watersheds) was ceded to the UK in exchange for parts of the Red River Basin south of 49th parallel in the Anglo-American Convention of 1818. Why would France decide to give up such a crucial territory for only $15 million, or the bargain basement price of 3-4 cents an acre?

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