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. Jefferson confronted questions of presidential authority in deciding whether or not to acquire the territory, since the US Constitution does not explicitly give the president the power to purchase territory. Why did the French leave Louisiana? France retook it in 1800 when it more or less invaded Spain. 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. Why did France sell the Louisiana Territory? Charles A. Cerami, author of Jeffersons Great Gamble, agrees. The treaty was dated April 30 and signed on May 2. i. France was promised control over Canada. French historians point out that Napolon had several reasons for this decision. Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin added that since the power to negotiate treaties was specifically granted to the president, the only way extending the country's territory by treaty could not be a presidential power would be if it were specifically excluded by the Constitution (which it was not). France worried about an alliance between America and England. Beginning in the 17th century, France explored the Mississippi River valley and established scattered settlements in the region. Hed planned to send troops to Louisiana to take over the colony, which he had received from the Spanish through a secrettreatyin 1800, in the hopes ofusingthe territory as a trade venue for the commodities produced in Haiti. I renounce it with the greatest regret." Jefferson considered a constitutional amendment to justify the purchase; however, his cabinet convinced him otherwise. France had just re-taken control of the Louisiana Territory. Barings relayed to order to Hopes, which declined to comply, allowing the final payments to be made to France in April 1804. I renounce Louisiana. As the Library of Congress describes, Saint-Domingue was incredibly valuable. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Barb-Marbois received his orders on April 11, 1803, when Napolon summoned him. Saint-Domingue was a powder keg, ready to explode. As quoted by Smithsonian Magazine, historian Charles A. Cerami said, "If we had not made this purchase, it would have pinched off the possibility of our becoming a continental power." . by force of arms. As Secretary of State James Madison explained, The Mississippi is to them everything. 'Sale of Louisiana') was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. 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. Meanwhile, Haitis free black people were organizing. Explanation: Dont worry about it sweatheart. In mid-April 1803, shortly before Monroes arrival, the French asked a surprised Livingston if the United States was interested in purchasing all of Louisiana Territory. 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. He was in a hurry to get some money for the depleted French treasury, although the relatively modest price shows that he was had in that deal. Napoleon Bonaparte used the cash to finance his war efforts, but he was finally and permanently defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Negotiations moved swiftly, and at the end of April the U.S. envoys agreed to pay $11,250,000 and assume claims of American citizens against France in the amount of $3,750,000. Feb 14, 2023 - France sold the Louisiana Territory in 1803 because it was ruled by Napoleon and needed money in order to fight the British. Children in pens. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for SIGNED Roughneck Daddy: A Memoir by Donna F. Orchard, Paperback Louisiana Oil at the best online prices at eBay! The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States, reshaping the environmental and economic makeup of the country. Though Jefferson urged moderation, Federalists sought to use this against Jefferson and called for hostilities against France. 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 . 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). This would allow the Americans to retain clear access to the river. Slavery was now legal in Missouri, and the new state added pro-slave members to Congress. 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. 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. The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. 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. . By the 1720s, several settlements had developed, the chief of which was the territory's capital at New Orleans. II, Sec. In the end, Barings and Hopes acquired the $11.25 million in bonds for just $9.44 million. Recent post: Does Cu Sell Alcohol? Spains King Charles IV finally got around to signing the royal decree officially transferring the territory to France, and on October 16, the Spanish administrator in New Orleans, Juan Ventura Morales, who had agreed to administer the colony until his French replacement, Laussat, could arrive, arbitrarily ended the American right to deposit cargo in the city duty-free. The Louisiana Purchase was the latter, a treaty. Gentlemen, he announced, think what you please about it. Louisiana under Spanish control fared little better. [1][2], Domestic opposition and constitutionality, Formal transfers and initial organization. Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? Despite a clubfoot and what contemporaries called his dead eyes, he could be charming and witty when he wantedwhich helped camouflage his basic negotiating tactic of delay. The territory's boundaries had not been defined in the 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau that ceded it from France to Spain, nor in the 1801 Third Treaty of San Ildefonso ceding it back to France, nor the 1803 Louisiana Purchase agreement ceding it to the United States.[49]. 3 Reply frenchchevalierblanc 5 yr. ago France had lost Louisiana in the 1760s to Spain. The French ruler was just about to embark on a series of devastating wars. It would have seemed unthinkable for France to cede any of its colonial territories before 1791. The French and Indian war cost her Canada and all of her other possessions on the east bank of the Mississippi. The Louisiana Purchase (French: Vente de la Louisiane, lit. [57] As states organized within the territory, the status of slavery in each state became a matter of contention in Congress, as southern states wanted slavery extended to the west, and northern states just as strongly opposed new states being admitted as "slave states." 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. All or parts of 15 Western states would eventually be carved from its nearly 830,000 square miles, which stretched from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada, and from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. A Washington newspaper, the National Intelligencer, reflecting how most citizens felt, referred to the widespread joy of millions at an event which history will record among the most splendid in our annals. Though we have no historical evidence of how Jefferson felt about the purchase, notes Cerami, reports from those in his circle like Monroe refer to the presidents great pleasure, despite his fear that the deal had gone beyond his constitutional powers. He was compelled to do so primarily because France urgently needed funds for an imminent war with Britain. [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. The crunch came for Jefferson in October 1802. Francis Baring's son Alexander and Pierre Labouchre from Hopes arrived in Paris in April 1803 to assist with the negotiations. The purchase originally extended just beyond the 50th parallel. Napoleon sent a massive 30,000 troops French expeditionary force commanded by his brother-in-law Charles Victor Emmanuel Leclerc to St. Domingue to accomplish this goal. For another, Britain had unofficially offered Joseph a bribe of 100,000 to persuade Napolon not to let the Americans have Louisiana. When Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, he altered the shape of a nation and the course of history. None of these held a candle, though, to sugar, which dominated French colonial holdings. 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. At this, Barb-Marbois pretended Napolon had lost interest. 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. The United States had the right, thundered the New York Evening Post, to regulate the future destiny of North America, while the Charleston Courier advocated taking possession of the port . "[29] The sale of course was not "worthless"the U.S. actually did take possession. The Louisiana Purchase Was Driven by a Slave Rebellion. The American representatives were prepared to pay up to $10million for New Orleans and its environs but were dumbfounded when the vastly larger territory was offered for $15million. Advertising Notice 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. But the resourceful Barb-Marbois had an answer for that too. [5], Following the establishment of the United States, the Americans controlled the area east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans. Overcoming the opposition of the Federalist Party, Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison persuaded Congress to ratify and fund the Louisiana Purchase. On April 30, 1803, France ceded Louisiana to the Americans for 15 million dollars.A sum that will serve Bonaparte's European military projects, in exchange for a territory covering nearly a quarter of the current surface of the United States.Before Louisiana was sold to the United States, it had already been ceded once to Spain. When Livingston tried to discuss the territory, Talleyrand simply denied that there was any treaty between France and Spain. By Edmund Duncan May 31, 2022. Why did France sell Louisiana? Considering France was on one different continent and that Louisiana Territory was on another continent, owning that territory would seem less important to what's currently . This respite gave Napoleon breathing room in his failed attempt to recover Saint-Domingue. The Louisiana Purchase encompassed 530,000,000 acres of territory in North America . Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault. 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. Out of anger towards Spain and the unique opportunity to sell something that was useless and not truly his yet, Napoleon decided to sell the entire territory. Why happened to Louisiana Territory? Slaves were routinely terrorized in a race-based social order. 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. In his initial meeting with Napolon after taking up his Paris post in 1801, Livingston had been warned about Old World ways. A picturesque assemblage of French and Spanish colonial architecture and Creole cottages, New Orleans boasted a thriving economy based largely on agricultural exports. France was worried Spain would take away the Caribbean. A mahogany and gilded bronze swan bed that belonged to the famous French beauty Juliette Rcamier is also on display. What kind of world were Jefferson and Napolon living and working in? 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. 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. At the time, Britain and France were at war in Europe, and if France had not sold Louisiana that war would most likely have spread to North America. [45] In 2021 dollars, the $15 million purchase price is equivalent to $336.92million. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! France's land was mainly unexplored wilderness, and so the fertile soils and other valuable natural resources we know are present today might not have been factored in . Who was president of the U.S. at the time of the Louisiana purchase? When Monroe and Livingston were offered the opportunity to buy the entire territory, they could not help but be excited. There is on the globe one single spot, Jefferson wrote, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. French policy makers had felt for some time that Frances possessions in the Antilles would inevitably be contaminated by Americas idea of freedom and would eventually take their own independence. Monroe, along with the minister to France, Robert Livingston, made the inquiry. All these soldiers needed to be fed, housed, and paid. The difficulties and risks . The following year, the District of Louisiana was renamed the Territory of Louisiana. Why did France sell Louisiana : to finance the conquests. The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory for the bargain price of less than three cents an acre was among Jeffersons most notable achievements as president. Negotiating with French Treasury Minister Franois Barb-Marbois, the American representatives quickly agreed to purchase the entire territory of Louisiana after it was offered. But he did manage to sell something that he didnt really have any control overthere were few French settlers and no French administration over the territoryexcept on paper. As for Jefferson, notes historian Cerami, he actually wasnt out to make this big a purchase. [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. The House called for a vote to deny the request for the purchase, but it failed by two votes, 5957. 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. [48], A dispute soon arose between Spain and the United States regarding the extent of Louisiana. The Louisiana Purchase was an incredible deal for the United States, the final cost totaling less than five cents per acre at $15 million (about $283 million in today's dollars). Livingston replied that hewould be ready to purchase provided the sum was reduced to reasonable limits. Then he rushed home and worked until 3 a.m. writing a memorandum to Secretary of State Madison, concluding: We shall do all we can to cheapen the purchase; but my present sentiment is that we shall buy..