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]. 5057. First, as mentioned before, France needed more money for the impending war and to concentrate its resources on Europe. 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. 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? Thomas Jefferson 4. When it came to profit and geopolitical importance, Napoleon was far more interested in the Caribbean. Why did Napoleon Sell the Louisiana Territory? In 1763, Louis XV gave Louisiana to his cousin, Charles III of Spain. It cannot be understated just how important the Louisiana Purchase was to the United States. [28], Henry Adams claimed "The sale of Louisiana to the United States was trebly invalid; if it were French property, Bonaparte could not constitutionally alienate it without the consent of the French Chambers; if it were Spanish property, he could not alienate it at all; if Spain had a right of reclamation, his sale was worthless. How many amendments make up the Bill of Rights? In 1791, influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution, a slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. Even in 1803, that was dirt cheap. There was no arguing with Napoleon, who would, after all,crown himself Emperor in 1804. But in early 1803, continuing war between France and Britain seemed unavoidable. In 1718, the French established New Orleans, and scant groups of colonists moved in. Napoleon Bonaparte used the cash to finance his war efforts, but he was finally and permanently defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Throughout the second half of the 18th century, the French colony of Louisiana became a pawn for European political intrigue. Jefferson's philosophical consistency was in question because of his strict interpretation of the Constitution. How did Jefferson acquire Louisiana Territory? While Napoleon had grand plans for the Louisiana territory, those dreams were far off. In 1799, he had seized power in a coup d'tat in France and wanted to restore French glory in the Americas. [47] However by December 1803, the British directed Barings to halt future payments to France. A U.S. 1803. Instead, the area encompasses 15 states and two Canadian provinces according to today's terms. 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. By early 1803, Napoleon decided to abandon his plans to rebuild France's New World empire. [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. 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. (80) Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory to the United States in 1803 because he hoped to increase the U. S. status against what nation?A. However, in 1800 Spain had ceded the Louisiana territory back to France as part of Napoleon's secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. Required fields are marked *. 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. However, the territory, like a regifted picture frame, was swapped among European powers. It was even subject to a speculative bubble which ruined fortunes. [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. This exact scenario is what happened to Mexico with their province of Tejas during the Texan Revolution. 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. Ambitions ruined, the French forces admitted defeat and returned home. As a result, Napoleon's view of Louisiana transformed from that of an outpost to that of a poker chip, ready to cash in. However, Livingston was certain that the United States would accept the offer.[16]. The U.S. bought 828,000 sq. A treaty, dated April 30 and signed May 2, was then worked out that gave Louisiana to the United States in exchange for $11.25 million, plus the forgiveness of $3.75 million in French debt. President Jefferson's Secretary of State. 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. [59] In 1808 two military forts with trading factories were built, Fort Osage along the Missouri River in western present-day Missouri and Fort Madison along the Upper Mississippi River in eastern present-day Iowa. The Federalists strongly opposed the purchase, favoring close relations with Britain over closer ties to Napoleon. Ultimately, the French need for more money was a significant factor in Napoleons decision to sell Louisiana. True False. 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 . Chapter 8.2 The Louisiana Purchase Flashcards | Quizlet [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. Jefferson had authorized Livingston only to purchase New Orleans. 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. With a $15 million investment, the United States acquired more than 800,000 acres, almost doubling the country's land holdings. Who was President at the time of the Louisiana Purchase? Who was President at the time of the Embargo Act? 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. Napoleon needed peace with Britain to take possession of Louisiana. Perhaps the most important reason as to why Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory to the United States was the Haitian Revolution. The Library of Congress explains how President Thomas Jefferson realized the precariousness of having France as a neighbor. Critics in Congress worried whether these "foreigners", unacquainted with democracy, could or should become citizens. As described by History, under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture, the enslaved allied with nonwhite free people and successfully overthrew the slave order, taking control of all of Hispaniola, not just Saint-Domingue. When Napoleon rose to power he recommitted to recapture the colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti) and sent tens of thousands of troops in 1802 to crush the rebellion. 2) White, Eugene Nelson. [citation needed], In Saint-Domingue, Leclerc's forces took Louverture prisoner, but their expedition soon faltered in the face of fierce resistance and disease. PBS describes how by 1812, France had increased its army strength to 600,000 men, not to mention the thousands in the navy. At the time French leaders were preoccupied with the French Revolution and failed to suppress the rebellion quickly enough. 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. 1, 1967, pp. [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. Alain Chappet, Roger Martin, Alain Pigeard. The island colony of Saint Domingue was the most profitable of all French colonies given its vast sugar plantations. The Louisiana Purchase encompassed 530,000,000 acres of territory in North America that the United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million. First, an empowered United States could effectively act as a formidable rival to Britain. This made it difficult, when compared to Britain, to obtain the necessary money to wage large-scale wars. He was assisted by James Monroe. Through the Louisiana Purchase, the United States' territory doubled at once. On April 30, 1812, exactly nine years after the Louisiana Purchase agreement was made, the first of 13 states to be carved from the territoryLouisianawas admitted into the Union as the 18th . [57], The Louisiana Territory was broken into smaller portions for administration, and the territories passed slavery laws similar to those in the southern states but incorporating provisions from the preceding French and Spanish rule (for instance, Spain had prohibited slavery of Native Americans in 1769, but some slaves of mixed African-Native American descent were still being held in St. Louis in Upper Louisiana when the U.S. took over). 2), which is just what Jefferson did. [58] In a freedom suit that went from Missouri to the U.S. Supreme Court, slavery of Native Americans was finally ended in 1836. Manifest destiny was in full effect. While Napoleons reasons were valid, his decision to sell the Louisiana territory certainly came as a surprise. As the Library of Congress describes, Saint-Domingue was incredibly valuable. He bought the Louisiana territory from France, which was being led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time, for 15,000,000 USD. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent.
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