who sold the louisiana territory to the united states who sold the louisiana territory to the united states

3, 1904, pp. 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. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. It was the French who sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States. Adams' Vice President 4. went to France to purchase New Orleans 5. sold Louisiana to the United States 6. explored the Louisiana Territory 1. [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 Significance of the Zimmermann Telegram. "[19] On July 4, 1803, the treaty was announced,[20] but the documents did not arrive in Washington, D.C. until July 14. The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by United States president, Thomas Jefferson, in 1803. Livingston and Monroe were only authorized to spend up to $10 million for the purchase of New Orleans and West Florida. Knowing that war was imminent, Napoleon sensed two opportunities by selling the Louisiana territory. [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 French ruler was just about to embark on a series of devastating wars. 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. 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. The Louisiana purchase doubled the size of America. [39] New Orleans was the administrative capital of the Orleans Territory, and St. Louis was the capital of the Louisiana Territory. By the 1720s, several settlements had developed, the chief of which was the territory's capital at New Orleans. [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. Francis Scott Key. Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase. Furthermore, the French had no administration over the territory and few French settlers lived on the land. C. would have a hard time managing the land and needed the money for war in Europe. The vast territory was named after Louis XIV, the so-called Sun King. 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. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi, which had become vital to the growing trade of the western territories. Aside from the strategic reasons, the United States was the best market to sell the Louisiana Territory. The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803. With the failure to retake Saint-Domingue and the inevitability of renewed war between France and Britain, Napoleon refigured his political calculus. The Louisiana Territory That Was Sold. Through the Louisiana Purchase, the United States' territory doubled at once. [17] The signers were Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Franois Barb-Marbois. First, an empowered United States could effectively act as a formidable rival to Britain. [32] The Senate quickly ratified the treaty, and the House, with equal readiness, authorized the required funding, as the Constitution specifies. 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. [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. 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? Military expenditures accounted for nearly 60% of the overall budget, a staggering number to maintain.2. This land needed to be explored to see what the United States had purchased. 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. Majority Leader John Randolph led the opposition. Livingston wrote to James Madison, "We shall do all we can to cheapen the purchase, but my present sentiment is that we shall buy.". Napoleon sold France's Louisiana territory because he needed money to fund his wars of conquest in Europe one of the terms of the Louisiana purchase was that the U.S. had to pay the whole price up front in gold. It cannot be understated just how important the Louisiana Purchase was to the United States. [46], Because Napoleon wanted to receive his money as quickly as possible, Barings and Hopes purchased the bonds for 52 million francs, agreeing to an initial 6 million franc payment upon issuance of the bonds followed by 23 monthly payments of 2 million francs each. This could weaken Britain's war effort against France and give Napoleon victory. He added later, "I require money to make war on the richest nation in the world.". Andrew Jackson. [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. 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. 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. 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. 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. The Federalists even tried to prove the land belonged to Spain, not France, but available records proved otherwise. Ambassador who was sent to France to negotiate the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. Britain B. Spain C. RussiaD. A final reason for Napoleons fateful decision was that he foresaw the difficulty in maintaining a French colony in North America across the Atlantic and so close to the United States. 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. ", The Historic New Orleans Collection provides more nuance to the negotiations of the Louisiana Purchase. (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. The first reason that Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory was that the French government was in need of money. In 1763, Louis XV gave Louisiana to his cousin, Charles III of Spain. James Monroe 5. Even the commanding General, Napoleons brother-in-law Charles Leclerc, succumbed to tropical disease as did tens of thousands of other troops.1. [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. [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]. 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. 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. He could not or did not see the value in sending troops to defend worthless Louisiana, not with Saint-Domingue out of the equation. In the end, Barings and Hopes acquired the $11.25 million in bonds for just $9.44 million. Alain Chappet, Roger Martin, Alain Pigeard. As the lands were being gradually settled by American migrants, many Americans, including Jefferson, assumed that the territory would be acquired "piece by piece." (land, gold, and to start a new life). 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. 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. [42] Barings had a close relationship with Hope & Co. of Amsterdam, and the two banking houses worked together to facilitate and underwrite the purchase. [10], In 1803, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, a French nobleman, began to help negotiate with France at the request of Jefferson. Why is France sold the Louisiana Purchase to the US? How many amendments make up the Bill of Rights? 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. The Louisiana territory would go on to play a central role in the westward expansion of the United States throughout the 19th century. 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. The Federalists strongly opposed the purchase, favoring close relations with Britain over closer ties to Napoleon. As detailed by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Americans believed that the acquisition and settlement of new lands to the west were critical to the future development of the country. 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. [50] Spain insisted that Louisiana comprised no more than the western bank of the Mississippi River and the cities of New Orleans and St. Who sold the massive Louisiana Territory to the United States? Lucien later reported in a memoirthat the pair sought out their brother in the Tuileries, where they found the ruler indulging in a bath. Napoleon 6. 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. [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. [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 remaining 60 million francs ($11.25 million) were financed through U.S. government bonds carrying 6% interest, redeemable between 1819 and 1822. Why did Napoleon Sell the Louisiana Territory? 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 . True False, Hamilton's financial plans favored the northern states. The purchase included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces, including the entirety of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska; large portions of North Dakota and South Dakota; the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide; the portion of Minnesota west of the Mississippi River; the northeastern section of New Mexico; northern portions of Texas; New Orleans and the portions of the present state of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River; and small portions of land within Alberta and Saskatchewan. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. [43] Hopes brought to the transaction experience with issuing sovereign bonds and Barings brought its American connections.[42]. 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. Native Americans way of life was forever changed by the unrelenting encroachment of American settlers. The Louisiana Purchase extended United States sovereignty across the Mississippi River, nearly doubling the nominal size of the country. Throughout this time, Jefferson had up-to-date intelligence on Napoleon's military activities and intentions in North America. From the French perspective, just why did Napoleon sell the Louisiana territory to the Americans? 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." Who sold the Louisiana Territory to the Jefferson? He stood up and then splashed back down into the water so heavily that his brothers got soaked. True False, The War of 1812 was between France and the United States. All these soldiers needed to be fed, housed, and paid. White House 3. 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. Undercutting them, Jefferson threatened an alliance with Britain, although relations were uneasy in that direction. [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. 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. Napoleons spot on the French throne was not guaranteed and he had neither the time nor resources to wait for the Louisiana territory to bear fruit with war in Europe once again looming. Please feel free to fill out our Contact Form. National Geographic also adds that it paved the way for the imperial expansion and conquest of the Native American tribes of the West. He also realized that with Britain's superior naval power, it would be relatively easy for them to take Louisiana at will. Barings relayed to order to Hopes, which declined to comply, allowing the final payments to be made to France in April 1804. Pakenham was ordered to conduct the New Orleans/Mobile campaign even in the middle of the peace negotiations in late 1814. The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi out to sea. True False, Federalists believed in a strict following of the Constitution exactly as it was worded. Louisiana under Spanish control fared little better. Everybody who has taken grade-school history knows the story. 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. See Page 1. Jefferson considered a constitutional amendment to justify the purchase; however, his cabinet convinced him otherwise. pp. 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. 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). 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. But although the Americans never asked for it, Napoleon dangled the entire territory in front of them on April 11, 1803. American diplomats Robert Livingston and James Monroepurchased the Louisiana Territory from the French for $15 million dollars, or four cents an acre, in 1803. When Joseph continued to object, Napoleon shouted, "You are insolent!" Napoleon. In the early 1800s aside from the city of New Orleans, the Louisiana territory was sparsely populated. The Louisiana territory was now worthless to him, and he immediately sought to offload the territory to the United States. 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. [T]his little event, of France possessing herself of Louisiana, . Regardless of its legality, Smithsonian Magazine details how in order to finance the transaction, several British banks actually bought the territory and turned it over to the United States in exchange for bonds at 6% interest. 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. History in Charts is a website dedicated to writing about historical topics and diving deeper into the data behind different events, time periods, places, and people. This secret deal did not remain secret for long. What Napoleon needed was a way to divest himself of the territory while at the same time preventing it from falling into British hands. 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." Before the revolution, France had derived enormous wealth from St. Domingue at the cost of the lives and freedom of the slaves. 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. As for France, it never seriously established a colonial presence in the Americas again. So while a slave rebellion helped drive the Louisiana Purchase, the new territory was destined to become a place of suffering and exploitation for the thousands of slaves forced to work there.. Who was President at the time of the Embargo Act? Jefferson sent Livingston to Paris in 1801[9] with the authorization 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. [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. 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. This gave Jefferson and his cabinet until October, when the treaty had to be ratified, to discuss the constitutionality of the purchase. According to the Library of Congress, Napoleon did not have enough troops to occupy Louisiana while simultaneously subduing Saint-Domingue. On April 30, 1803, representatives of the United States and Napoleonic France conclude negotiations for the Louisiana Purchase, a massive land sale that doubles the size of the young American republic. France He bought the Louisiana territory from France, which was being led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time, for 15,000,000 USD. [8] In 1801, Jefferson supported France in its plan to take back Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti), which was then under control of Toussaint Louverture after a slave rebellion. The answer fell into his lap. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. Where Saint Domingue would be the crown jewel with its lucrative sugar plantations, Louisiana would be the bread basket supplying the empire with grains. 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. 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. The land that was purchased was very, very cheap. PBS describes how by 1812, France had increased its army strength to 600,000 men, not to mention the thousands in the navy. Louisiana had never been considered one of New Spain's internal provinces. The risk of another power taking it from a weakened Spain made a "profound reconsideration" of this policy necessary. In return for fifteen million dollars, or approximately eighteen dollars per square mile, the United States nominally acquired a total of 828,000sqmi (2,140,000km2; 530,000,000 acres) in Middle America. Since 1762, Spain had owned the territory of Louisiana, which included 828,000 square miles. 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. This was coupled with the importation of enslaved Africans. At the time of the purchase, the territory of Louisiana's non-native population was around 60,000 inhabitants, of whom half were enslaved Africans. At the time French leaders were preoccupied with the French Revolution and failed to suppress the rebellion quickly enough. Cantonment Belle Fontaine 8051826 The First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River. Napoleon saw in the sale of Louisiana something he needed more than anything else cold, hard cash. [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 purchase originally extended just beyond the 50th parallel. While Napoleon originally tried to sell the territory for $22 million, the two sides eventually agreed to a sale at $15 million. Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France, and war between France and the UK was imminent. [5], In 1798, Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans, greatly upsetting Americans. As a result, Thomas Jefferson instructed James Monroe and Robert Livingston to purchase New Orleans in 1802. The French loss of Saint-Domingue sent a shudder through the world. All four started from the Mississippi River. Napoleon reported told his Minister of Finance Barbe-Marbois in reference to the Louisiana territory: Second, selling the Louisiana territory to the United States could strengthen the nation and thus provide a counterweight against their British foes. 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. In 1803, the United States nearly doubled in size when it bought the Louisiana Territory in a deal that shaped history. Spain, no longer a dominant European power, did little to develop Louisiana during the next three decades. 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. In order to finance his dreams of conquest, Napoleon needed money to finance his military operation, which had been growing in an arms race with Britain.