who sold the louisiana territory 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. In this light the deal can be seen as a win-win between Napoleon and the United States. Saint-Domingue was a powder keg, ready to explode. 730 Words3 Pages. This would allow the Americans to retain clear access to the river. 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? While Napoleons reasons were valid, his decision to sell the Louisiana territory certainly came as a surprise. History and Geography 807: The Industrial Nat, Social Studies American History: Reconstruction to the Present Guided Reading Workbook, Deborah Gray White, Edward L. Ayers, Jess F. de la Teja, Robert D. Schulzinger, Alan Brinkley, Albert S. Broussard, Donald A. Ritchie, James M. McPherson, Joyce Appleby, Creating America: A History of the United States. Was the 1887 Dawes Severalty Act Successful? Spain Originally governed New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory up until 1802, but then transferred ownership to France under a secret treaty. The purchase originally extended just beyond the 50th parallel. Advertisement lollol The Louisiana Territory was sold to the United States by France on December 20th, 1803, for the bargin of less than three cents per acre. The first Europeans to reach. 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. On the following day, October 21, 1803, the Senate authorized Jefferson to take possession of the territory and establish a temporary military government. 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. When Napoleon rose to power in 1799, the French governments finances were in disarray due to the effects of the French Revolution. 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. War Hawks What is the eagle on the Great Seal holding in his right talon? [55], Because the western boundary was contested at the time of the purchase, President Jefferson immediately began to organize four missions to explore and map the new territory. [42] In the final agreement, the value of the U.S. currency was set at .mw-parser-output .sfrac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .sfrac.tion,.mw-parser-output .sfrac .tion{display:inline-block;vertical-align:-0.5em;font-size:85%;text-align:center}.mw-parser-output .sfrac .num,.mw-parser-output .sfrac .den{display:block;line-height:1em;margin:0 0.1em}.mw-parser-output .sfrac .den{border-top:1px solid}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}5+3333/10000 francs per U.S. (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 district of Louisiana changed to the territory of Louisiana". To Napoleon's line of thinking, if the United States took control of Louisiana, then it would deny Britain the opportunity of conquering it. Napoleon sold French Louisiana to the US in 1803 as the Louisiana Purchase. Britain B. Spain C. RussiaD. As tensions in Europe continued to grow, the unprofitable territory seemed to be more of a liability than asset. In the year of 1803, the Louisiana purchase occurred. 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. Pinckney's Treaty, signed with Spain on October 27, 1795, gave American merchants "right of deposit" in New Orleans, granting them use of the port to store goods for export. [33][35], When Spain later objected to the United States purchasing Louisiana from France, Madison responded that America had first approached Spain about purchasing the property but had been told by Spain itself that America would have to treat with France for the territory.[36]. With the failure to retake Saint-Domingue and the inevitability of renewed war between France and Britain, Napoleon refigured his political calculus. When Monroe and Livingston were offered the opportunity to buy the entire territory, they could not help but be excited. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2123552. Even if the British did not seize the territory, the United States also posed a significant future threat. Louisiana under Spanish control fared little better. Also, Spain's refusal to cede Florida to France meant that Louisiana would be indefensible. Who sold the Louisiana Territory to the United states? In order to lessen the strain of direct taxes on the populace, the French government simply needed more money from other sources. Knowing that war was imminent, Napoleon sensed two opportunities by selling the Louisiana territory. Through the Louisiana Purchase, the United States' territory doubled at once. How many amendments make up the Bill of Rights? With a $15 million investment, the United States acquired more than 800,000 acres, almost doubling the country's land holdings. "[29] The sale of course was not "worthless"the U.S. actually did take possession. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. [17] The signers were Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Franois Barb-Marbois. The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. Required fields are marked *. What was the famous thing Napoleon Bonaparte sold? The risk of another power taking it from a weakened Spain made a "profound reconsideration" of this policy necessary. 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. Just three weeks earlier, on November 30, 1803, Spanish officials had formally conveyed the colonial lands and their administration to France. Interested in reaching out? What's more, as described by Medium, the French ruler believed that a more powerful United States was better for France. sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States. The territory made up all or part of fifteen modern U.S. states between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. Even in 1803, that was dirt cheap. What was one reason the napoleon sold the Louisiana territory to the united states 2 See answers Advertisement JaxonA One reason Napoleon sold it because he needed the money. Check out our timeline of the history of the United States for a great place to start and navigate through American history! From the French perspective, just why did Napoleon sell the Louisiana territory to the Americans? President Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury. Napoleon dreamed and yearned for a French colonial empire to rival the British. The jewel of the French overseas empire was Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean, which is today's Haiti on the large island of Hispaniola. [citation needed], In Saint-Domingue, Leclerc's forces took Louverture prisoner, but their expedition soon faltered in the face of fierce resistance and disease. Without that, the United States' international influence would be less, as would its influence over the development of democracies. As it turns out, France, or more accurately its ruler Napoleon Bonaparte, had some good reasons for doing it. True False, Federalists believed in a strict following of the Constitution exactly as it was worded. [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. However at the time Napoleon traded long-term potential for short-term gain. Your email address will not be published. Pakenham was ordered to conduct the New Orleans/Mobile campaign even in the middle of the peace negotiations in late 1814. Copyright 2023 History in Charts | Powered by Astra WordPress Theme. Napoleon needed peace with Britain to take possession of Louisiana. 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? The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by United States president, Thomas Jefferson, in 1803. He could not or did not see the value in sending troops to defend worthless Louisiana, not with Saint-Domingue out of the equation. 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. 55, no. Napoleon foresaw the United States as a future ally that could one day match Britain in might. Negotiating with French Treasury Minister Franois Barb-Marbois, the American representatives quickly agreed to purchase the entire territory of Louisiana after it was offered. The Lewis and Clark expedition followed shortly thereafter. Among Eurocentric circles, the Louisiana Purchase was seen as one of the greatest land deals in history. On March 10, 1804, France officially transferred its claim to the Louisiana Territory to the United States. By early 1803, Napoleon decided to abandon his plans to rebuild France's New World empire. However, the territory, like a regifted picture frame, was swapped among European powers. 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. The first plan of government used by the United States was under the: Who was the President at the time of the Alien and Sedition Act? William Marbury. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. 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] 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." Napoleon 6. 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. 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.. 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 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 the end, Barings and Hopes acquired the $11.25 million in bonds for just $9.44 million. The French Revolution and the Politics of Government Finance, 1770-1815. The Journal of Economic History, vol. But in early 1803, continuing war between France and Britain seemed unavoidable. He stood up and then splashed back down into the water so heavily that his brothers got soaked. Who was President at the time of the Louisiana Purchase? 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. Answer and Explanation: Thomas Jefferson 4. [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. I renounce it with the greatest regret." 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. [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. 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. [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. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a temporary solution. Part of his evolving strategy involved giving du Pont some information that was withheld from Livingston. 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. [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. [32] The Senate quickly ratified the treaty, and the House, with equal readiness, authorized the required funding, as the Constitution specifies. First, the men sent to France were allowed to spend up to 10 million USD in order to buy New Orleans and, if possible, the west bank of the . 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." The first westward surge of the settlement reached the: What did the South receive in the compromise over the war debts between Hamilton and Jefferson? 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 . 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 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. To part with the territory so soon after its transfer left many French aristocrats puzzled. [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. [5], Following the establishment of the United States, the Americans controlled the area east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans. Please feel free to fill out our Contact Form. 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. Everybody who has taken grade-school history knows the story. 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. Already at the time, American frontier settlers slowly trickled into the territory. The resources and land from theLouisiana territory considerably helped the United States become the global power it is today. According to the census of 1810, there were 20,845 Americans in the Territory of Louisiana, among whom were 3,011 slaves. 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. The problem with Saint-Domingue was that its entire economy was supported by and depended entirely upon slavery. 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. Adams' Vice President 4. went to France to purchase New Orleans 5. sold Louisiana to the United States 6. explored the Louisiana Territory 1. A U.S. The United . By the 1720s, several settlements had developed, the chief of which was the territory's capital at New Orleans. [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. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. Though viewed as of lesser importance than the colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti), Louisiana and its crucial port city of New Orleans was to play a large role in French colonial dominance.1. Alain Chappet, Roger Martin, Alain Pigeard. The Constitution specifically grants the president the power to negotiate treaties (Art. The Significance of the Zimmermann Telegram. While 3-4 cents an acre was not a massive deal, from Napoleons perspective he received a large sum of money for land he had just received and had virtually no control over. On January 1, 1804, Haiti declared its independence. The French had no active administration over the territory and there were few French settlers. True False. He was assisted by James Monroe. 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. To France, it was a backwater sort of like owning Mediterranean Avenue in Monopoly. [47] However by December 1803, the British directed Barings to halt future payments to France. This could weaken Britain's war effort against France and give Napoleon victory. President Jefferson's Secretary of State. In need of funds, Napoleon pressed the banks to complete their purchase of the bonds as quickly as possible, and by April 1804 the banks transferred an additional 40.35 million francs to fully discharge their obligations to France. a Federalist judge who wanted his commission granted. While the dreams of colonial domination evaporated, Napoleon turned his attention towards establishing an empire across the European continent instead. [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. France Your email address will not be published. When it came to profit and geopolitical importance, Napoleon was far more interested in the Caribbean. 9, no. The Louisiana purchase doubled the size of America. [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. As the lands were being gradually settled by American migrants, many Americans, including Jefferson, assumed that the territory would be acquired "piece by piece." Since 1762, Spain had owned the territory of Louisiana, which included 828,000 square miles. 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. As for France, it never seriously established a colonial presence in the Americas again. Otherwise, Louisiana would be an easy prey for a potential invasion from Britain or the U.S. Without Saint Domingue, Napoleons dreams of a French colonial empire in the Americas were dashed. 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. In the 1780s, it produced 60% of the world's coffee and supplied Britain and France with 40% of its sugar. The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. Napoleon saw in the sale of Louisiana something he needed more than anything else cold, hard cash. [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. Louis. This sale was made under the direction of Napoleon's government in order to help France pay for their war materials. The U.S. bought 828,000 sq. Cantonment Belle Fontaine 8051826 The First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River. Though Jefferson urged moderation, Federalists sought to use this against Jefferson and called for hostilities against France. [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. Napoleon sold the territory to the United States for only three cents an acre.