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

Cantonment Belle Fontaine 8051826 The First U.S. Fort West of the Mississippi River. To recap, Napoleon ultimately sold the Louisiana territory for the following reasons: In hindsight it is easy for historians to criticize Napoleons decision. Critics in Congress worried whether these "foreigners", unacquainted with democracy, could or should become citizens. See chapter iii, "Treaty Ceding Louisiana to the United States" (1803 ff.). [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. [citation needed], In Saint-Domingue, Leclerc's forces took Louverture prisoner, but their expedition soon faltered in the face of fierce resistance and disease. dollar. In order to lessen the strain of direct taxes on the populace, the French government simply needed more money from other sources. 730 Words3 Pages. 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. [T]his little event, of France possessing herself of Louisiana, . 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. 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. By early 1803, Napoleon decided to abandon his plans to rebuild France's New World empire. Please feel free to fill out our Contact Form. The French ruler was just about to embark on a series of devastating wars. How did the purchase of the Louisiana territory benefit the United States? Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. At the same time, this territorial expansion also allowed for the growth and expansion of slavery in the United States, which finally culminated in the American Civil War. Perhaps the most important reason as to why Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory to the United States was the Haitian Revolution. 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. 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. 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. Furthermore, the French had no administration over the territory and few French settlers lived on the land. Though Jefferson urged moderation, Federalists sought to use this against Jefferson and called for hostilities against France. France The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by United States president, Thomas Jefferson, in 1803. What reason did Madison give Congress for declaring war in 1812? In 1763, Louis XV gave Louisiana to his cousin, Charles III of Spain. 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. [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. a Federalist judge who wanted his commission granted. In 1803, the United States nearly doubled in size when it bought the Louisiana Territory in a deal that shaped history. In the early 1800s aside from the city of New Orleans, the Louisiana territory was sparsely populated. D. was forced to sell the land after losing a war to the United States. While the transfer of the territory by Spain back to France in 1800 went largely unnoticed, fear of an eventual French invasion spread across America when, in 1801, Napoleon sent a military force to secure New Orleans. As the Library of Congress describes, Saint-Domingue was incredibly valuable. It was even subject to a speculative bubble which ruined fortunes. Nobody really knows what post-victory plans for New Orleans and Upper Louisiana were given by the British government to Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and his second-in-command Major General Samuel Gibbs because both generals were killed in action at the Battle of New Orleans. [43] Hopes brought to the transaction experience with issuing sovereign bonds and Barings brought its American connections.[42]. However, one has to question whether the French ruler considered the consequences of selling France's interest in Louisiana. The Federalists strongly opposed the purchase, favoring close relations with Britain over closer ties to Napoleon. Napoleon was reported to have said of Louisiana in his treasury minister's memoir, "To attempt obstinately to retain it would be folly.". Would that make the United States too powerful? The formidable British navy could easily blockade the territory and seize it for themselves. Britain B. Spain C. RussiaD. Among Eurocentric circles, the Louisiana Purchase was seen as one of the greatest land deals in history. Napoleon dreamed and yearned for a French colonial empire to rival the British. Alain Chappet, Roger Martin, Alain Pigeard. However at the time Napoleon traded long-term potential for short-term gain. [10], In 1803, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, a French nobleman, began to help negotiate with France at the request of Jefferson. 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 was possible because the Louisiana territory did not only encompass Louisiana as the state that exists today. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/25723883. Part of his evolving strategy involved giving du Pont some information that was withheld from Livingston. What is the eagle on the Great Seal holding in his right talon? The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. Napoleon. Military expenditures accounted for nearly 60% of the overall budget, a staggering number to maintain.2. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1833473. 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. [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. In a way, this almost came to pass in the War of 1812. 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. 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. Andrew Jackson. [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. As described by Louisiana State University, France even went so far as to send convicts from debtors' prisons to the colony in 1717 in order to increase its settlement. What Napoleon needed was a way to divest himself of the territory while at the same time preventing it from falling into British hands. 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. In the year of 1803, the Louisiana purchase occurred. B. felt that the United States would be the best country to manage the land. 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 (French: Vente de la Louisiane, lit. [14][15] The total of $15million is equivalent to about $337million in 2021 dollars, or 64 cents per acre. 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. Even if the British did not seize the territory, the United States also posed a significant future threat. There was no arguing with Napoleon, who would, after all,crown himself Emperor in 1804. This exact scenario is what happened to Mexico with their province of Tejas during the Texan Revolution. [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. all of the above [48], A dispute soon arose between Spain and the United States regarding the extent of Louisiana. PBS describes how by 1812, France had increased its army strength to 600,000 men, not to mention the thousands in the navy. 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. The French Revolution and the Politics of Government Finance, 1770-1815. The Journal of Economic History, vol. 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. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase Europe was held under a temporary peace as a result of the 1802 Treaty of Amiens. [22] In 1804 Haiti declared its independence; but fearing a slave revolt at home, Jefferson and the rest of Congress refused to recognize the new republic, the second in the Western Hemisphere, and imposed a trade embargo against it. However, the territory, like a regifted picture frame, was swapped among European powers. Contents1 What country controlled the Louisiana Territory?2 Who controlled the Louisiana Territory in 1763?3 Who controlled Louisiana in 1812?4 Who controlled Louisiana in 1810?5 [] [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. [5], In 1798, Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans, greatly upsetting Americans. [64], The purchase of the Louisiana Territory led to debates over the idea of indigenous land rights that persisted into the mid 20th century. [17] The signers were Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Franois Barb-Marbois. 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. It cannot be understated just how important the Louisiana Purchase was to the United States. . [3] The western borders of the purchase were later settled by the 1819 AdamsOns Treaty with Spain, while the northern borders of the purchase were adjusted by the Treaty of 1818 with Britain. Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? The purchase doubled the size of the United States, greatly strengthened the country materially and strategically, provided a powerful impetus to . The failed suppression of the Haitian Revolution also diverted French troops from landing in the port city of New Orleans, a near crisis averted for the United States. 1803 acquisition of large region of Middle America land by the U.S. from France, Domestic opposition and constitutionality, Formal transfers and initial organization. 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. Louisiana Purchase, western half of the Mississippi River basin purchased in 1803 from France by the United States; at less than three cents per acre for 828,000 square miles (2,144,520 square km), it was the greatest land bargain in U.S. history. On the following day, October 21, 1803, the Senate authorized Jefferson to take possession of the territory and establish a temporary military government. Before the revolution, France had derived enormous wealth from St. Domingue at the cost of the lives and freedom of the slaves. Who was President at the time of the Whiskey Rebellion? Just three weeks earlier, on November 30, 1803, Spanish officials had formally conveyed the colonial lands and their administration to France. Even though Europeans had ostensibly laid claim to Louisiana for centuries, it remained largely undeveloped, with few wanting to move there. At the time French leaders were preoccupied with the French Revolution and failed to suppress the rebellion quickly enough. With the failure to retake Saint-Domingue and the inevitability of renewed war between France and Britain, Napoleon refigured his political calculus. (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. [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 asking price was $125 million. Napoleon 6. 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? Livingston wrote to James Madison, "We shall do all we can to cheapen the purchase, but my present sentiment is that we shall buy.". 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. This situation would further expand and strengthen the British empireNapoleons worst-case scenario. As a result, while the territory of Louisiana was technically very large, it had hardly been touched by the Europeans, with the exception of the areas along the lower Mississippi River. Knowing that war was imminent, Napoleon sensed two opportunities by selling the Louisiana territory. The territory made up all or part of fifteen modern U.S. states between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. 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. 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 . 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. Francis Baring's son Alexander and Pierre Labouchre from Hopes arrived in Paris in April 1803 to assist with the negotiations. American diplomats Robert Livingston and James Monroepurchased the Louisiana Territory from the French for $15 million dollars, or four cents an acre, in 1803. On January 1, 1804, Haiti declared its independence. Browman, David L (2018). Washington set a precedent by serving ______ terms as President. While this strategy was successful at first, by 1803, disease and heavy casualties forced the French to withdraw. Louisiana had never been considered one of New Spain's internal provinces. [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. In a letter, Thomas Jefferson wrote that France's repossession of the territory "is the embryo of a tornado which will burst on the countries on both shores of the Atlantic and involve in it's effects their highest destinies.". Both Federalists and Jeffersonians were concerned over the purchase's constitutionality. Spain turned the territory over to France in a ceremony in New Orleans on November 30, a month before France turned it over to American officials. Jefferson tasked James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston with purchasing New Orleans. While the dreams of colonial domination evaporated, Napoleon turned his attention towards establishing an empire across the European continent instead. Despite the implications of the Louisiana Purchase for both France and the United States, Native Americans were unquestionably the biggest losers in the arrangement. 55, no. True False, The War of 1812 was between France and the United States. They wanted the U.S. government to establish laws allowing slavery in the newly acquired territory so they could be supported in taking their slaves there to undertake new agricultural enterprises, as well as to reduce the threat of future slave rebellions. In 1803, President Thomas Jefferson bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million and nearly doubled the size of the U.S. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. [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. National Geographic also adds that it paved the way for the imperial expansion and conquest of the Native American tribes of the West. When Monroe and Livingston were offered the opportunity to buy the entire territory, they could not help but be excited. Who sold the massive Louisiana Territory to the United States? Washington University in St. Louis Press. The Louisiana Purchase had major consequences for the United States. The U.S. bought 828,000 sq. The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. True False. Where Saint Domingue would be the crown jewel with its lucrative sugar plantations, Louisiana would be the bread basket supplying the empire with grains. This success stuck in Napoleon's craw. Ultimately, the French need for more money was a significant factor in Napoleons decision to sell Louisiana. The Lewis and Clark expedition followed shortly thereafter. American Indians were also present in large numbers. 'Sale of Louisiana') was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. The land that was purchased was very, very cheap. [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. The eastern boundary below the 31st parallel was unclear. 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. 22755. Pakenham was ordered to conduct the New Orleans/Mobile campaign even in the middle of the peace negotiations in late 1814. This gave Jefferson and his cabinet until October, when the treaty had to be ratified, to discuss the constitutionality of the purchase. Jefferson considered a constitutional amendment to justify the purchase; however, his cabinet convinced him otherwise. 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.