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. In 1791, influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution, a slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. A full 40 percentof Britain and Frances sugar, and 60 percent of its coffee, was produced in Haiti, and the lucrative market lent itself to a particularly brutal slave trade. 1. 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. 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. Why did France sell the Louisiana Territory to the U.S in 1803? Why did France sell Louisiana : to finance the conquests. 8 Things You May Not Know About the Louisiana Purchase - History by force of arms. As Secretary of State James Madison explained, The Mississippi is to them everything. What's more, as described by Medium, the French ruler believed that a more powerful United States was better for France. What if France never sold Louisiana? There was also concern that an increase in the number of slave-holding states created out of the new territory would exacerbate divisions between North and South. 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. The Federalists even tried to prove the land belonged to Spain, not France, but available records proved otherwise. He could not or did not see the value in sending troops to defend worthless Louisiana, not with Saint-Domingue out of the equation. [17] The signers were Robert Livingston, James Monroe, and Franois Barb-Marbois. Thus, the correct answer is option A. [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. Why did France give Louisiana to Spain? - KnowledgeBurrow.com 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). Acquiring the territory doubled the size of the United States. 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. The whole thing came as a total surprise to him and his negotiating team in Paris, because it was, after all, Napolons idea, not his., Showing up unexpectedly at the dinner party Livingston gave on April 12 for Monroes arrival, Barb-Marbois discreetly asked Livingston to meet him later that night at the treasury office. What was the most important effect of the Louisiana Purchase? The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. Louisiana Purchase of 1803 | Napoleon Bonaparte of France By early April, 1803, Napoleon Bonaparte had had a change of mind and decided to sell the entire Louisiana Territory. In addition, the DunbarHunter Expedition (18041805) explored the Ouachita River watershed. [23], After Monroe and Livingston had returned from France with news of the purchase, an official announcement of the purchase was made on July 4, 1803. But by April 27, he was saying that $15 million was as low as Napolon would go. A seascapeportrays the Marquis de Lafayettes ship La Victoire setting sail to carry him across the Atlantic in 1777 to fight in the American Revolution. With the failure to retake Saint-Domingue and the inevitability of renewed war between France and Britain, Napoleon refigured his political calculus. The Louisiana Purchase is perhaps the most famous real estate deal in American history. Jefferson's philosophical consistency was in question because of his strict interpretation of the Constitution. 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]. He probably concluded that, following American independence, France couldnt hope to maintain a colony on the American continent, says Jean Tulard, one of Frances foremost Napolon scholars. Not all Americans agreed, however. . SIGNED Roughneck Daddy: A Memoir by Donna F. Orchard, Paperback - eBay (There is also a portrait of the marquis himself and a 1784 painting by French artist Jean Suau, Allegory of France Liberating America.) The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803.However, France only controlled a small fraction of this area, most of which was inhabited by Native Americans. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a temporary solution. Louisiana Purchase Map, Significance & Causes | What Was the Louisiana The AdamsOns Treaty with Spain resolved the issue upon ratification in 1821. It hangs not far from a color engraving of the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, which was composed in 1789 by Lafayette with the advice of his American friend Thomas Jefferson. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. There was no arguing with Napoleon, who would, after all,crown himself Emperor in 1804. Albany, GA (31701) Today. 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. The Lewis and Clark expedition followed shortly thereafter. 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. 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. Under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture, slaves took over the entire island of Hispaniola, including St. Domingue and its neighbor Santo Domingo. 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.". It was even subject to a speculative bubble which ruined fortunes. Gentlemen, he announced, think what you please about it. Why did France decide to sell Louisiana to the U.S.? [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. [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 British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. When Livingston tried to discuss the territory, Talleyrand simply denied that there was any treaty between France and Spain. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Why Did Spain Give Louisiana Back To France? - CLJ It is New Orleans, through which the produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market. Jeffersons concern was more than commercial. The bank then turned over ownership of the Louisiana Territory to the United States in return for bonds, which were repaid over 15 years at 6 percent interest, making the final purchase price around $27 million. Jefferson had authorized Livingston only to purchase New Orleans. Critics in Congress worried whether these "foreigners", unacquainted with democracy, could or should become citizens. [citation needed], After the early explorations, the U.S. government sought to establish control of the region, since trade along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers was still dominated by British and French traders from Canada and allied Indians, especially the Sauk and Fox. [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. 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. The asking price was $125 million. This was coupled with the importation of enslaved Africans. [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. Slaves were routinely terrorized in a race-based social order. 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. This gave Jefferson and his cabinet until October, when the treaty had to be ratified, to discuss the constitutionality of the purchase. All Rights Reserved. Without that, the United States' international influence would be less, as would its influence over the development of democracies. But in early 1803, continuing war between France and Britain seemed unavoidable. Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France, and war between France and the UK was imminent. Why did France give Louisiana to Spain? [42] The first group of bonds were issued on January 16, 1804, but the banks had already provided a 10 million franc advance to France in July 1803. Why Did France Sell Louisiana? - CLJ According to the Library of Congress, the Louisiana Territory was mainly ignored by the French government and remained unprofitable. This respite gave Napoleon breathing room in his failed attempt to recover Saint-Domingue. Without the profits from Saint-Domingue, it did not make sense to try to defend the sprawling Louisiana Territory, and Napoleon was worried about the British. 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. Louisiana under Spanish control fared little better. This made it difficult, when compared to Britain, to obtain the necessary money to wage large-scale wars. The Lewis and Clark expedition followed shortly thereafter. All four started from the Mississippi River. France sold the Louisiana Territory to fund its European wars. France was in shock, and Napoleon began to realize that his dream of a French empire in the Americas might be doomed. "The district of Louisiana changed to the territory of Louisiana". 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. Before the revolution, France had derived enormous wealth from St. Domingue at the cost of the lives and freedom of the slaves. Majority Leader John Randolph led the opposition. Acquisition of Louisiana was a long-term goal of President Thomas Jefferson, who was especially eager to gain control of the crucial Mississippi River port of New Orleans. [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. How was the Louisiana Territory acquired? [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. With the colony in danger of being lost, the territory was less useful. 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. Jefferson tasked James Monroe and Robert R. Livingston with purchasing New Orleans. The following year, the District of Louisiana was renamed the Territory of Louisiana. France regained sovereignty of the western territory in the secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso . But Napolons mind was already made up. The rest was history. 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 . Barb-Marbois received his orders on April 11, 1803, when Napolon summoned him. To France, it was a backwater sort of like owning Mediterranean Avenue in Monopoly. When it came to profit and geopolitical importance, Napoleon was far more interested in the Caribbean. In fact, Talleyrand was intruding on a deal that Napolon had assigned to the French finance minister, Franois de Barb-Marbois. It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States, formed into one stream.. But Livingston, although an inexperienced diplomat, tried to keep himself informed about the country to which he was ambassador. All articles are regularly reviewed and updated by the HISTORY.com team. 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. Negotiating with French Treasury Minister Franois Barb-Marbois, the American representatives quickly agreed to purchase the entire territory of Louisiana after it was offered. What did the French call the Louisiana Territory? - 2023 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. But in 1800, the region again changed hands, when Napolon negotiated the clandestine Treaty of San Ildefonso with Spains Charles IV. In a way, this almost came to pass in the War of 1812. The Louisiana Purchase, made 200 years ago this month, nearly doubled the size of the United States. Southern Quarterlynotes, "What is often remembered as a remarkably 'peaceful' transfer of land was in fact predicated on events of enormous violence that took place in the Caribbean.". The exhibition points up how intertwined the two nations were at the time. 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). [58] In a freedom suit that went from Missouri to the U.S. Supreme Court, slavery of Native Americans was finally ended in 1836. Napoleon's brothers, Lucien and Joseph, objected, thinking it a black mark on France's reputation and glory. A wily political survivor who held high offices under the French Revolution, and later under Napolons empire and the restored Bourbon monarchy, Talleyrand had spent the years 1792 to 1794 in exile in America after being denounced by the revolutionary National Convention, and had conceived a virulent contempt for Americans. france - Why did the French sell Louisiana? - History Stack Exchange The sale of Louisiana was a FIRE SALE for France, and specifically, its self-appointed ruler, Napoleon Bonaparte, for these reasons: 1) France had gotten "burned" with her earlier misadventures in North America. France retook it in 1800 when it more or less invaded Spain. Cookie Policy [4] The colony was the most substantial presence of France's overseas empire, with other possessions consisting of a few small settlements along the Mississippi and other main rivers. The social order of the island crumbled and in an attempt to stop the violence, France abolished slavery. 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. 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. Or, as Jefferson put it in his usual understated way, The fertility of thecountry, its climate and extent, promise in due season importantaids to our treasury, an ample provision for our posterity, and a wide-spread field for the blessings of freedom., American historians today are more outspoken in their enthusiasm for the acquisition. Neither Livingston nor Monroe had been authorized to buy all of the territory, or to spend $15 milliontransatlantic mail took weeks, sometimes months, each way, so they had no time to request and receive approval of the deal from Washington. 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 1780s, it produced 60% of the world's coffee and supplied Britain and France with 40% of its sugar. 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. Would that make the United States too powerful? It is not only New Orleans that I will cede, it is the whole colony without reservation. 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 . Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault. 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), ordered to negotiate with French Finance Minister Barb-Marbois, https://www.history.com/topics/19th-century/louisiana-purchase. The latter knew America well, having spent some years in Philadelphia in the late 1700s as French ambassador to the United States, where he got to know Washington, Jefferson, Livingston and Monroe. Terms of Use The Boston Columbian Centinel editorialized, We are to give money of which we have too little for land of which we already have too much. And Congressman Joseph Quincy of Massachusetts so opposed the deal that he favored secession by the Northeastern states, amicably if they can; violently if they must.. There never was a government in which less could be done by negotiation than here, a frustrated Livingston wrote to Madison on September 1, 1802. Articles with the HISTORY.com Editors byline have been written or edited by the HISTORY.com editors, including Amanda Onion, Missy Sullivan and Matt Mullen. By 1860, there weremore than100,000 slaves in Missouri, and slaves were valued at over $44 million (about $112 billion today). France worried about an alliance between America and England. [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. Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase. Bonaparte's purpose was to build up a French Army to send to Louisiana to defend his "New France" from British and U.S. attacks. What were some of the benefits of the Louisiana Purchase quizlet At roughly the same time, a slave revolt broke out in the French held island of . Free shipping for many products! Why did France sell Louisiana? Napoleon informed his brothers of the sale and asked for their opinion. All Rights Reserved. Why did France sell Louisiana so cheap? - Quora The split-screen messaging of Ohio's . It was the first and only time that a slave revolt had seen such success, and this epochal event in San-Domingue is linked with the Louisiana Purchase. 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." However, Livingston was certain that the United States would accept the offer.[16]. "Napoleon, Jefferson, and the Louisiana Purchase. 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. Both present-day Arkansas and Missouri already had some slaveholders in the 18th and early 19th century. 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. A mahogany and gilded bronze swan bed that belonged to the famous French beauty Juliette Rcamier is also on display. Selling the Louisiana territory gave Napoleon a significant windfall from a territory he was probably going to lose anyway. We strive for accuracy and fairness. The key to opening the western goal was securing the Mississippi River and the Louisiana Territory. France wanted to sell the Louisiana Territory to raise funds for Napoleon Bonaparte's war effortsin Europe and to cut its losses in the Americas after losing its colony of Saint-Domingue (Haiti). 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. For more than a century after La Salle took possession of it, the Louisiana Territory, with its scattered French, Spanish, Acadian and German settlements, along with those of Native Americans and American-born frontiersmen, was traded among European royalty at their whim. We also show that our political and cultural relationship with France was extraordinarily rich at the time, a spirited interchange that altered the shape of the modern world.. In 1718, the French established New Orleans, and scant groups of colonists moved in. 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. "[19] On July 4, 1803, the treaty was announced,[20] but the documents did not arrive in Washington, D.C. until July 14. They wrote an enthusiasticletter to Secretary of State James Madison: "An acquisition of so great an extent was, we well Know, not contemplated by our appointment; but we are persuaded that the Circumstances and Considerations which induced us to make it, will justify us, in the measure, to our Government and Country.". As the Library of Congress describes, Saint-Domingue was incredibly valuable. The press joined the fray. HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. [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. While the concept of "manifest destiny" would not make it into the American lexicon until 1845, the idea that the United States had a divine mission to expand had been in place since the earliest colonial times. He had always seen Saint Domingue, with a population of more than 500,000, producing enough sugar, coffee, indigo, cotton and cocoa to fill some 700 ships a year, as Frances most important holding in the Western Hemisphere. To Napoleon's line of thinking, if the United States took control of Louisiana, then it would deny Britain the opportunity of conquering it. This secret deal did not remain secret for long. [43] Hopes brought to the transaction experience with issuing sovereign bonds and Barings brought its American connections.[42]. Then, too, Napolon was gearing up for another campaign against Britain and needed funds for that. But if Haiti was under the control of the slaves, his plan was for naught. When Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, he altered the shape of a nation and the course of history. 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. [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]. Why did France agree to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States? [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. UNDERSTANDABLY, Pierre Clment de Laussat was saddened by this unexpected turn of events. If we had not made this purchase, it would have pinched off the possibility of our becoming a continental power, he says. Plenty of sunshine. 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. 20 Why did France no longer need Louisiana quizlet? The difficulties and risks . The soldiers there were untrained and undisciplined, he lamented, and the whole colony was not worth a straw at the present time. Concluding that the area was valueless, Louis XV gave the territory to his Bourbon cousin Charles III of Spain in 1763. The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. 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. 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. How the Louisiana Purchase Changed the World | History| Smithsonian