Napoleon's brothers, Lucien and Joseph, objected, thinking it a black mark on France's reputation and glory. [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. The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by United States president, Thomas Jefferson, in 1803. Washington University in St. Louis Press. [47] However by December 1803, the British directed Barings to halt future payments to France. [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. What Napoleon needed was a way to divest himself of the territory while at the same time preventing it from falling into British hands. 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. B. felt that the United States would be the best country to manage the land. Advertisement chelseann013 Answer: He needed money to pay for the war with Britain Advertisement Advertisement Following French defeat in the Seven Years' War, Spain gained control of the territory west of the Mississippi, and the British received the territory to the east of the river. 2, 1995, pp. 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. The Significance and Purpose of the Treaty of Tordesillas. Britain B. Spain C. RussiaD. The Lewis and Clark expedition followed shortly thereafter. How was the Louisiana Territory acquired? 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. [28], Henry Adams claimed "The sale of Louisiana to the United States was trebly invalid; if it were French property, Bonaparte could not constitutionally alienate it without the consent of the French Chambers; if it were Spanish property, he could not alienate it at all; if Spain had a right of reclamation, his sale was worthless. Overcoming the opposition of the Federalist Party, Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison persuaded Congress to ratify and fund the Louisiana Purchase. 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. By early 1803, Napoleon decided to abandon his plans to rebuild France's New World empire. [30], Other historians counter the above arguments regarding Jefferson's alleged hypocrisy by asserting that countries change their borders in two ways: (1) conquest, or (2) an agreement between nations, otherwise known as a treaty. The problem with Saint-Domingue was that its entire economy was supported by and depended entirely upon slavery. [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 jewel of the French overseas empire was Saint-Domingue in the Caribbean, which is today's Haiti on the large island of Hispaniola. Ambitions ruined, the French forces admitted defeat and returned home. The formidable British navy could easily blockade the territory and seize it for themselves. In the 1780s, it produced 60% of the world's coffee and supplied Britain and France with 40% of its sugar. Of 176 electoral votes cast, all but 14 were in his favor. 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. Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? What is the eagle on the Great Seal holding in his right talon? U.S. ownership of the whole Louisiana Purchase region was confirmed in the Treaty of Ghent (ratified in February 1815) and guaranteed on the battlefield at the decisive Battle of New Orleans when the British sent over 10,000 of the best British Army soldiers to try to take New Orleans in a 5 month long campaign starting from September 1814 (First Battle of Fort Bowyer) to February 1815 (Second Battle of Fort Bowyer). 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. all of the above The Similarities And Differences Between The Lewis And Clark Expedition. What reason did Madison give Congress for declaring war in 1812? Who sold the Louisiana Territory to the United states? [57], The Louisiana Territory was broken into smaller portions for administration, and the territories passed slavery laws similar to those in the southern states but incorporating provisions from the preceding French and Spanish rule (for instance, Spain had prohibited slavery of Native Americans in 1769, but some slaves of mixed African-Native American descent were still being held in St. Louis in Upper Louisiana when the U.S. took over). The Northerners were not enthusiastic about Western farmers gaining another outlet for their crops that did not require the use of New England ports. Who was President at the time of the Embargo Act? To Napoleon's line of thinking, if the United States took control of Louisiana, then it would deny Britain the opportunity of conquering it. [citation needed], In Saint-Domingue, Leclerc's forces took Louverture prisoner, but their expedition soon faltered in the face of fierce resistance and disease. sold the Louisiana Territory to the United States. First, an empowered United States could effectively act as a formidable rival to Britain. 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. In the early 1800s aside from the city of New Orleans, the Louisiana territory was sparsely populated. Napoleon sold French Louisiana to the US in 1803 as the Louisiana Purchase. The following year, the District of Louisiana was renamed the Territory of Louisiana. [39] New Orleans was the administrative capital of the Orleans Territory, and St. Louis was the capital of the Louisiana Territory. First, as mentioned before, France needed more money for the impending war and to concentrate its resources on Europe. [32] The Senate quickly ratified the treaty, and the House, with equal readiness, authorized the required funding, as the Constitution specifies. When Monroe and Livingston were offered the opportunity to buy the entire territory, they could not help but be excited. Barings relayed to order to Hopes, which declined to comply, allowing the final payments to be made to France in April 1804. [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. It takes a certain amount of chutzpah to think you can establish a global empire, and Napoleon Bonaparte is no exception. This made it difficult, when compared to Britain, to obtain the necessary money to wage large-scale wars. 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. He bought the Louisiana territory from France, which was being led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time, for 15,000,000 USD. [4] New Orleans was already important for shipping agricultural goods to and from the areas of the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains. 53, no. Alain Chappet, Roger Martin, Alain Pigeard. To learn more about US history, check out this timeline of the history of the United States. 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. In 1803, the United States nearly doubled in size when it bought the Louisiana Territory in a deal that shaped history. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. Negotiating with French Treasury Minister Franois Barb-Marbois, the American representatives quickly agreed to purchase the entire territory of Louisiana after it was offered. James Monroe 5. 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. While this strategy was successful at first, by 1803, disease and heavy casualties forced the French to withdraw. The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803. Francis Baring's son Alexander and Pierre Labouchre from Hopes arrived in Paris in April 1803 to assist with the negotiations. The Louisiana territory would go on to play a central role in the westward expansion of the United States throughout the 19th century. [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. This would allow the Americans to retain clear access to the river. To read more on what we're all about, learn more about us here. [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. . A watershed event in American history, the purchase of the Louisiana . Napoleon's goal: an American empire. [43] Hopes brought to the transaction experience with issuing sovereign bonds and Barings brought its American connections.[42]. [44][42] With the bankers' help, the French and American negotiators settled on a price of 80 million francs ($15 million), down from an initial price of 100 million francs, a sum the Americans could not afford and the financers could not provide. Napoleon saw in the sale of Louisiana something he needed more than anything else cold, hard cash. On April 12, 1803, Franois Barb-Marbois met with the Americans. Spain Originally governed New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory up until 1802, but then transferred ownership to France under a secret treaty. I renounce Louisiana. In a way, this almost came to pass in the War of 1812. Today, the 31st parallel is the northern boundary of the western half of the Florida Panhandle, and the Perdido is the western boundary of Florida. a Federalist judge who wanted his commission granted. 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. 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. 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 . Alarmed over the French actions and its intention to re-establish an empire in North America, Jefferson declared neutrality in relation to the Caribbean, refusing credit and other assistance to the French, but allowing war contraband to get through to the rebels to prevent France from regaining a foothold. 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. 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. Ambassador who was sent to France to negotiate the purchase of the Louisiana Territory. The French had no active administration over the territory and there were few French settlers. This gave Jefferson and his cabinet until October, when the treaty had to be ratified, to discuss the constitutionality of the purchase. A U.S. This situation would further expand and strengthen the British empireNapoleons worst-case scenario. Native Americans way of life was forever changed by the unrelenting encroachment of American settlers. The territory also was only loosely under French control having just been transferred from Spain in 1800. The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi out to sea.