[5], Following the establishment of the United States, the Americans controlled the area east of the Mississippi and north 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. 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? The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory in 1803. This respite gave Napoleon breathing room in his failed attempt to recover Saint-Domingue. In 1718, the French established New Orleans, and scant groups of colonists moved in. Napoleon quipped after the Louisiana treaty: Napoleon was correct in that the Jeffersonian Democrats favored closer relations with France over Spain. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1833473. Napoleon sold the Louisiana territory to the United States in 1803 The Northerners were not enthusiastic about Western farmers gaining another outlet for their crops that did not require the use of New England ports. How did France obtain the Louisiana Territory? - 2023 [5], In 1798, Spain revoked the treaty allowing American use of New Orleans, greatly upsetting Americans. Both present-day Arkansas and Missouri already had some slaveholders in the 18th and early 19th century. National Geographic also adds that it paved the way for the imperial expansion and conquest of the Native American tribes of the West. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. 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]. 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. Without Saint Domingue, Napoleons dreams of a French colonial empire in the Americas were dashed. The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi out to sea. In the year of 1803, the Louisiana purchase occurred. Barings relayed to order to Hopes, which declined to comply, allowing the final payments to be made to France in April 1804. [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. In the meeting, he said that Napoleon had read an account in the London press that 50,000 British troops might be sent to New Orleans. 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.. According to the University of Kentucky, slaves outnumbered free people at least 10 to 1. Why Did Thomas Jefferson Buy The Louisiana Territory? 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. With the failure to retake Saint-Domingue and the inevitability of renewed war between France and Britain, Napoleon refigured his political calculus. It was even subject to a speculative bubble which ruined fortunes. PBS describes how by 1812, France had increased its army strength to 600,000 men, not to mention the thousands in the navy. The Louisiana Purchase had major consequences for the United States. While Napoleons reasons were valid, his decision to sell the Louisiana territory certainly came as a surprise. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. [51] The dispute was ultimately resolved by the AdamsOns Treaty of 1819, with the United States gaining most of what it had claimed in the west. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. What Napoleon needed was a way to divest himself of the territory while at the same time preventing it from falling into British hands. In this light the deal can be seen as a win-win between Napoleon and the United States. Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? The Louisiana Purchase (French: Vente de la Louisiane, lit. 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? The Lewis and Clark Expedition (1804) traveled up the Missouri River; the Red River Expedition (1806) explored the Red River basin; the Pike Expedition (1806) also started up the Missouri but turned south to explore the Arkansas River watershed. A watershed event in American history, the purchase of the Louisiana . By the 1720s, several settlements had developed, the chief of which was the territory's capital at New Orleans. [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. James Monroe 5. Everybody who has taken grade-school history knows the story. To Napoleon's line of thinking, if the United States took control of Louisiana, then it would deny Britain the opportunity of conquering it. The Louisiana Purchase was a land purchase made by President Thomas Jefferson in 1803. Britain and France renewed hostilities on May 18, 1803, shortly after the deal was finalized. According to the census of 1810, there were 20,845 Americans in the Territory of Louisiana, among whom were 3,011 slaves. Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi, which had become vital to the growing trade of the western territories. I renounce Louisiana. In January 1802, France sent General Charles Leclerc on an expedition to Saint-Domingue to reassert French control over a colony that had become essentially autonomous under Louverture. The Lewis and Clark expedition followed shortly thereafter. 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. 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. Why is France sold the Louisiana Purchase to the US? 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. 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. [citation needed]. On April 11, 1803, just days before Monroe's arrival, Barb-Marbois offered Livingston all of Louisiana for $15million,[13] which averages to less than three cents per acre (7/ha). Upon word of the Louisiana territory transfer from Spain to France, some hot-headed members of Congress proposed a preemptive strike against New Orleans. The first Europeans to reach. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. The Louisiana Territory That Was Sold. 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). If Napoleon's designs had succeeded, perhaps his decision to abandon Louisiana would be looked at in history as a bit more shrewd than it seemed at first blush. Furthermore, the Spanish prime minister had authorized the U.S. to negotiate with the French government "the acquisition of territories which may suit their interests." Ultimately, the French need for more money was a significant factor in Napoleons decision to sell Louisiana. The deal helped Jefferson win reelection in 1804 by a landslide. He engaged in back-channel diplomacy with Napoleon on Jefferson's behalf during a visit to France and originated the idea of the much larger Louisiana Purchase as a way to defuse potential conflict between the United States and Napoleon over North America.[11]. The Louisiana Purchase extended United States sovereignty across the Mississippi River, nearly doubling the nominal size of the country. In 1791, influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution, a slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. Who sold the Louisiana Territory to Thomas Jefferson? Washington set a precedent by serving ______ terms as President. 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. War Hawks The problem with Saint-Domingue was that its entire economy was supported by and depended entirely upon slavery. Part of his evolving strategy involved giving du Pont some information that was withheld from Livingston. On the following day, October 21, 1803, the Senate authorized Jefferson to take possession of the territory and establish a temporary military government. Napoleon inherently knew that the peace would not last and that France needed to prepare for impending war with Great Britain once again. Earlier in 1803, Francis Baring and Company of London had become the U.S. government's official banking agent in London following the failure of Bird, Savage & Bird. The Louisiana Purchase was the latter, a treaty. The House called for a vote to deny the request for the purchase, but it failed by two votes, 5957. Which one of the following men was not a member of Washington's first Cabinet? Mexico. Mar 10, 1804 CE: The Louisiana Purchase Is Completed Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. Who sold the Louisiana Territory to the Jefferson? . 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. Jefferson ultimately came to the conclusion before the ratification of the treaty that the purchase was to protect the citizens of the United States therefore making it constitutional. [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. As it turns out, France, or more accurately its ruler Napoleon Bonaparte, had some good reasons for doing it. dollar. The asking price was $125 million. In legislation enacted on October 31, Congress made temporary provisions for local civil government to continue as it had under French and Spanish rule and authorized the President to use military forces to maintain order. Thomas Jefferson 4. 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. President Jefferson's Secretary of the Treasury. ", The Historic New Orleans Collection provides more nuance to the negotiations of the Louisiana Purchase. Spain, no longer a dominant European power, did little to develop Louisiana during the next three decades. [47] However by December 1803, the British directed Barings to halt future payments to France. Even in 1803, that was dirt cheap. He bought the Louisiana territory from France, which was being led by Napoleon Bonaparte at the time, for 15,000,000 USD. [39] New Orleans was the administrative capital of the Orleans Territory, and St. Louis was the capital of the Louisiana Territory.