why did france sell louisiana

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. The Louisiana Purchase: Why did Napoleon sell? | Bruce Kauffmann 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 . He argued that the three-year term of the 1795 treaty that had granted America this right and free passage through Spanish territory on the Mississippi had expired. French policy makers had felt for some time that Frances possessions in the Antilles would inevitably be contaminated by Americas idea of freedom and would eventually take their own independence. But when the colonial government back in St. Domingue refused to recognize the law, the groundwork was laid for violence and revolt. 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. The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a temporary solution. 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. Privacy Statement Why did France give Louisiana to Spain? Francis Baring's son Alexander and Pierre Labouchre from Hopes arrived in Paris in April 1803 to assist with the negotiations. [43] Hopes brought to the transaction experience with issuing sovereign bonds and Barings brought its American connections.[42]. In fact, Talleyrand was intruding on a deal that Napolon had assigned to the French finance minister, Franois de Barb-Marbois. [10], In 1803, Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, a French nobleman, began to help negotiate with France at the request of Jefferson. [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. Louisiana Purchase Map, Significance & Causes | What Was the Louisiana She has been a regular contributor to History.com since 2017. He wanted Saint-Domingue and its incredibly profitable sugar and coffee plantations restored and under French control, with the old system reinstated. [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. While this strategy was successful at first, by 1803, disease and heavy casualties forced the French to withdraw. As a result, trappers pelts, agricultural produce and finished goods risked exposure and theft on open wharfs while awaiting shipment to the East Coast and beyond. By early 1803, Napoleon decided to abandon his plans to rebuild France's New World empire. When it came to profit and geopolitical importance, Napoleon was far more interested in the Caribbean. [47] However by December 1803, the British directed Barings to halt future payments to France. Before the revolution, France had derived enormous wealth from St. Domingue at the cost of the lives and freedom of the slaves. As slaves killed their masters and occupied and burned their plantations, white people defended themselves, then fled. This would allow the Americans to retain clear access to the river. Meanwhile, Louisiana, which also became a state after the purchase, remained a slave state, and New Orleans remained a critical hub of the slave trade. [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. As Napolons foreign minister, Talleyrand customarily demanded outrageous bribes for diplomatic results. And in 1801, Spain signed a secret treaty with France to return the Louisiana Territory to France. Napoleon may have sought to liberate Quebec from British rule, attacking the British in Upper Canada (modern Ontario). Monroe, along with the minister to France, Robert Livingston, made the inquiry. Updated: June 6, 2019 | Original: December 2, 2009. Though there were 10 black slaves for every white person in Haiti, slaves occupied the bottom rung of society and were treated like expendable commodities. Why did France sell Louisiana ? - French Glimpses i. France was promised control over Canada. At the time, Britain and France were at war in Europe, and if France had not sold Louisiana that war would most likely have spread to North America .The emergence of a vastly larger British North America might also have made it easier to confine slavery within the southern states. But by April 27, he was saying that $15 million was as low as Napolon would go. Browman, David L (2018). You have come to a very corrupt world, Napolon told him frankly, adding roguishly that Talleyrand was the right man to explain what he meant by corruption. However, one has to question whether the French ruler considered the consequences of selling France's interest in Louisiana. 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). [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]. There was no arguing with Napoleon, who would, after all,crown himself Emperor in 1804. The House called for a vote to deny the request for the purchase, but it failed by two votes, 5957. Advertising Notice Twelve years before, he had returned from a five-year stint as American minister to Paris, shipping home 86 cases of furnishings and books he had picked up there. On March 9 and 10, 1804, another ceremony, commemorated as Three Flags Day, was conducted in St. Louis, to transfer ownership of Upper Louisiana from Spain to France, and then from France to the United States. [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. I renounce Louisiana. ", The Historic New Orleans Collection provides more nuance to the negotiations of the Louisiana Purchase. Why did France sell Louisiana so cheap? - Quora 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. Livingston and Monroe were only authorized to spend up to $10 million for the purchase of New Orleans and West Florida. France had just re-taken control of the Louisiana Territory. The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. By the middle of the 18th century, France controlled more of the present-day United States than any other European power: from New Orleans northeast to the Great Lakes and northwest to modern-day Montana. The Constitution specifically grants the president the power to negotiate treaties (Art. 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. As France and the United States negotiated the Louisiana purchase, Haiti became an independent country run by the victorious former slaves. On April 15, Monroe and Livingston proposed $8 million. Would that make the United States too powerful? With the colony in danger of being lost, the territory was less useful. Britain and France renewed hostilities on May 18, 1803, shortly after the deal was finalized. From March 10 to September 30, 1804, Upper Louisiana was supervised as a military district, under its first civil commandant, Amos Stoddard, who was appointed by the War Department. [32] The Senate quickly ratified the treaty, and the House, with equal readiness, authorized the required funding, as the Constitution specifies. They burned cities, used guerrilla warfare and killed thousands. [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. The Louisiana Purchase doubled the size of the United States, reshaping the environmental and economic makeup of the country. 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. Napoleon saw in the sale of Louisiana something he needed more than anything else cold, hard cash. He stood up and then splashed back down into the water so heavily that his brothers got soaked. Undercutting them, Jefferson threatened an alliance with Britain, although relations were uneasy in that direction. The Real Reason France Sold The Louisiana Territory To The United 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. Its European peoples, of ethnic French, Spanish and Mexican descent, were largely Catholic; in addition, there was a large population of enslaved Africans made up of a high proportion of recent arrivals, as Spain had continued the transatlantic slave trade. In response, Jefferson sent future U.S. president James Monroe to Paris to aid Livingston in the New Orleans purchase talks. All Rights Reserved. iii. There he confirmed Napolons desire to sell the territory for $22,500,000. This left Laussat with little to do but officiate when, on a sunny December 20, 1803, the French tricolor was slowly lowered in New Orleans main square, the PlacedArmes, and the American flag was raised. 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. France retook it in 1800 when it more or less invaded Spain. How did France obtain the Louisiana Territory? - 2023 Then, too, Napolon was gearing up for another campaign against Britain and needed funds for that. dollar. [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. The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 brought into the United States about 828,000 square miles of territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the young republic. Why did France want to sell the Louisiana Territory? A.to fund its 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. [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. The treaty was dated April 30 and signed on May 2. Why did france sell louisiana? - Alexa Answers [64], The purchase of the Louisiana Territory led to debates over the idea of indigenous land rights that persisted into the mid 20th century. That same month Jefferson asked James Monroe, a former member of Congress and former governor of Virginia, to join Livingston in Paris as minister extraordinary with discretionary powers to spend $9,375,000 to secure New Orleans and parts of the Floridas (to consolidate the U.S. position in the southeastern part of the continent). The entire economy of Americas Western territories was in jeopardy. As farmers headed into the newly created Missouri territory with their slaves, lawmakers tussled over the issue of which parts should have slavery. Louisiana had never been considered one of New Spain's internal provinces. 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 British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana. Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? Jeffersons America & Napolons France (April 12-August 31), an unprecedented exhibition of paintings, sculptures, decorative arts, memorabilia and rare documents, presents a dazzling look at the arts and leading figures of the two countries at this pivotal time in history. It would have seemed unthinkable for France to cede any of its colonial territories before 1791. The Federalists strongly opposed the purchase, favoring close relations with Britain over closer ties to Napoleon. 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. Federalists tried to block the purchase by claiming the land belonged to Spain and not France. All four started from the Mississippi River. Livingston wrote to James Madison, "We shall do all we can to cheapen the purchase, but my present sentiment is that we shall buy.". The remaining 60 million francs ($11.25 million) were financed through U.S. government bonds carrying 6% interest, redeemable between 1819 and 1822. The revolution brought the colony to a state of insurrection and civil war. The Lewis and Clark expedition followed shortly thereafter. Advertisement Advertisement mira11111 mira11111 Answer: he needed money for the French War. . Why did . [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. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. [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. Fashion-conscious American ladies reportedly imitated Rcamiers attire, but not her custom of receiving visitors in her bedroom. The Louisiana Purchase opened up a new can of worms in the United Stateshow much of the new territory should be open to slavery? HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. Why did France want to sell the Louisiana Territory? In mid-April 1803, shortly before Monroes arrival, the French asked a surprised Livingston if the United States was interested in purchasing all of Louisiana Territory. Majority Leader John Randolph led the opposition. Throughout this time, Jefferson had up-to-date intelligence on Napoleon's military activities and intentions in North America. 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. Both present-day Arkansas and Missouri already had some slaveholders in the 18th and early 19th century. Why did France agree to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United This created an unstable situation at the western border which could draw his young country into the Napoleonic Wars. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Without sufficient revenues from sugar colonies in the Caribbean, Louisiana had little value to him. France ceded the territory to Spain in 1762 in the secret Treaty of Fontainebleau. The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. Barings relayed to order to Hopes, which declined to comply, allowing the final payments to be made to France in April 1804. Why happened to Louisiana Territory? France was worried Spain would take away the Caribbean. Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France, and war between France and the UK was imminent. With the failure to retake Saint-Domingue and the inevitability of renewed war between France and Britain, Napoleon refigured his political calculus. However, Livingston was certain that the United States would accept the offer.[16]. As the Library of Congress describes, Saint-Domingue was incredibly valuable. Napoleon no longer needed Louisiana as a supply depot for the Island of Saint-Domingue. As detailed by the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Americans believed that the acquisition and settlement of new lands to the west were critical to the future development of the country. Who bought the Louisiana Purchase? - TimesMojo 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. The following year, the District of Louisiana was renamed the Territory of Louisiana. [34] The United States Senate advised and consented to ratification of the treaty with a vote of twenty-four to seven on October 20. Terms of Use Though the Americans then countered with $12.7 million, the deal was struck for $15 million on April 29. Everybody who has taken grade-school history knows the story. 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). 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. A mahogany and gilded bronze swan bed that belonged to the famous French beauty Juliette Rcamier is also on display. The exhibition points up how intertwined the two nations were at the time. 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. The problem with Saint-Domingue was that its entire economy was supported by and depended entirely upon slavery. 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. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. In March 1802, he warned Madison that France intended to have a leading interest in the politics of our western country and was preparing to send 5,000 to 7,000 troops from its Caribbean colony of Saint Domingue (now Haiti) to occupy New Orleans. France sold the Louisiana Territory to fund its European wars. The History of the Louisiana Purchase - ThoughtCo [58] The institutionalization of slavery under U.S. law in the Louisiana Territory contributed to the American Civil War a half century later. Inspired by republican ideals of liberty, fraternity and equality, they pressed for their rights, and some were given the right to vote in 1790 by the French government. As Jefferson had written in April 1802 to the U.S. minister in Paris, Robert R. Livingston, it was crucial that the port of New Orleans remain open and free for American commerce, particularly the goods coming down the Mississippi River. However, in 1800 Spain had ceded the Louisiana territory back to France as part of Napoleon's secret Third Treaty of San Ildefonso. Thomas Jeffersonand his cabinet, themselves terrified of a French presence so close to the United States, used this conundrum as an opening. And the price, $15 million, or about four cents an acre, was a breathtaking bargain. Why did France give Louisiana to Spain? - KnowledgeBurrow.com Morales proclamation meant that American merchandise could no longer be stored in New Orleans warehouses. What kind of world were Jefferson and Napolon living and working in? Napoleon's brothers, Lucien and Joseph, objected, thinking it a black mark on France's reputation and glory. 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. This must have been a wrenching moment for Jefferson, who had long been a Francophile. Napoleon informed his brothers of the sale and asked for their opinion. National Geographicpoints out that in modern dollars, the Louisiana Purchase would have cost $342 million. The Library of Congress explains how President Thomas Jefferson realized the precariousness of having France as a neighbor. Americans cried Huzzah! and waved their hats, while French and Spanish residents sulked in glum silence. . What were some of the benefits of the Louisiana Purchase quizlet The main issue for the Americans was free transit of the Mississippi out to sea. 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 strategic reasons, the United States was the best market to sell the Louisiana Territory. Access hundreds of hours of historical video, commercial free, with HISTORY Vault. 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. This gave Jefferson and his cabinet until October, when the treaty had to be ratified, to discuss the constitutionality of the purchase. 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. The French loss of Saint-Domingue sent a shudder through the world. Louverture, as a French general, had fended off incursions from other European powers, but had also begun to consolidate power for himself on the island. ii. [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. However, France only controlled a small fraction of this area, most of which was inhabited by Native Americans; effectively, for the majority of the area, the United States bought the "preemptive" right to obtain "Indian" lands by treaty or by conquest, to the exclusion of other colonial powers.[1][2]. This was the key to our international influence., The bicentennial is being celebrated with yearlong activities in many of the states fashioned from the territory.

Woman Ran Husband Over With Car, Underbelly Roger Rogerson, Articles W