why did france sell louisiana
Why did France sell Louisiana? (Louisiana Shaping) [18] After the signing Livingston famously stated, "We have lived long, but this is the noblest work of our whole lives From this day the United States take their place among the powers of the first rank. [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. Why Is New Orleans So French? - CLJ - communityliteracy.org How did the French Own Louisiana? Americans cried Huzzah! and waved their hats, while French and Spanish residents sulked in glum silence. The money would also be immediately useful to finance his wars. 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. Spains King Charles IV finally got around to signing the royal decree officially transferring the territory to France, and on October 16, the Spanish administrator in New Orleans, Juan Ventura Morales, who had agreed to administer the colony until his French replacement, Laussat, could arrive, arbitrarily ended the American right to deposit cargo in the city duty-free. 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.". 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]. A mahogany and gilded bronze swan bed that belonged to the famous French beauty Juliette Rcamier is also on display. 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]. 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. In 1762, during the French and Indian War, France ceded French Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain and in 1763 transferred nearly all of its remaining North American holdings to Great Britain. Besides, we may hereafter expect rivalries among the members of the Union. Also, many Federalists were speculators in lands in upstate New York and New England and were hoping to sell these lands to farmers, who might go west instead, if the Louisiana Purchase went through. . When word got around that Napoleon was giving up Louisiana to the Americans, not everybody agreed. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. [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. 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. The acquisition of the area would increase the size of the country two-fold; it was one of the largest property proceedings in history, involving more land than today's France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Germany, Holland, Switzerland, and the British . The Federalists even tried to prove the land belonged to Spain, not France, but available records proved otherwise. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. 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]. What were some of the benefits of the Louisiana Purchase quizlet 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.. He wanted Saint-Domingue and its incredibly profitable sugar and coffee plantations restored and under French control, with the old system reinstated. Napoleon's brothers, Lucien and Joseph, objected, thinking it a black mark on France's reputation and glory. With the failure to retake Saint-Domingue and the inevitability of renewed war between France and Britain, Napoleon refigured his political calculus. In 1791, the storm broke and thousands of slaves revolted. Overcoming the opposition of the Federalist Party, Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison persuaded Congress to ratify and fund the Louisiana Purchase. Louisiana Purchase - Wikipedia 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. He could not or did not see the value in sending troops to defend worthless Louisiana, not with Saint-Domingue out of the equation. This week (May 2) in 1803, the United States and France formally signed the treaty that transferred the Louisiana Territory, including the port city of New Orleans, to the United States for the paltry sum of $11,250,000. What's more, as described by Medium, the French ruler believed that a more powerful United States was better for France. The split-screen messaging of Ohio's . 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. Washington University in St. Louis Press. 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. 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. 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. He had contacts at Britains Baring & Co. Bank, which agreed, along with several other banks, to make the actual purchase and pay Napolon cash. [43] Hopes brought to the transaction experience with issuing sovereign bonds and Barings brought its American connections.[42]. Joseph A. Harriss pp. 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. Since the late 1780s, Americans had been moving westward into the Ohio River and Tennessee River valleys, and these settlers were highly dependent on free access to the Mississippi River and the strategic port of New Orleans. 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? 8 Things You May Not Know About the Louisiana Purchase - History [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. I renounce it with the greatest regret. This made it difficult, when compared to Britain, to obtain the necessary money to wage large-scale wars. On March 11, 1803, Napoleon began preparing to invade Great Britain. Brown University explains that Saint-Domingue created a tax revenue base of 1 billion livres and exported up to 170 million livres into France on an annual basis. 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). I renounce Louisiana. France had just re-taken control of the Louisiana Territory. [48], A dispute soon arose between Spain and the United States regarding the extent of Louisiana. [32] The Senate quickly ratified the treaty, and the House, with equal readiness, authorized the required funding, as the Constitution specifies. New Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi were transferred to Spain in 1762, and French territories east of the Mississippi, including Canada, were ceded to Britain the next year. Why Did Spain Give Louisiana Back To France? - CLJ 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. But Napolons troops in Saint Domingue were being decimated by a revolution and an outbreak of yellow fever. Slaves were routinely terrorized in a race-based social order. The social order of the island crumbled and in an attempt to stop the violence, France abolished slavery. . At roughly the same time, a slave revolt broke out in the French held island of . They burned cities, used guerrilla warfare and killed thousands. The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. 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. Privacy Statement This was coupled with the importation of enslaved Africans. Explanation: Dont worry about it sweatheart. Even though Europeans had ostensibly laid claim to Louisiana for centuries, it remained largely undeveloped, with few wanting to move there. Why did France want to sell the Louisiana Territory? One man is everything.. If the deal was allowed to stand, he declared, it would be impossible that France and the United States can continue long as friends. Relations had been relaxed with Spain while it held New Orleans, but Jefferson suspected that Napolon wanted to close the Mississippi to American use. In 1799, he had seized power in a coup d'tat in France and wanted to restore French glory in the Americas. The prospect had been all the more pleasing because the territorys capital, New Orleans, he had noted with approval, was a city with a great deal of social life, elegance and goodbreeding. He also had liked the fact that the city had all sorts of mastersdancing, music, art, and fencing, and that even though there were no book shops or libraries, books could be ordered from France. To France, it was a backwater sort of like owning Mediterranean Avenue in Monopoly. In October, the U.S. Senate ratified the purchase, and in December 1803 France transferred authority over the region to the United States. High around 75F. [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. He also realized that with Britain's superior naval power, it would be relatively easy for them to take Louisiana at will. He took possession of the whole Mississippi River basin, he avowed, in the name of the most high, mighty, invincible and victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by Grace of God king of France and Navarre, 14th of that name. And it was in honor of Louis XIV that he named the land Louisiana. Her work has appeared in outlets like The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Atlantic, TIME, Smithsonian and more. The Louisiana Purchase and its exploration (article) | Khan Academy 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). The Louisiana Purchase, made 200 years ago this month, nearly doubled the size of the United States. ii. Not all Americans agreed, however. In 1718, French explorer Jean-Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, founded a settlement near the site of La Salles proclamation, and named it la Nouvelle Orlans for Philippe, Duke of Orlans and Regent of France. France was in shock, and Napoleon began to realize that his dream of a French empire in the Americas might be doomed. The British had re-entered the war and France was losing the Haitian Revolution and could not defend Louisiana.