why did france sell louisiana

[50] Spain insisted that Louisiana comprised no more than the western bank of the Mississippi River and the cities of New Orleans and St. Louis. Fashion-conscious American ladies reportedly imitated Rcamiers attire, but not her custom of receiving visitors in her bedroom. Another concern was whether it was proper to grant citizenship to the French, Spanish, and free black people living in New Orleans, as the treaty would dictate. 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. Napoleon Bonaparte used the cash to finance his war efforts, but he was finally and permanently defeated at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. He had a vision of America as an empire of liberty, says Douglas Brinkley. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Joseph A. Harriss Out of anger towards Spain and the unique opportunity to sell something that was useless and not truly his yet, Napoleon decided to sell the entire territory. 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. Recent post: Does Cu Sell Alcohol? He added later, "I require money to make war on the richest nation in the world.". iv. As described by History, under the leadership of Toussaint Louverture, the enslaved allied with nonwhite free people and successfully overthrew the slave order, taking control of all of Hispaniola, not just Saint-Domingue. Why did France sell Louisiana : to finance the conquests. I renounce Louisiana. It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States, formed into one stream.. [25] The American purchase of the Louisiana territory was not accomplished without domestic opposition. 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. With the colony in danger of being lost, the territory was less useful. The confederations that are called perpetual, only last till one of the contracting parties finds it to its interest to break them, and it is to prevent the danger, to which the colossal power of England exposes us, that I would provide a remedy. 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. But Livingston, although an inexperienced diplomat, tried to keep himself informed about the country to which he was ambassador. Slaves were routinely terrorized in a race-based social order. 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. Then, too, Napolon was gearing up for another campaign against Britain and needed funds for that. By 1860, there weremore than100,000 slaves in Missouri, and slaves were valued at over $44 million (about $112 billion today). When Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, he altered the shape of a nation and the course of history. 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. So many slaves died of yellow feverand ill treatment that the entire slave population turned overevery 20 years, and slaves were held in subjugation through a strict caste system. 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. 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. Britain and France renewed hostilities on May 18, 1803, shortly after the deal was finalized. 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. But if Haiti was under the control of the slaves, his plan was for naught. WATCH: Full episodes of The American Presidency with Bill Clinton online now. Many members of the House of Representatives opposed the purchase. In 1799, he had seized power in a coup d'tat in France and wanted to restore French glory in the Americas. "[29] The sale of course was not "worthless"the U.S. actually did take possession. The Louisiana Territory, in Napolons view, was useful mainly as a granary for Saint Domingue. 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. None of these held a candle, though, to sugar, which dominated French colonial holdings. At the same time, this territorial expansion also allowed for the growth and expansion of slavery in the United States, which finally culminated in the American Civil War. The enlightened government of France saw, with just discernment, he told Congress, with typical tact, on October 17, 1803, the importance to both nations of such liberal arrangements as might best and permanently promote the peace, friendship, and interests of both. But, excited by the commercial opportunities in the West, Jefferson, even before official notice of the treaty reached him, had already dispatched Meriwether Lewis to lead an expedition to explore the territory and the lands beyond. As quoted by Smithsonian Magazine, historian Charles A. Cerami said, "If we had not made this purchase, it would have pinched off the possibility of our becoming a continental power." In his initial meeting with Napolon after taking up his Paris post in 1801, Livingston had been warned about Old World ways. But the official view was summed up by Antoine de La Mothe Cadillac, whom Louis XIV named governor of the territory in 1710: The people are aheap of the dregs of Canada, he sniffed in a 42-page report to the king written soon after he arrived. All the way to the Pacific. Spain had not yet completed the transfer of Louisiana to France, and war between France and the UK was imminent. And St. Domingue, which is now known as Haiti, was one of the great sugar capitals of the world. The crunch came for Jefferson in October 1802. 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). HISTORY.com works with a wide range of writers and editors to create accurate and informative content. This could weaken Britain's war effort against France and give Napoleon victory. The Louisiana Purchase had major consequences for the United States. 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. Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the land deal, which is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jeffersons presidency. Why Did france sell the land Money for War France was currently engaged in a war with Britain. [57] As states organized within the territory, the status of slavery in each state became a matter of contention in Congress, as southern states wanted slavery extended to the west, and northern states just as strongly opposed new states being admitted as "slave states." 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. 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. Without sufficient revenues from sugar colonies in the Caribbean, Louisiana had little value to him. France retook it in 1800 when it more or less invaded Spain. France sold the Louisiana Territory to fund its European wars. The revolution brought the colony to a state of insurrection and civil war. 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. The Northerners were not enthusiastic about Western farmers gaining another outlet for their crops that did not require the use of New England ports. 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 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. This gave Jefferson and his cabinet until October, when the treaty had to be ratified, to discuss the constitutionality of the purchase. The two powers were at peace in early 1803, having signed the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, which, as explained by Britannica, ended hostilities between the two nations. 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. 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.". But the purchase was also fueled by a slave revolt in Haitiand tragically, it ended up expanding slavery in the United States. Gentlemen, he announced, think what you please about it. Claiborne and Gen. James Wilkinson, the new commissioners of the territory, officially took possession of it in the name of the United States, assuring all residents that their property, rights and religion would be respected, celebratory salvos boomed from the forts around the city. 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. (Louisiana Shaping) Why did France agree to sell the Louisiana Territory to the United States? The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. [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. Having arrived in New Orleans from Paris with his wife and three daughters just nine months earlier, in March 1803, the cultivated, worldly French functionary had expected to reign for six or eight years as colonial prefect over the vast territory of Louisiana, which was to be Frances North American empire. What we wanted to do was enrich peoples understanding of the significance of this moment, says Gail Feigenbaum, lead curator of the show. The most ambitious event opens this month at the New Orleans Museum of Art. 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. The Americans thought that Napoleon might withdraw the offer at any time, preventing the United States from acquiring New Orleans, so they agreed and signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty on April 30, 1803, (10 Floral XI in the French Republican calendar) at the Htel Tubeuf in Paris. Francis Baring's son Alexander and Pierre Labouchre from Hopes arrived in Paris in April 1803 to assist with the negotiations. This respite gave Napoleon breathing room in his failed attempt to recover Saint-Domingue. [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. 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. If we had not made this purchase, it would have pinched off the possibility of our becoming a continental power, he says. [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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Despite a clubfoot and what contemporaries called his dead eyes, he could be charming and witty when he wantedwhich helped camouflage his basic negotiating tactic of delay. To France, it was a backwater sort of like owning Mediterranean Avenue in Monopoly. [1][2], Domestic opposition and constitutionality, Formal transfers and initial organization. On April 12, 1803, Franois Barb-Marbois met with the Americans. 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. For one thing, they considered it foolish to voluntarily give up an important French holding on the American continent. But almost before Laussat had learned to appreciate a good gumbo and the relaxed Creole pace of life, Napolon Bonaparte had abruptly decided to sell the territory to the United States. Napoleon no longer needed Louisiana as a supply depot for the Island of Saint-Domingue. The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1699 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. The Louisiana Purchase was the start of the United States' incredible expansion from a group of Eastern Seaboard states on the North American continent. France worried about an alliance between America and England. Among Eurocentric circles, the Louisiana Purchase was seen as one of the greatest land deals in history. This deal between the United States and France sold over 500 million acres at a bargain price of fewer than . Intent on avoiding possible war with France, Jefferson sent James Monroe to Paris in 1803 to negotiate a settlement, with instructions to go to London to negotiate an alliance if the talks in Paris failed. Otherwise, Louisiana would be an easy prey for a potential invasion from Britain or the U.S. National Geographic also adds that it paved the way for the imperial expansion and conquest of the Native American tribes of the West. Why did France sell Louisiana? [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. The French loss of Saint-Domingue sent a shudder through the world. When Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, he altered the shape of a nation and the course of history Joseph A. Harriss April 2003 The Louisiana Purchase nearly. 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. A. i only B. i and iv only C. ii and iii only HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. Why did France sell Louisiana to the US? All Rights Reserved. Why did France want to sell the Louisiana Territory See answers Advertisement Advertisement countsbrycem countsbrycem Answer: to fund its European wars. [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. 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. And in 1801, Spain signed a secret treaty with France to return the Louisiana Territory to France. To Napoleon's line of thinking, if the United States took control of Louisiana, then it would deny Britain the opportunity of conquering it. Jefferson had authorized Livingston only to purchase New Orleans. The lack of instructions and the necessity of consulting ones government are always legitimate excuses in order to obtain delays in political affairs, he once wrote. In 1791, influenced by the ideals of the French Revolution, a slave revolt broke out on Saint-Domingue. When it came to profit and geopolitical importance, Napoleon was far more interested in the Caribbean. He planned on using that money to build a better army and navy. Thomas Jefferson ii. [33][35], When Spain later objected to the United States purchasing Louisiana from France, Madison responded that America had first approached Spain about purchasing the property but had been told by Spain itself that America would have to treat with France for the territory.[36]. "The district of Louisiana changed to the territory of Louisiana".

Carroll Isd Coaching Stipends, Met Police Pension Calculator, Robert Kelso Obituary, Articles W