Going East….to West -2

Louisiana Purchase

Map from Wikipedia

Louisiana had been a Spanish colony since 1762. The city of New Orleans controlled the Mississippi River through its location; other locations for ports had been tried and had not succeeded. New Orleans was already important for shipping agricultural goods to and from the parts of the United States west of the Appalachians. A treaty signed with Spain on October 27, 1795, gave American merchants "right of deposit" in New Orleans, meaning they could use the port to store goods for export. The treaty also recognized American rights to navigate the entire Mississippi River, which had become vital to the growing trade of their western territories. In 1798, Spain revoked this treaty, which greatly upset Americans. In 1801 however, the right to deposit goods from the United States was fully restored. Napoleon Bonaparte returned Louisiana to French control from Spain in 1800, under the Treaty of San Ildefonso, but the treaty was kept secret, and Louisiana remained under Spanish control until a transfer of power to France on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the secession to the United States.

“Jefferson had sent Livingston to Paris in 1801, after discovering the transfer of Louisiana from Spain to France. Livingston was to pursue a purchase of New Orleans, but failed. In 1802, Du Pont, who was living in the United States at the time and had close ties to Jefferson, as well as to the political powers in France began to help negotiate with France at the request of Jefferson. 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 …Jefferson disliked the idea of purchasing Louisiana from France as that could imply that France had a right to be in Louisiana.*” (*Extracted from Wikipedia)

Moreover, “Jefferson, a strict constructionist, also believed that a U.S. president did not have the authority to engage in such a deal because it was not specified in the constitution.” (Extracted from Wikipedia)

Monroe and Livingston, under instruction from President Jefferson traveled to Paris to negotiate the purchase of New Orleans in 1803, the latter arriving some days ahead of the former. Their interest was only in the port and its environs and they were prepared to spend up to $10 million for New Orleans and the immediate area surrounding. it. Ironically, Napoleon was considering surrendering the Louisiana Territory to the United States; probably, since the failure of his plans for the re-enslaving of the freed population of Haiti had led Bonaparte to abandon his plans to rebuild France's New World empire, and on April 11, 1803, just days before Monroe's arrival, he offered Livingston all of Louisiana instead of just New Orleans for $15 million. American negotiator was dumbfounded as he had not anticipated the much larger transfer of territory. Jefferson too decided to waive his strict constructionist views in order to make the purchase. It was a win win situation for everyone; Napoleon was delighted and rightly so. “He had title to Louisiana, but no power to to enforce it. The Americans were sure to overrun it long before he could get an army there ----if he could.*” Moreover, he felt that by selling Louisiana to the United States , he would have given England a rival who, sooner or later, will humble her pride. (*From ‘Undaunted Courage’ by Stephen E. Ambrose)