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I
began collecting stamps in 1959 when I was 14 years old. Over the
years my interests have included World-Wide Issues, Postal
History, Airmails, and U.S. Classics. I began collecting First Day of
Issue covers about four years ago.
During all of this time, I have never had the
opportunity to attend a "First Day of
Issue Ceremony."
I
had the honor of attending a ceremony program for the first time on
April 30, 2003. The stamp commemorates "The
Louisiana Purchase"
of 1803 and since I live in New Orleans it was an opportunity not
to be missed. The Ceremony was held at the Cabildo
in the French Quarter of New Orleans.
It
was an exciting and interesting experience that I would like to share
with you along with some of the background and history behind the
actual event.
THE
CEREMONY I arrived an hour early so that I would have
a chance to look around and meet some of the people. There was a fair sized
crowd already on hand. Several members of
the
Crescent City Stamp Club, a local club of which I am a member,
were also at
the
USPS booth. They had a box of 200 covers that the club had designed
ready for canceling. I designed 15 covers of my own for this issue and I also
had several of the official invitations first day canceled.
I was attending
the
show as the representative of "Reflections,"
the quarterly magazine of ESPER, our Black Heritage Philatelic
Organization. The USPS media representative, Liz Carter provided me
with a press kit and badge. The kit included background material on
the
ceremony and information about stamp collecting and
the
postal service in general. It also contained a program, a lapel
pin, show cover, and a Maxi Card. Liz turned out to be a wonderfully
warm person and I really enjoyed meeting and chatting with her. (We
had another postal employee take our picture together.)
I bought several of
the
USPS first day covers with a pictorial cancel and three panes of
the
new issue to place on my covers and other related items for
the
First Day Cancellation. The postal service was also selling
the
official invitations and Louisiana Purchase lapel pins. The First Day
Programs were handed out to each guest as we took our seats. (Each
of the programs contained a First Day cancel.)
All of
the
postal workers at
the
show were very friendly and helpful, however the postal worker doing
the cancellations appeared unfamiliar with self-inking stamps. There
were 6 different cancellation devices available for use;
the
First Day Cancel strike, and 5 others of various sizes with
the
standard date strike. One
of those was a large self-inking device.
(The postal worker proceeded to cancel one of
my covers with the self-inking device after placing it on the ink
pad. Needless to say that cancel was a bit messy.)
By
the
time
the
opening ceremony had begun,
the
crowd had grown quite large. A good portion of
the
crowd attending
the
ceremony were French Quarter tourists who had wandered into
the
area out of curiosity and stayed. Several of these individuals asked
me if they could buy some of my covers, however as all of my covers
were already promised, I had to politely decline the offers.
National and local dignitaries at the ceremony
included: Lt. Governor
Kathleen Blanco; State Senator
Willie
Mount; Louisiana State Museums
Director, Jim Sefcik;
New Orleans Postmaster, Alan Cousin;
USPS Chief
Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Richard Strasser;
and our local NBC News Anchor, Norman Robinson.
The Honor Guard
and flag presentation were provided by the Louisiana 1801
Militia Re-enactment Group. One of the local area bands
provided us with authentic French Quarter Jazz and Blues prior to the
opening of the program and played the National Anthem during the Flag
Ceremony.
I had a wonderful time and the setting could not
have been more perfect. The French Quarter of New Orleans still
reflects a charm and a way of life that hasn't changed much in the
last 100 years.
Surrounded by magnificent period buildings and
little alleys alive with artists, fortune tellers, mimes, and
other curious folk and with the occasional clatter of a horse drawn
wagon passing by; all in all, this was an experience not to be missed
and one I will have fond memories of for a long time to come.
BACKGROUND
AND HISTORY
In
1682, the French Cavalier and explorer Rene-Robert
Sieur De La Salle claimed all of the territory drained
by the Mississippi River from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. He named
it Louisiana in honor of the King of France.
France
ceded New Orleans and all of the territory west of the Mississippi to
Spain in 1762, (They ceded all of the
territory east of the Mississippi and north of New Orleans to the
British in 1763.)
Napoleon
Bonaparte
seized supreme power in France as "The
First Citizen" in 1799 and in 1800 France
reacquired the territory in the secret Treaty
of Ildefonso.
(Napoleon
became Emperor in 1804.)
HAITIAN
REVOLUTION
Many
of the freedom fighters of Haiti first gained their experience and
military training during the American Revolution. Over 700 free Black
Haitians fought under the French General Rochambeau
during the war. Several of the future leaders in the Haitian
Revolution were members of the Fontages
Legion and fought against the British in the American
South. They included: Henri Christophe,
Martial Besse, Andre
Rigaud, and Louis Jacques
Beauvais.
(Southern
slave owners were afraid that these Free Haitian soldiers might
contaminate their slaves with ideas and thoughts of freedom and
prevented all contact between their slaves and the Black soldiers.)
In the late 1790s
Toussaint L'Ouverture, a
former slave gained control over several areas in Saint-Domingue
(Haiti) and earned the initial support of the French.
Toussaint gave nominal allegiance to France while pursuing his own
political and military plans, which included negotiating with the
British. In May 1801 Toussaint had himself named Governor-General for
life. Napoleon wishing to maintain control of the
island, attempted to restore the old regime (and white rule) by
sending his brother-in-law, General
Charles Leclerc, with an experienced force that
included several exiled mulatto officers. Toussaint struggled for
several months against Leclerc's forces before agreeing to an
armistice in May 1802, however the French broke the agreement and
imprisoned him in France. He died on April 7, 1803.
Jean-Jacques
Dessalines and Henry
Christophe led a black army against the French in 1802,
following evidence that Napoleon intended to restore slavery in
Saint-Domingue as he had done in other French possessions. They
defeated the French commander and a large part of his army, and in
November 1803 the Viscount de Rochambeau
surrendered the remnant of the expedition.
On January 1,
1804, Saint Domingue was declared independent under the native Arawak
name of Haiti. The United States did not recognize the independence of
Haiti until after the secession of the southern states in 1862.
The
Louisiana Purchase
Napoleon had visions of a new western empire anchored
by Saint-Domingue and Louisiana, however his plans
collapsed with
the
successful 12 year revolt of
the
slaves and free blacks of Saint-Domingue.
Napoleon originally wanted the Louisiana Territory for two
reasons:
1. To stop the western expansion of the United States.
2. To supply needed goods to the French Colonies in the West Indies.
After the loss of Haiti, the French no longer needed Louisiana.
Napoleon considered Haiti the keystone of his American Empire. The
wealth that flowed from the island of Santo Domingo to France had
exceeded by far, that of all the rest of their American possessions
together.
The United States
wished to acquire New Orleans from France to assure free access to
the
Mississippi River and
the
ability to ship goods from the port of New Orleans to
the
Atlantic Coast and Europe.
President Thomas
Jefferson sent Robert
Livingston to France in 1801 to negotiate
the
purchase of New Orleans. Napoleon
initially refused the offer and Jefferson then sent James
Monroe in a second attempt, however just one week before
Monroe arrived, Napoleon faced with the defeat of his troops in Haiti
and the looming war with England, made an offer to sell all of Louisiana
for a total of $15 Million in cash and debt relief. The treaty was
signed by Monroe and Livingston acting for the United States and the Marquis
de Barbe'-Marbois on behalf of France in early May of
1803. (The treaty was backdated to April 30.)
The French had never
taken physical control of the territory which was still being
administered under Spanish authority. The official transfer of
the Louisiana Territory took place in three parts. Spain transferred the
territory to France on November 30, 1803 and twenty days later on
December 20, 1803
the
French Governor, Pierre Laussat
and
the
U.S. representatives, William Claiborne
and General Wilkinson signed
the
documents officially transferring Lower Louisiana to
the
United States. Both of these transfers of power took place in
the
Sala Capitular of
the
Cabildo in New Orleans. The
United States took possession of
the
full Louisiana Territory three months later in St. Louis.
Neither
the
United States nor
the
French had any idea of how far west and north
the
Louisiana Territory actually extended. One of the main reasons that
Jefferson chartered the Lewis and Clark
Expedition of 1803 to 1806 was to explore and map this
new territory. The actual size of
the
Louisiana Territory proved to be over 828,000 square miles and for
approximately 4 cents an acre has been called "The
Greatest Land Deal in History."
The Cabildo,
where these historic documents were signed and where the First
Day Ceremony for the 2003
Louisiana Purchase Stamp Issue took place, functioned as
a court house beginning in 1812 and as
the
State Supreme Court from 1868 to 1910. It is now owned and operated
by
the
Louisiana State Museum.
LOUISIANA
PURCHASE STAMP ISSUES
There are two previous issues that
commemorate the Louisiana Purchase. The first issue was a set of 5
stamps issued on the centennial anniversary of the purchase in St.
Louis for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition of 1904.
The second Louisiana Purchase stamp was issued on April 30, 1953; on
the 150th anniversary of the of the signing of the treaty in Paris,
France.
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