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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 Saint-Domingue 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.
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