On This Day: Napoleon's France begins three week rule over Louisiana territory - Nov. 30, 1803

[jgo]

(edited from Wikipedia)
"
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. This consisted of most of the land in the Mississippi River's drainage basin west of the river. In return for fifteen million dollars, the United States nominally acquired a total of 828,000 sq mi in Middle America, 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.

The Kingdom of France had controlled the Louisiana territory from 1682 until it was ceded to Spain in 1762. In 1800, Napoleon regained ownership of Louisiana [via a secret agreement] in exchange for Tuscany as part of a broader effort to re-establish a French colonial empire in North America.

The territory nominally remained under Spanish control, until a transfer of power to France on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the formal cession of the territory to the United States on December 20, 1803.

France's failure to suppress a revolt in Saint-Domingue, coupled with the prospect of renewed warfare with the United Kingdom, prompted Napoleon [to sell] Louisiana to the United States. Acquisition of Louisiana was a long-term goal of President Thomas Jefferson, who was especially eager to gain control of the crucial Mississippi River port of New Orleans.
"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louisiana_Purchase

(edited from article)
"
As the United States spread across the Appalachians, the Mississippi River became an increasingly important conduit for the produce of America’s West (which at that time referred to the land between the Appalachians and the Mississippi). The Pinckney treaty of 1795 had resolved friction between Spain and the United States over the right to navigate the Mississippi and the right for Americans to transfer their goods to ocean-going vessels at New Orleans. With the Pinckney treaty in place and the weak Spanish empire in control of Louisiana, American statesmen felt comfortable that the United States’ westward expansion would not be restricted in the future.

This situation was threatened by Napoleon Bonaparte’s plans to revive the French empire in the New World. He planned to recapture the valuable sugar colony of St. Domingue from a slave rebellion, and then use Louisiana as the granary for his empire. France [sent] a large French army to St. Domingue and [was] preparing to send another to New Orleans. Westerners became very apprehensive about having the more-powerful French in control of New Orleans.

In addition to making military preparations for a conflict in the Mississippi Valley, Jefferson sent James Monroe to join Robert Livingston in France to try to purchase New Orleans and West Florida for as much as $10 million. Failing that, they were to attempt to create a military alliance with England. Meanwhile, the French Army in St. Domingue was being decimated by yellow fever, and war between France and England still threatened. Napoleon decided to give up his plans for Louisiana, and offered a surprised Monroe and Livingston the entire territory of Louisiana for $15 million. Although this far exceeded their instructions from President Jefferson, they agreed.
"
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/louisiana-purchase

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[eppur_se_muova]

1. Thanks! I was long confused about Spain's position in the Territory. nt

[SCantiGOP]

2. The purchase price

was more than the annual budget at that time. Even some of Jefferson’s supporters questioned the purchase, but he knew it was a one time opportunity.

[appalachiablue]

3. National Archives, Jefferson Buys Louisiana Territory, French Exchange Copy of Purchase

'Jefferson Buys Louisiana Territory, and the Nation Moves Westward,' National Archives, Prologue Magazine, Spring 2003.

- (Photo), French Exchange copy of the Louisiana Purchase and attached silver skippet used for the official wax seal. (I've seen these historic artifacts in the NARA collection).
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Two centuries ago this spring—without a call to arms, with little advance notice, and with only the briefest negotiations—the United States doubled in size. In an astounding transaction that amounted to four cents an acre, President Thomas Jefferson saw his dreams of westward expansion coming true for Ithe nation he had helped create. The United States of America would grow beyond the Mississippi River and include the rich forests, vast plains, and craggy mountains that would one day yield the vital resources to make it the most powerful and most prosperous nation on earth.

The historic transaction is known as the Louisiana Purchase, but it was not something that Jefferson had sought to make at the time. He would have been content just to buy the port of New Orleans so the United States—not Spain, not France, certainly not Great Britain—could control the gateway to the Mississippi River, the main street of commerce in what was then the American West.

But France's ruler at the time, Napoleon Bonaparte, was losing interest in establishing a North American empire and needed funds to fight the British, so he directed his emissaries to offer not just New Orleans but all of the Louisiana Territory to the Americans. Jefferson's envoys in Paris, without awaiting any direction from their President (which would have taken two months), accepted the deal and on April 30, 1803, signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty.

The story of the Louisiana Purchase, however, is more than just a quick deal among the top French and American diplomats in April of 1803. And it took more to complete the Louisiana Purchase than the treaty itself...
https://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2003/spring/louisiana-purchase.html

[jgo]

4. Fascinating - thanks.

That's a lot of detail on the preparatory steps, upon reading the full article.