How the Louisiana Purchase Changed the World | History| Smithsonian The superpower had built a vast network of colonies in the Americas, capitalizing on European tastes for coffee, indigo and other commodities. In order to finance his dreams of conquest, Napoleon needed money to finance his military operation, which had been growing in an arms race with Britain. Then, too, Napolon was gearing up for another campaign against Britain and needed funds for that. Among Eurocentric circles, the Louisiana Purchase was seen as one of the greatest land deals in history. Watch: Elon Musk Comes Clean on Why He Bought Twitter The Library of Congress explains how President Thomas Jefferson realized the precariousness of having France as a neighbor. This could weaken Britain's war effort against France and give Napoleon victory. Negotiating with French Treasury Minister Franois Barb-Marbois, the American representatives quickly agreed to purchase the entire territory of Louisiana after it was offered. ", This page was last edited on 16 April 2023, at 22:34. Twelve years before, he had returned from a five-year stint as American minister to Paris, shipping home 86 cases of furnishings and books he had picked up there. That same month Jefferson asked James Monroe, a former member of Congress and former governor of Virginia, to join Livingston in Paris as minister extraordinary with discretionary powers to spend $9,375,000 to secure New Orleans and parts of the Floridas (to consolidate the U.S. position in the southeastern part of the 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. How did the French Own Louisiana? Critics in Congress worried whether these "foreigners", unacquainted with democracy, could or should become citizens. Who Owned Louisiana First? - CLJ The territory's boundaries had not been defined in the 1762 Treaty of Fontainebleau that ceded it from France to Spain, nor in the 1801 Third Treaty of San Ildefonso ceding it back to France, nor the 1803 Louisiana Purchase agreement ceding it to the United States.[49]. Americans cried Huzzah! and waved their hats, while French and Spanish residents sulked in glum silence. Spains King Charles IV finally got around to signing the royal decree officially transferring the territory to France, and on October 16, the Spanish administrator in New Orleans, Juan Ventura Morales, who had agreed to administer the colony until his French replacement, Laussat, could arrive, arbitrarily ended the American right to deposit cargo in the city duty-free. These wars, the Napoleonic Wars, lasted from 1803 to 1815 and led, as described by the New World Encyclopedia, to a brief French dominance of Europe. I renounce Louisiana. Napoleon Bonaparte sold the land because he needed money for the Great French War. Albany, GA (31701) Today. While the concept of "manifest destiny" would not make it into the American lexicon until 1845, the idea that the United States had a divine mission to expand had been in place since the earliest colonial times. First, an empowered United States could effectively act as a formidable rival to Britain. The key to opening the western goal was securing the Mississippi River and the Louisiana Territory. We strive for accuracy and fairness. 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.
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