The idea was taken up by lawmakers such as Senator James Ross of Pennsylvania, who drafted a resolution calling on Jefferson to form a 50,man army to take the city. The press joined the fray. It is the Hudson, the Delaware, the Potomac, and all the navigable rivers of the Atlantic States, formed into one stream. When Livingston tried to discuss the territory, Talleyrand simply denied that there was any treaty between France and Spain.
One man is everything. But Livingston, although an inexperienced diplomat, tried to keep himself informed about the country to which he was ambassador. But by the time Victor assembled enough men and ships in January , ice blocked the Dutchport, making it impossible for him to set sail. With the colony in danger of being lost, the territory was less useful. For one thing, they considered it foolish to voluntarily give up an important French holding on the American continent.
The First Consul happened to be sitting in his bath when his brothers arrived. I have decided to sell Louisiana to the Americans. A manservant slumped to the floor in a faint.
On April 11, when Livingston called on Talleyrand for what he thought was yet another futile attempt to deal, the foreign minister, after the de rigueur small talk, suddenly asked whether the United States would perchance wish to buy the whole of the Louisiana Territory. The latter knew America well, having spent some years in Philadelphia in the late s as French ambassador to the United States, where he got to know Washington, Jefferson, Livingston and Monroe. The U. France began seizing U.
France tried to get the U. Then, France allowed the U. By that point in , Napoleon Bonaparte had named himself Emperor of France. His ambition was to subdue all of Europe for France, and to reclaim his American colony in Louisiana. At roughly the same time, a slave revolt broke out in the French held island of Haiti. Bonaparte sent troops there to stop the rebellion and he had hoped to use Haiti as a staging point for moving troops to Louisiana.
The American agent offered the French minister 20 million francs, which the latter rejected out of hand as too low, asking Livingston to think again. Shortly afterwards, the First Consul summoned his brothers Joseph and Lucien to the Tuileries to discuss the matter. Here, according to Lucien in his memoirs, Napoleon received them whilst in the bath. The brothers strongly objected to the sale, but Napoleon took no notice of them, jeering at them, saying that he cared nothing for their opposition, and on purpose soaked Joseph with bath water.
Bonaparte made it known that he wanted 50 million francs. The haggling which Livingston had initially suggested had finally begun. James Monroe joined the negotiations on 14 April, and a price was agreed.
The treaty was signed on 30 April, , and the United States received that huge territory for the paltry sum of 15 million dollars — The rest was to be paid by the US Government to indemnify American citizens who had lost vessels or cargoes as a result of the hostilities between Britain and France.
Not only did the sale fill the French war chest, it was also portrayed, with masterly spin, as a graceful act towards the United States and a blow to England.
As per the treaty, he formally had to receive the land from Spain so he could then pass it on to the United States. Spain formally protested to both Jefferson and Bonaparte that the transaction was not legal, as the First Consul had formally agreed to return the land to Spain, should he not keep it himself.
The Spanish minister for Foreign Affairs, Pedro de Cevallos denounced the sale, saying that France had broken its word — furthermore, French troops were still occupying Etruria. But for the First Consul, Spain was merely a client state, not to be worried about. In the autumn of , Jefferson, Madison and Pichon all moved fast to enable the payment for, and occupation of, Louisiana, which had been voted through Congress on 3 November, And the celebrations which took place around the taking of possession served Jefferson well, leading him to a landslide re-election in Bell and sons, Go to menu Go to content Go to search.
Share it twitter facebook. French victory over the First Coalition and the first Treaty of San Ildefonso, The first real chance France had of reclaiming Louisiana was in , when she emerged victorious from the collapse of the First Coalition. The second Treaty of San Ildefonso, However, on his becoming First Consul, Bonaparte made it one of his first actions of foreign policy to relaunch the year old Louisiana repossession issue.
The view from the other side of the Atlantic On learning of the secret cession of Louisiana from Rufus King, US federalist minister in London, in the autumn of , the American President, Thomas Jefferson considered it unwise, ominous and as undoing the peace settlement of Mortefontaine.
Santo Domingo, the key to French repossession of Louisiana But Bonaparte could not however push for immediate re-possession of Louisiana. Meanwhile back in Spain… As for the official papers of transfer of the Spanish colony, Godoy and the Spanish continued to drag their heels throughout the summer of James Monroe So almost as if changing his mind, the First Consul abandoned all desires for empire.
Print Return to top. He had always advocated strict adherence to the letter of the Constitution, yet there was no provision empowering him to purchase territory. Given the public support for the purchase and the obvious value of Louisiana to the future growth of the United States, however, Jefferson decided to ignore the legalistic interpretation of the Constitution and forgo the passage of a Constitutional amendment to validate the purchase.
This decision contributed to the principle of implied powers of the federal government. Menu Menu. Home Milestones Louisiana Purchase,
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