Louisiana Purchase

The Louisiana Purchase was an important event in 1803 when the United States bought a large area of land from France. This land, called Louisiana, was mostly west of the Mississippi River and included parts of many states we know today. The United States paid fifteen million dollars for this land, which was a big deal because it almost doubled the size of the country.

Before this, France had controlled this land for many years, but Napoleon Bonaparte decided to sell it. He needed money and had problems in other parts of his empire. The president of the United States at the time, Thomas Jefferson, really wanted to buy this land, especially the important port city of New Orleans. He sent two men to France to negotiate, and they ended up buying the whole area, not just New Orleans.

The Louisiana Purchase changed the United States forever. It gave the country much more land and helped shape what the United States is today. The land from this purchase now makes up parts of fifteen U.S. states and even some areas in Canada. At the time, about 60,000 people lived there, including many who were enslaved.

Background

In the 1700s, the land called Louisiana was important to European countries. It was part of France's overseas empire, but France gave it to Spain in 1762 through a secret agreement. After France lost a big war called the Seven Years' War, Spain controlled the land west of the Mississippi River, and Britain controlled land to the east.

After the United States was created, Americans wanted to use the Mississippi River freely for their trade. They thought they would get the land bit by bit. But there was a worry that another country might take it from Spain.

New Orleans was a key port for shipping goods from the western areas of the United States. In 1795, a treaty with Spain let American merchants use New Orleans to store their goods. This treaty also said Americans could use the whole Mississippi River, which was very important for trade.

In 1798, Spain stopped letting Americans use New Orleans, which made them very unhappy. Later, Spain gave Louisiana back to France in a secret deal in 1800. This land was still under Spanish control until November 1803, when it was passed to France, and then just weeks later, France sold it to the United States.

Negotiation

In 1801, when Napoleon sent troops to nearby Saint-Domingue, there was fear in America that France might invade. Jefferson wanted to stay calm, but some people wanted to fight back. To protect important land near the Mississippi River, Jefferson sent someone to Paris to try to buy New Orleans.

By 1803, Napoleon had other problems. His plans in Saint-Domingue were failing, and war with Britain seemed likely. He decided to sell a huge amount of land to the United States. The sale included much more than just New Orleans—it was a massive area that nearly doubled the size of the country. The United States paid fifteen million dollars for this land, which was a very good deal. The deal was signed on April 30, 1803, and announced on July 4, 1803. This event is known as the Louisiana Purchase.

Domestic opposition and constitutionality

After returning from France with news of the purchase, an official announcement was made on July 4, 1803. This gave President Jefferson and his team time to discuss whether the purchase followed the rules of the Constitution. Jefferson thought about changing the rules to allow the purchase, but his team convinced him it wasn’t necessary. Jefferson believed the purchase was right because it would protect Americans.

Some people opposed the purchase. Jefferson’s actions were questioned because he usually stuck closely to the Constitution. The Federalists, a group that supported strong central government, opposed the purchase. They were worried about the cost, believed France could have defended Louisiana against the U.S. and Britain, and thought Jefferson was being inconsistent.

Many in the House of Representatives also opposed the purchase. The vote to approve the purchase was very close, failing by just two votes. Some Federalists even claimed the land belonged to Spain, not France, but records showed otherwise. They were also concerned that new states formed from the land might disagree with the older states on the East Coast. There were worries about whether people from France, Spain, and free Black communities in New Orleans should become U.S. citizens.

Historians have different views on whether Jefferson acted fairly. Some say he stretched the Constitution to make the purchase happen. Others argue that the president has the power to make treaties, which is what Jefferson did. The Senate approved the treaty, and Congress agreed to pay for it by borrowing money from banks in Britain and the Netherlands. The Senate voted 24 to 7 to ratify the treaty on October 20, 1803. The next day, they allowed Jefferson to take control of the new land and set up a temporary government. Congress also approved plans for missions to explore and map the territory, including the famous Lewis and Clark Expedition.

Formal transfers and initial organization

France gave control of New Orleans on December 20, 1803, with a special ceremony at the Cabildo in what is now Jackson Square. Just three weeks before, Spanish leaders had handed over the land to France.

Later, on March 9 and 10, 1804, another ceremony happened in St. Louis to move control of Upper Louisiana from Spain to France, and then to the United States. For a while, this area was managed as a military district. Eventually, the land was split into the Territory of Orleans and the District of Louisiana, which was later renamed the Territory of Louisiana. New Orleans became the main city for the Orleans Territory, and St. Louis for the Louisiana Territory.

Financing

To pay for the land, the American government used a mix of bonds and took on some French debts. The U.S. asked a London bank, Francis Baring and Company, to help with the transaction. This bank worked with another bank in Amsterdam, Hope & Co., to make the purchase happen.

The banks helped the French and American negotiators agree on a price of 80 million francs ($15 million), which was lower than the original price. The U.S. also took on some French debts as part of the deal. The banks bought the bonds quickly to give France the money fast, as Napoleon needed it right away. The banks paid France in several steps over time. The last of these bonds were paid off by the United States in 1823.

Boundaries

When the United States bought Louisiana from France in 1803, there was a big question about where the land’s borders were. Neither France nor Spain, who had controlled the land before, had clearly marked the edges.

The United States thought Louisiana stretched all the way from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and down to the Rio Grande. Spain, however, believed it only included land along the west side of the Mississippi River, plus the cities of New Orleans and St. Louis. In 1819, the two countries signed the Adams–Onís Treaty, which mostly agreed with the United States’ view and helped set the final borders.

To better understand the land, President Jefferson sent explorers like Lewis and Clark to map the area. Their journeys helped show where the borders should be.

Slavery

See also: History of slavery in Louisiana, History of slavery in Missouri, and Slavery in the United States

When the United States got the Louisiana Territory, it was hard to govern. Many people there were from France, Spain, and Mexico, and most were Catholic. There were also many enslaved Africans because Spain allowed the transatlantic slave trade. In places like present-day Louisiana, Arkansas, and Missouri, some people already owned enslaved people.

Many people from a place called Saint-Domingue (now Haiti) ran away to south Louisiana after a big uprising of enslaved people there. They brought their enslaved people with them. Some people in the Southern United States were worried that new territory might make enslaved people in America want to rise up too. They asked the U.S. government to let slavery continue in the new lands so they could bring their enslaved people there to work.

As the Louisiana Territory was divided into smaller areas, laws about slavery were made. These laws were like those in Southern states but also included some rules from when France and Spain controlled the area. Later, the question of whether slavery could continue became a big debate in Congress, with Southern states wanting to expand slavery westward and Northern states opposing it. This disagreement helped lead to the American Civil War many years later. The Missouri Compromise in 1820 was one attempt to solve this problem for a time.

Asserting U.S. possession

After early explorations, the United States wanted to control the region because trade along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers was still dominated by British and French traders. In 1804, the U.S. used an old Spanish fort near St. Louis as a trading post. In 1808, they built two military forts with trading posts along the rivers.

During the War of 1812, British forces and their Indian allies defeated U.S. troops, and the U.S. had to leave several forts. U.S. control of the Louisiana Purchase area was confirmed by the Treaty of Ghent in 1815. Later, the U.S. built or expanded more forts along the rivers.

Impact on Native Americans

See also: Indian Reserve and the Louisiana Purchase

When the United States bought land from France in the Louisiana Purchase, the Native American tribes living there were not asked about it. Over the next 40 years, many tribes were moved from their homes east of the Mississippi River to new places, which led to sad events like the Trail of Tears.

This purchase started long discussions about whether Native American lands were respected. In the 1930s, many tribes asked for money because of what happened after the purchase. This led to a law in 1946 called the Indian Claims Commission Act. By 2017, the United States had paid about $2.6 billion to tribes for the lands from the Louisiana Purchase, which was much more than the $15 million paid to France at the time.