Describe how the United States came to purchase the Louisiana territory from France?

Question

And explain why the purchase was significant in both the short and long run.

Answer 1

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Louisiana Purchase

Date: 1803
From: Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy.




The acquisition of the Louisiana Territory in 1803 by President Thomas Jefferson opened up the West to American expansion by removing the presence of a powerful foreign power from the continent. Determining the exact boundaries of the Louisiana Territory would be a major preoccupation of U.S. foreign policy for the next several decades. The Louisiana Purchase also helped establish the principle that territory could be added to the United States by treaty as an implied federal power in the Constitution.

The Louisiana Territory consisted of some 828,000 square miles, which today comprises all or part of 15 states. Control over it was a question that brought together the interests of Spain, France, Great Britain, and the United States. For the United States, control over the Louisiana Territory was a question of national defense and domestic politics. The presence of a strong state on America's western border presented a continuous threat to its national security by virtue of both geography and the link it provided to the seemingly endless wars among European states fought to perpetuate or upset the continental balance of power. In terms of domestic politics, the right to westward expansion, as well as the economic necessity of access to New Orleans, was taken as a given by most Americans. Rumors of French acquisition of the Louisiana Territory produced talk of secession and direct military action.

Spain had obtained control over the Louisiana Territory in 1762 from France as compensation for its losses to Great Britain in the Seven Years' War. It proved to be problematic compensation, costing Spain more to control than it was worth. Moreover, it appeared to be virtually indefensible against attack and was proving to be an ineffective check to American expansion that might someday threaten Spain's southern holdings in Mexico. Pinckney's Treaty of 1795 had reduced tensions between the United States and Spain by giving the Americans the right to navigate the Mississippi River and the right of deposit at the port of New Orleans (the right to transfer their goods to oceangoing vessels).

For its part, France wished to reacquire the Louisiana Purchase as part of Napoleon Bonaparte's plans to reestablish a French presence in the New World. The centerpiece of that effort was to regain control over the sugar-rich Caribbean island of Saint-Domingue, which had broken lose from foreign control through a slave rebellion in 1795. The Louisiana Territory would provide the French empire with needed foodstuffs and a port to support its commercial operations in Saint-Domingue. To this end, Napoleon arranged to acquire the Louisiana Territory from Spain in 1800 in exchange for part of northern Italy. France took possession in 1802.

Jefferson responded with alarm to news that a transfer of control was taking place. He observed in an open letter to the U.S. minister in Paris: "[T]here is on the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans." The natural solution to the dilemma presented by French control over the Louisiana Territory was an alliance with Great Britain, and Jefferson hinted as much in his letter. Such a strategy was not without its dangers. First, an alliance with Great Britain might provoke war with France rather than deter it. Second, it raised the prospect of Great Britain reestablishing itself on America's western frontier. Matters became more urgent when Spain suspended the right to deposit at New Orleans. Americans incorrectly interpreted this as a move inspired by France.

Responding to the suggestion of Pierre Samuel du Pont de Nemours, Jefferson dispatched James Monroe to Paris to join Robert Livingston with instructions to offer to buy New Orleans and Florida for $10 million. If talks went badly and France appeared ready to close the Mississippi River to U.S. commerce or begin hostilities, Monroe and Livingston were to go to Great Britain and discuss an alliance. Unexpectedly, Napoleon was not in a defiant mood. His military campaign against Saint-Domingue had gone poorly, and the prospect of renewed war between France and Great Britain seemed very real. Defending the Louisiana Territory against the British would be costly and difficult. Rather than face this prospect Napoleon offered the whole of the Louisiana Territory to the United States for about $15 million. Within one week, France and Great Britain went to war.

Napoleon's offer created a series of dilemmas for American officials. Monroe and Livingston had not been authorized to make such a purchase, but the opportunity proved too great to pass up. Once agreed to, Jefferson now faced a dilemma. He was a strict constructionist of the Constitution, which did not contain any provision allowing him to purchase territory. A constitutional amendment would be necessary for this. But there was no time. Instead, Jefferson chose simply to submit the purchase to Congress for its approval, which it did by a vote of 24-7. France had controlled the Louisiana Territory for 20 days.







Kaplan, Lawrence. Entangling Alliances with None: American Foreign Policy in the Age of Jefferson. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1987.

Tucker, Robert W., and David C. Hendrickson. Empire of Liberty: The Statecraft of Thomas Jefferson. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.




Text Citation: Hastedt, Glenn. "Louisiana Purchase." Encyclopedia of American Foreign Policy. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2004. Facts On File, Inc. American History Online. .

Media Citation: "Louisiana Purchase." 1803. National Archives and Records Administration. Old Military and Civil Records. Textual Archives Services Division. Textual records. Facts On File, Inc. American History Online. .

Answer 2

Louisiana Purchase Date Acquired

Answer 3

With the French navy decimated, Napolean had no way to defend the colony; better to sell it to allies (the US) than lose it wholesale.

It encouraged US growth and "Manifest Destiny" ideology of expansion, and set a precedent that the US was not limited to its original boundaries.

Answer 4

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