Transcript Who Claimed the Louisiana Territory?

The Louisiana Purchase
The Greatest Land Deal
in the History of the United States
Where Was the Original
Louisiana Territory?
Who Claimed the Louisiana
Territory?
• Native Americans
• French
• British
• Spanish
• Americans
Shape Shifting
France held a claim for 80 years.
British
SPANISH
WEST
Mississippi
River
New Orleans
BRITISH
EAST
LOUISIANA
.
• 1763 — In the Treaty of
Paris which concluded the
French and Indian War,
major land exchanges were
made. All of Louisiana east
of the Mississippi River except the port city of New
Orleans - was given to
Britain.
• New Orleans and all of
Louisiana west of the
Mississippi River was given
to Spain.
Spanish
West of the
Mississippi
River
East of the
Mississippi
River
U.S.
Mississippi R.
SPANISH
New Orleans
and
Florida
1783 — Following the
American War of
Independence, Britain
ceded its old Louisiana
territory east of the
Mississippi River to the
United States and gave
Florida back to Spain.
Shape Shifting
Spain held a claim for 38 years.
Why Did Napoleon Want
Louisiana?
• Around 1800, French
emperor Napoleon
Bonaparte had a vision of
a renewed western empire
for France.
• Control over the vast
Louisiana Territory would
halt the westward
expansion of the young
United States and would
supply French colonies in
the West Indies with the
goods they needed.
Napoleon’s Scheme
I LOVE
power!
• His scheme includes the
recapture of Louisiana from
a very weak Spain.
• Napoleon took a break from
his conquests in Europe to
send French troops to the
West Indies.
Secretly…the Spanish king and Napoleon signed a treaty - Spain gave
France back all of Louisiana, including New Orleans, on condition that it
not be sold or given to any other country.
Shape Shifting
France held a claim for 3 years.
Thomas Jefferson
Meanwhile….back in
the U.S.A.
1801
• When Thomas Jefferson
became president in 1801,
two out of every three
Americans lived within fifty
miles of the Atlantic Ocean.
Mississippi River
Allegheny Mountains
• Only four crude roads crossed
the Allegheny Mountains.
• The U.S. western boundary
ended on the eastern banks of
the Mississippi River.
• Florida was owned and ruled
by Spain.
Ohio River
Spanish
Florida
Western U.S. Territories
APPALACHIAN MTS.
Out West, we
frontiersmen
have our own
agenda.
Ha! Ha!
In the
East, we
have all
the good
port
cities
The half-million
Americans (one out of
10) who already lived
west of the
Appalachian
Mountains felt they
had found their own
“national” interests.
Western U.S. Territories
Many people along the
Mississippi River
viewed themselves as
the seeds of an
independent nation that
would tap into the world
marketplace, not by
going east to the
Atlantic seaboard, but
by following the Ohio
and Mississippi river
system down to the Gulf
of Mexico.
Jefferson’s Plan
• Jefferson knew the
inhabitants of this region
posed a risk of secession
from the United States.
After all, the nation, only
18 years old, was born of
rebellion.
• He was determined to
obtain the vital trading port
of New Orleans for the
United States, in part to
prevent the West from
breaking away.
Port of New Orleans (1870)
The Secret is Discovered
Jefferson
just wants
a little
port.
Robert Livingston, U.S.
Minister to France
• 1801 — President Thomas
Jefferson was shocked
when he learned about the
secret treaty between
France and Spain.
• Considering strong French
control over New Orleans to
be a serious threat, he
instructed his Minister to
France in Paris, Robert R.
Livingston, to try to buy
New Orleans and Florida or
at least western Florida.
Jefferson Stands Up to Napoleon
• Also, Jefferson let it be
known that the U.S
would ally itself with
England and fight
France if the French
started a war on the
continent.
• The French declined to
sell New Orleans or
western Florida.
I weel have it
all!!
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
Toussaint L’Overture
Florida
Haiti
The
West
Indies
Two years later…in 1803 the French army off the
coast of Florida in the West Indies was having
some problems.
The Best-Laid Plans…
I hate
mosquitoes!
• The remaining French
troops were forced to
return to France, defeated,
thus preventing them from
reaching their ultimate
destination – Louisiana –
and from being able to
defend it.
• As Napoleon's New World
empire disintegrated, the
loss of French Haiti made
Louisiana unnecessary.
What Jefferson Wanted
I just want a little
port near the
Mississippi River.
You can
count on
me to
secure
the deal,
Mr.
President.
Jefferson Persists
James Monroe, Minister
to Spain and France
• President Jefferson,
learning that the
defeated French might
be willing to consider
selling some land after
all, sent Monroe to
Paris with instructions
from Secretary of State
James Madison to buy
a small piece of land.
• Congress appropriated
$2 million.
The French Reply
$2
million?
No
deal!
Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand-Perigord, the
French Minister of Foreign
Relations, declined the offer.
Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand-Perigord
The BIG Surprise!
You may
have zee
whole
territory.
I’m going
home.
Needing money to
continue his military
campaigns elsewhere in
the world, Napoleon
changed his mind and
decided to offer to sell
ALL of Louisiana
(including New Orleans)
to the United States.
Let’s Make A Deal
• Minister Robert
Livingston was
prepared to offer only
$2 million for a port
such as New Orleans.
• Talleyrand says
Louisiana would be
worthless to France
without the port city,
and asks Livingston to
make an offer.
Louisiana Purchase negotiations
Jefferson Acts Quickly
I will stretch
my
presidential
power ‘till it
cracks!
President Thomas Jefferson
• Although there were no
provisions in the
Constitution for buying
territories, Jefferson - a
Democratic-Republican
(formerly of the AntiFederalists) - had
Congress appropriate
$10 million.
• The Federalist Party
was very unhappy.
The Final Offer
How about
$15 million
for ALL of it?
Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand-Perigord, the
French Minister of Foreign
Relations
Let’s see
James,
Congress
only
approved
$10
million.
James Monroe,
Minister to France
and Spain
Robert Livingston,
Minister to France
A Waste of Money?
• Amazed by the offer,
Jefferson accepted and
rushed the treaty through
Congress, in spite of doubts
about its constitutionality.
• Federalists attacked the
purchase not only as a
deliberate use of executive
power, but as a waste of
money.
Louisiana Purchase Treaty
• Nevertheless, the treaty was
signed.
What Jefferson Got
$15,000,000
• April 30, 1803 - the United
States negotiated with
France for the purchase of
the Louisiana Territory,
including the port of New
Orleans for $15 million.
• Upon taking possession of
the Louisiana territory on
December 31,1803,
America doubled in size,
making it one of the largest
nations in the world.
A Sweet Deal!
The sale included over
600 million acres at a
cost of less than 3 cents
an acre in what today is
a large part of the land
area of 13 states
between the Rocky
Mountains and the
Mississippi River.
Without Shedding A Single
Drop of Blood!
•
The Transfer of Louisiana in
St. Louis, 1804.
For President Thomas
Jefferson it was a
diplomatic and political
triumph.
• The purchase of the
Louisiana Territory
ended the threat of war
with France and opened
up the land west of the
Mississippi to American
settlement.
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