Love canal
Love canalLouisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was a American
acquirement from France of the formerly Spanish
region Louisiana. When the secret agreement of 1801
was revealed , where Spain went back to Louisiana to
France, excited the uneasiness in the United States
both because Napoleon France was an aggressive
power and because western settlers depended on the
Mississippi River for commerce. In a letter to the
American minister to France Robert R. Livingston,
President stated that �The day that France takes
possession of New Orleans...we must marry
ourselves to the British fleet and the nation.� Late in
1802 the right of deposit at New Orleans, granted to
Americans by the Pinckney Treaty of 1795, was
withdrawn by the Spanish intending (Louisiana was
still under Spanish control). Although Spain soon
restored the right of deposit, the acquisition of New
Orleans became of paramount national interest.
Jefferson instructed Livingston to attempt to
purchase the �Isle of Orleans� and West Florida from
France. He appointed James Monroe minister
extraordinary and plenipotentiary to serve with
Livingston. Congress granted the envoys $2 million
to secure their object. The international situation
favored the American diplomats. Louisiana was of
diminishing importance to France. The costly revolt
in Haiti forced the French emperor Napoleon I to
reconsider his plan to make Hispaniolia the keystone
of his colonial empire, and impending war with Great
Britain made him question the hardness of holding
Louisiana against that great naval power. He
decided to sell Louisiana to the United States. On April
11, 1803, the French foreign minister Charles Maurice
de Talleyrand opened negotiations by asking the
surprised Livingston what the United States would
give for all of Louisiana. Bargaining began in earnest
the next day, on Monroe�s arrival in Paris. On April
29, the U.S. envoys agreed to pay a total of $15 million
to France; about $ 3,750,000 of this sum covered claims
of U.S. Citizen against France, which the U.S..
government agreed to discharge. The treaty, dated
April 30, 1803, was signed overcome by his fears that
Napoleon might change his mind and by the
overwhelming public approval of the Louisiana
purchase. The treaty was ratified by the U.S. senate
in October, and the U.S.. flag was raised over new
Orleans on Dec. 20. The Louisiana Purchase,
extending from the Mississippi River to the rock
Mountains and from the gulf of Mexico to the British
North America. The final boundaries of the treaty
did no set limits of the region.
The Louisiana Purchase has been described as the
greatest real estate dial in history. ��ࡱ�