Interpretive Essays

Essays about the events that lead up to and including the Louisiana Purchase

1. A History of Colonial and International Relations in Louisiana, 1762-1801.
2. The Lead-Up to the Louisiana Purchase, 1802-3.
3. What was Louisiana Like After the Purchase?

The Lead-Up to the Louisiana Purchase, 1802-3

With the cession of Louisiana from Spain to France remaining a secret for over year, when France finally took possession of the territory, Spanish relations with the US regarding her access rights reamined largely unchanged. On October 16, 1802, 'the Spanish had revoked the American right of deposit [granted them in the Spanish English war of 1792-1802], confirming the American's fear that France would regain possession of Louisiana. ¹ (Carlos IV had signed the documents handing over Louisiana to France the previous day.) Jefferson had told Robert R. Livingston on April 18, 1802, that if France should regain Louisiana, 'From that moment on we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation.' ²

In France in March of 1802, Livingston had been dropping subtle hints to French officials about US concerns regarding the situation in the Mississippi.
"Let France cede to the United States so much of Louisiana as lies above the mouth of the River Arkansas. By this, a barrier will be placed between the Colony of France and Canada, from which she may otherwise be attacked with the greatest facility, and driven out before she can derive any aid from Europe. Let her retain the country lying on the west of the Mississippi and below the Arkansas River - a country capable of supporting fifteen millions of inhabitants. By this, she will place a barrier between the United States and Mexico, if (which I hope will never be the case) they should have the wild idea of carrying their arms into that country, and at the same time be at hand to protect the Spanish establishments against the ambitious views of any European Power. Ler her possess East Florida as far as the River Perdido, with all ports on the Gulf, cede West Florida, New Orleans, and the territory on the east bank of Mississippi, to the United States ...." Livingston argued that it would be good policy for France to cede the territories gratuitously to the United States, yet the latter would be willing to purchase them "at a price suited to their value." ³

When it became clear to the US that France had indeed purchased Louisiana, Jefferson sent Jason Monroe to France, to meet up with Livingston, to negotiate. Jefferson issued instructions such that
'First they were to offer anything up to fifty million francs for New Orleans and the Floridas, which would give the US the whole east bank of the Mississippi, and the Gulf Coast to the eastward. If France refused, three quarters of the sum should be offered for the Island of New Orleans alone; or space on the east bank should be purchased for an American port. Failing here, they must press for a perpetual guarantee of their rights of navigation and deposit.' ⁴

Why was the United States so eager to have access to Louisiana? As Jefferson's instructions to Livingston and Monroe indicates, the Mississippi area was deemed to be vital to trade in the centre of the continent; likewise with the Island of New Orleans. As E. W. Lyon suggests, 'The interest of the US in Louisiana was not imperialistic [in the territorially expansionist sense] but commercial.'⁵ It was due to what William Appleman Williams suggests was Jefferson's 'general expansionist outlook' to advance mercantilism, not his desire for more territory, 'which overrode his concern that the Louisiana purchase was unconstitutional.' ⁶ [read more about the constitutional debate in the Introduction to the Treaty of the Louisiana Purchase]

Luckily for the US, French officials had begun to view the US as a potential buyer or occupier of the territory. After Spain had ceded Louisiana back to France, Barbe-Marbois, the French treasurer, began to insist that
'They [the English] shall not have the Mississippi which they covet. Louisiana is nothing in comparison with their conquests in all parts of the globe, and yet the jealousy they feel at the restoration of this colony to the sovereignty of France acquaints me with their wish to take possession of it, and it is thus they will begin the war ... I think of ceding it to the US.' ⁷

Furthermore, Barbe-Marbois suggests that 'it appears to me that in the hands of the growing power [the US], it will be more useful to the policy and even to the commerce of France if I should attempt to keep it.' ⁸

Similarly, Napoleon himself was becoming increasingly concerned with French overseas interests and believed that France could no longer sustain Louisiana and France's overseas interests. 'France could never defend New Orleans from the British Navy. Why not sell it to the US while there was still yet time?' ⁹ Additionally, Napoleon was influenced by his dealings with Spain over Louisiana. E. W. Lyon suggests that it was Carlos IV's delay in signing 'the order delivering Louisiana to France' by 'more than two years after the retrocession' (it was not signed until October 15, 1802), that was the reason behind Napoleon's breaking the terms of the Treaty of San Ildefonso (that stated that France was not to cede or sell Louisiana to a third party). ¹⁰ Wilson states that the delay in handing over Louisiana to France 'prevented Bonaparte from taking possession of the colony [for so long] and so incensed him against Godoy [a Spanish official] that he preferred to sell it to the US, rather than return it to Spain when ... circumstances rendered French occupation impossible.' 11 These 'circumstances' were Napoleon's increasing interests with overseas colonies and the Orient and his need to raise money to fund these projects. It must be noted, however, that the Treaty was worded in such a way that 'The privileges accorded French and Spanish commerce at New Orleans were well calculated to show that France had abandoned her shippers and had betrayed her ally [Spain] only at the call of necessity.' ¹² [see Article VII of the Treaty of Louisiana Purchase]

It was a number of factors, then, that lead to the US in gaining possession of Louisiana. France was eager and willing to break the terms of San Ildefonso (due to Spanish delay in handing over the territory in the first place) to sell the territory to the US, hoping to overcome the threat of British power and the possibility that she would attempt to take Louisiana or even New Orleans by force when France was involved in conflict overseas. E. W. Lyon notes that Napoleon felt that 'he would so strengthen America that she would become in time a worthy rival of Great Britain.' ¹³ As such, the pressure to keep Britain in check - both in Louisiana and overseas, in the colonies and in the Orient - would no longer belong solely to France. The US desired access to the Mississippi area and New Orleans as essential sites in promoting US trade and providing access to the West.

But did the US purchase of Louisiana occur merely as an act of fortunate timing for the US? Or was it something more? Alexander De Conde views the US's purchase as highly motivated and not due to circumstances. He writes
'For example, instead of viewing the acquisition of Louisiana as a stroke of good fortune made possible by Europe's misfortune or as the culmination of an inexorable pressure of frontiersmen moving westward or even the work of an inevitable destiny, I see it as the result of a conscious expansionism or of an imperial creed promoting action. In other words, Americans obtained Louisiana because they desired it and worked to get it.' ¹⁴

It is certainly true that the US had desired access to the Mississippi for quite some time and had consciously and consistently pursued this end in her foreign policy, but surely the purchase of the whole of Louisiana was a combination of this desire and circumstance? If France had not been in the position where it was advantageous for her to sell Louisiana, would the US have so easily acquired the territory? It is hard to believe that she would have.