Show THE THI PURCHASE Or or- LOUISIANA LOUISIANA- i THE triumphs of peace are always greater than those of war To settle disputes by arbitration is always better than to settle them by treaty not that the arbitration will bring greater privileges privileges privileges leges or blessings than the treaty but the privileges it does bring are secured without the destruction of human life The gaining of our independence was certainly a great triumph but how much greater would that triumph have been if not one drop of blood had been shed in gaining it The freeing of the slaves was a triumph for the right but how much better would it have been if our brothers who now fill soldiers' soldiers graves could have l lived ved to see the right prevail The one great conquest of which the United States State can ever boast without the slightest sting of regret the one that has resulted in untold good to thousands thousands thousands thou thou- sands the only one made without the loss of life the only great one made by byi bythe bythe i the pen alone is the Purchase of Loui Loui- siana Slana Let us look to it r Considering first the early claims F made the peninsula no now called Florida was discovered and named in 1512 by byi i Ponce De Leon a Spanish adventurer fin In 1539 De Soto at the head of a band of cavaliers traversed the plains of the great Mississippi discovering this Father of Waters and later being laid to rest rest beneath its wave So active in m fact had the Spaniards been during this sixteenth century that by the yea year r 1600 they had explored and claimed the West Indies Mexico and Florida had traversed all of the Southern States and a extended their explorations ms even to the Pacific Coast The at this tune meant to the Spaniards what Louisiana Louisian Louisiana Loui- Loui siana sian later did to to the French a great L r indefinite extent of country The Spaniards Spaniards Span Span- ti even ven went so far as to say that Quebec was located in Florida h Shortly after 1600 however the j Spaniards became less active in America America America Amer Amer- ica and the French began a series of daring explorations Having made settlements settlements settlements set set- along the St. St Lawrence River they pushed westward and southward 1 they knew not whither Their ambition j If was to confine England to the Atlantic J coast line i In 1673 Marquette floated down the Mississippi as far south as the mouth of f the Arkansas nine years later La Salle f followed the stream to its mouth and arid named all the region Louisiana in honor of his king Louis XIV Shortly after this the French began making settlements settlements settlements set set- on the Gulf By the year 1700 they had traversed the western plains t from New to Texas had established settlements all along the way and in 1718 founded New Orleans By 1750 the French claim to Canada and the Western Mississippi Valley or Louisiana was acknowledged by all Before the close of the French and Indian War 63 1754 France saw that she would have to lose her American possessions the English were defeating her on every hand Not willing that her old rival should gain this vast tract k of land she ceded all of Louisiana to Spain Nov 3 1762 about a year before the French and Indian War ended England had been duped and instead of receiving a continent she obtained only Canada and the territory east east- of the Mississippi excluding the Island of New Orleans N During the Revolutionary War Spain succeeded in reg regaining ining the Florid as and Y by the treaty of 1783 they were con- con 4 f firmed to her This was the year in ins s which England made peace with the ther r United States and ack acknowledged our independence so that from now on it is the United States that concerns us Two years later in 1785 Spain and the United States made a treaty by which F boundaries were indefinitely settled the Americans were given the use of the thel l lower Mississippi for navigation the they y port port of New Orleans was thrown open to them as a depot of trade and the Spanish agreed not to close it unless they opened some other place through i which American products could reach j the Gulf About the time of which we speak r Napoleon became the head of the ther French nation and among his various ambitions was one to regain America k for France and establish the French Frencht t t power here In order to do this he wished to obtain Louisiana This was not a difficult task for him when Spain t was humbled at his feet and by the 4 secret treaty of Ildefonso October 1 1800 Spain ceded to Napoleon the whole of Louisiana in return for a little I Italian principality This treaty did not take effect until the Treaty of in 1802 In the early part of this year 1802 Robert Livingston our minister at Paris suspected that Spain had ceded Louisiana back to France and at once informed Jefferson of his suspicions and fears They seem to have been well founded for it was not long before I N Napoleon appleon fitted out an expedition to sail for America to occupy New Orleans but this was detained by European wars Livingstone asked the home government r- r to increase the army and navy at once and if possible make England our ally J against France In October of the same year the Spanish at New Orleans closed that port and contrary to the treaty of 1785 opened no other place This practically closed the i jj markets of the whole Mississippi Valley Valley Val Val- ley and by the time that Congress met metin metin metin in January 1803 the country was in a state of great excitement Both parties were indignant at the action action action ac ac- tion of the Spanish The Federalists Republicans demanded an immediate investigation and vigorous action they proposed that Congress appropriate and call out militia and that the President be authorized to seize New Orleans The Republicans Democrats while equally as indignant did not favor such haste the Spanish might not have been authorized to close New Orleans the United States could not afford to involve herself in European war and perhaps they could accomplish more by purchase than by conquest The Republicans seemed to the the the- whole policy to Jefferson He was authorized by Congress to hold in readiness readiness readiness readi readi- ness militia in case it was ascertained ascertained ascertained ascer ascer- that Spain had authorized the closing of the Gulf port Congress appropriated appropriated appropriated ap ap- not to prosecute a war but to further Jeffersons Jefferson's plan of extending our territory by purchase and James Monroe was appointed minister extraordinary and plenipotentiary to France and Spain to join Livingston in Paris and then proceed to Madrid where he was to join Charles Pinckney The general policy of the administration tio tion was cautious and perhaps it was best so for fo in April 1803 Spain disavowed disavowed disavowed disa disa- vowed the action in closing New Orleans and opening no other place The administration authorized our ministers ministers ministers min min- in France and Spain to buy the two and the Island of New Orleans but in case they failed to tomake make the purchase especially of the the Island of New Orleans from France they were to make an alliance with England England England Eng Eng- land to prevent France from occupying Louisiana Napoleon at this time was the French f Dictator and his will was supreme but buthe buthe he was heavily engaged in European Europe n war and his prospects for colonizing Louisiana being very poor he proposed to Mr Livingston to sell the whole of Louisiana Napoleon saw too that the United States were the most able of all countries at this time to pay pay cash and saw clearly that the purchase of Louisiana would prevent the threatened alliance with England He therefore authorized Borbe Marbois to negotiate t the immediate sale of the whole of r Louisiana He was to ask t and to take no less than Livingston and Monroe had been authorized authorized au au- to buy the and New Orleans for not more than r but they had no authority whatever to tor r purchase the whole of Louisiana These men however seeing that this was the opportunity of a nations nation's lifetime lifetime life life- time ventured to make the purchase and leave the result in the hands of the thet t government at home trusting all to the common sense of the people As a result the purchase was made and on April 30 1803 the treaty was was signed For this great tract of land now of incalculable value our ministers pledged the honor of the United States to pay in six per cent stock of the United States and in claims due from France to American citi citi- zens Other terms of the treaty were 5 that the Americans should protect the life liberty religion and property of the inhabitants of Louisiana and admit them to citizenship in the United States French and Spanish ships were to be admitted at New Orleans for twelve years on the same terms as s American vessels and French ships forever on terms of the most favored nations The boundaries were left undefined Louisiana Louisiana Louisiana Loui Loui- siana was ceded to the United States just as Spain had ceded it to France and definite boundaries were not set set- i tIed until the United States purchased Florida in 1819 The next find and perhaps the greatest question was how would this treaty be regarded at home The President Cabinet and Republicans generally regarded regarded regarded re re- it with great greal favor The Federalists Federalists Federalists Federa Federa- lists declare the purchase unc unconstitutional unconstitutional the I Constitution did not give Congress power to purchase additional la land d or to receive into the United States a foreign people Jeffersons Jefferson's position at this time was wasa a very unenviable one During his whole political career he had been an advocate of a strict construction of the Constitution He had declared time and time again that Congress had power to do only definite acts specified in the Constitution and that the powers not expressly given n to Congress remained with the states Already Congress had appropriated to further his own idea the purchase of Florida and New Orleans Orleans Orleans-an an unconstitutional act act act- and had empowered Livingston and Monroe to make these negotiations negotiations- another step step and and as a third hird step both unconstitutional and unauthorized the ministers had purchased purchased purchased pur pur- chased Louisiana for when they had been authorized by Congress to spend no more than and to spend that for the purchase of Florida and New Orleans Jefferson sanctioned the action of our ministers and also justified it and in so doing went further than the Federalists had ever offered to go He hoped to get around it by a Constitutional amendment amendment amendment amend amend- ment but the treaty creaty required a mutual exchange exchange- of ratification within six months a time so short that it would be impossible to secure an amendment His plan was therefore for Congress to ratify the treaty and grant the money and trust the people for an amendment Accordingly he called an extra session of C Congress t t Congress met October 17 1803 The 1 two houses were composed as follows Senate nine Federalists and twenty-five twenty Republicans the House thirty-nine thirty t Federalists and one hundred two On October 20 three days after the session opened the Senate ratified the treaty and the bargain was completed f at once Congress then created the k stocks with which to pay France made madek k provision for the payment of the claims and authorized the President to take t. t possession of Louisiana and to provide for the protection of her pe people T Jefferson Jeffer jeffer- effer- effer I N son regarded this prompt action on the part of Congress as a justification of his course and did not urge an amendment to the constitution New Orleans was formally delivered to the United States on December 20 1803 when Governor C. C C. C Claiborne of Mississippi and General Wilkinson assumed the reins of i J government and the upper posts on the Mississippi were surrendered in January 1804 if The value of this purchase to the NA V United States cannot be estimated l' l Before it was made the United States was not even master of the Mississippi River and had no line coast-line on the Gulf r L In fact the greater pa part t of the American Ameri Ameri- I can products product of the Mississippi valley r. r reached the sea through the port of a foreign power powe By the purchase the k United States added to her domain over square miles an area greater than that of the thirteen original states By it she became mistress of the Mississippi Mississippi Mississippi sippi its mouth and all its branches v she gained a valuable line coast-line on the gulf she dispelled the possibility of having the nervous ner Frenchman for a neighbor and thus possibly avoided many quarrels By it she gained the that have made h her r the greatest T. T grain producing country in the world p and upon which now stand the happy homes of thousands of American citizens M. M h |