Show wb W b re I 1 estate D eal in 0 Husto 9 N 31 4 5 IL I 1 KI A ma aw I 1 arl F 4 apol cori L thomas of the treaty 01 r KAR KAa dierx mc ac qa by ELMO SCOTT WATSON IN NB D hundred and thirty years ago the biggest real estate deal in history was closed in the city of N new ew orleans on december 20 1803 a crowd gathered la in the historic place d armes now known as jackson square in the center was a tall flagpole at the top of which fluttered 7 7 the tricolor of 0 france drawn up along one side of the square was a detachment of united states army troops IF facing acing them on the other side of 0 the flagpole were spanish troops and a few french officers A few hours before pierre clement laussat daussat La ussat french prefect of louisiana gen james wilkinson of the united states army and william C 0 claiborne former governor of mississippi territory had met in the famous old cabildo which fam facca on the square there the credentials of the itao americans were read as was the authority of the frenchman to hand over to them official possession of a certain tract of land the keys of the city of new orleans were given to claiborne and he be dissolving the allegiance of the inhabitants of new orleans to france welcomed them as citizens of the united states then the three men stepped out into the place d armes at a signal the tricolor of france began to descend and the stars and stripes of the united states to ascend midway on the flagstaff the two banners met and were saluted and when the american lag flag had reached the top of the staff and the french banner banmer the bottom it meant that the louisiana territory had bad changed hands tor for the sixth and last time and was henceforth american soll soil thus the fitting climax to this biggest real estate deal in history in which napoleon bonaparte the first consul of france had sold to thomas jefferson president of the united states for OW a veritable empire of square quare miles it doubled the original area of the new republic and gave to that republic the land which in the future was to be the follow following ln states elates louisiana arkansas missouri iowa the part of 0 minnesota west of the mississippi north dakota south dakota nebraska and most of oklahoma kansas montana wyoming and a large part of colorado it extended our boundaries from the canadian border to the alie gulf of mexico and from the rocky mountains to the mississippi river which henceforth was to be ours freed forever from the menace of a foreign power holding one of our most important gate ways to the sea new orleans like so many important events in american history the louisiana purchase had its origins in european politics and intrigue tiie the louiel ana territory had first been claimed tor for france by the explorer la salle who in had taken possession of it in the name came of louis XIV lit in 1712 the grand monarch had farmed louisiana to antoine crozat the greatest merchant donop follst of hla his day but crozat unable to make of it had turned it over five years later to john law the scotch adventurer whose mis its bubble had almost overnight trans formed him from a hero bero in france to the most mosi hated man in that country so in 1731 the lou islarea illana territory went back to the french crown gain again and in 1762 louis XV had ceded it to spain spanish territory it had remained all the time the english colonies on the atlantic seaboard were winning their freedom from great creat britain and taking their first faltering steps as a ne nev nation in the meantime stirring events had been taking place la in france the bourbons had beer bee dethroned dethroner the horrors of the french revolution had bad run their course and a new world figure hal hai risen above the horizon napoleon bonaparte the first consul of france within a year after be had become virtually the master of europe ile he had crushed crus lied austria li and the states of the italian peninsula peace with england was in sig sight lit and six weeks after big victory at marengo napoleon sent a demand to spain to cede louisiana back to france the main reason back of that demand was hla his de tire along with his other plans to dominate the world to rebuild the french comm commercial ercla I 1 power in america and begin upon a policy of I 1 colonial expansion the treaty by which spain ceded louisiana back to prance france in 1802 was kept secret but soon after thomas Jef jefferson Terson became president in 1801 he suspected what was going on across the at bantle french control of new orleans anil and french domination dolln atlon of the mississippi would ba bana te serious meaning for the united states espe dally to the settlers of ohio kentucky and ter ten bessee As early as 1709 they were sending down the river pounds of tobacco bur bar rols of hour flour pounds of hemp bar bae PIs ids of elder cider and as many more of whisky tor for t abroad so long as the spanish were in control this commerce nim vom merce would not be seriously gerlous ly affected tor for evert ven though there had been matters of annoy one between american commercial interests ant anil the lh spanish authorities in general the amerl III X P IF la 14 ta I 1 I 1 41 r ii I 1 I 1 I 1 n 4 it it w ew r 4 apie I 1 Y ill the place square R RL to f 4 soul um V aau R i 14 1 P r e A NJ r anti ae N 0 0 ct V 0 G U if of f the purchase cans had not found the restrictions of the spaniard oppressive but bat with the arrogant napoleon holding li new orleans matters might be very different indeed then don juan ventura morales spanish governor of new orleans preparatory to turning the louisiana territory over to france closed the port to the americans and the western settlers looked upon this as prophetic of what napoleons polley policy of strangling american trade and checking farther american expansion was to be what jefferson thought thou glit of it Is reflected in the follow ing letter to robert kobert livingston american min ister to france the cession of louisiana and the Flo Florl das by spain to france works most sorely in the united states there Is on the globe one single spot the possessor of which la Is our natural and habitual enemy it Is new orleans through which the produce of three eighths of our territory must pass to market and froni from its fertility it ft will ere long yield more than half of our whole bole produce and contain more than half of our in habitants spain might have retained it quietly for years not so can it eer be in the handa of france every eye in the united states is now fixed on the affairs of louisiana ne he then went on to instruct livingston and robert pinckney american minister to spain to obtain west florida from spain and new orleans from france congress was also fully aware of the necessity for action and it backed up jeffer son on by appropriating or on january 2 1803 the lum of for the purchase of the desired territory jefferson also appointed james mon voe roe as mi minister alster extraordinary to paris to aid liv ing ingston StOll in the negotiations in the meantime however ho weer events had been taking inking place in europe and also in america alch were destined to make napoleon play squarely into jeffersons bands although peace had been declared between france and england in 1802 napoleons belligerent attitude toward england was rapidly bringing about a state of mind which meant another war then too napoleons po leons plan of colonial expansion was golna going none too well the rebellion of toussaint lover ture in santo domingo had been crushed but at it a fearful fe adful price and this made napoleon realize the difficulties of carrying out his ambitious project tor for establishing reestablishing re french commercial in the new world orld with war with great britain imminent na knew that his problem was waa greatly in creased tie he was quick to see that r england gland mis tress iress of the seas could easily seize and hot hold louisiana livingston had not had bad much sue less cess in his preliminary negotiations for the pur chase of new orleans with two of napoleons ministers talleyrand anil and marbois Mar hols bols but on ras bas ter ler sunday 1803 the first consul announced an astonishing decision to his ministers lie he would sell not only new orleans but the whole louis ina anit territory to the united states A day or two after this monroe arrived arrive in parts and talleyrand told the he two american ministers of napoleons astonishing proposal they could scarcely believe their ears when TA beyrand told them of Na napoleons decision they suspected a trick but when talleyrand coo incel thera them that the offer was sincere they were more than willing to begin to talk terms however IIo wever their negotiations dragged on for some time complicated by the fact that monroe was ill 11 and scarcely able to play his part tn in them at last they began to reach a basis for agreement and the two american ministers unable to communicate with their government before it should be too if late lite took upon themselves the great responsibility of accepting Mar SI arbola bols terms on april 30 1803 marbois SIar Mar bolg bols livingston and monroe signed the covenants by which the united states bound itself to pay directly to france the sum of lla and to assume debts owed by france to american citizens estimated at making the total of it la Is said that after they had rif affixed fixed their signatures livingston remarked we haie hae lived long but this Is the noblest work of our lives from this day the united states takes its rank among the lite powers of the earth the curious thing Is that they could not realize that they had bought something ot of a pig in a poke in that the boundaries of the louisiana territory were not clearly defined so they had not the slightest notion of the vast extent of the territory which they had acquired for their country neither could they realize that no other km american erlean purchasers of territory would ever tie ae quire so much for so go little for they got this vast domain for less than 15 13 a square mile within alx lx 1 l hundred years 15 would not buy a square inch of some ot of that land 1 in other respects it was a strange transaction livingston and monroe had tar far exceeded their authority in buying louisiana and as a matter of tact fact napoleon had bad no right to sell it without the consent of spain and his own assembly spain immediately made a protest that the sale was illegal a protest which she did not care to maintain too stoutly considering the nature of the first consul many frenchmen were also hitter bitter about the sale even in this country there was considerable of course the westerners nere delighted but the federalists in the I 1 fust ast recalling how jefferson had denounced washington and adams for using powers not expressly delegated to the president in the constitution were quick to denounce jefferson for doing the same thing and the president assuming witty for what its his envoys had bad done and dubious of the legality of the purchase made the historic admission that hat he had stretched his powers un lil ill they cr cracked ached but to in october congress ratified the covenants and the next month laussat daussat arrived in new orleans to assume authority over that city and louisiana Terr territory tory preliminary to turning both over to their new owners the spanish lag flag came down and the french tricolor took its place to stay there for only 20 days then to give way forever to the stars and stripes 0 by newspaper News union |