| Show the 4 a I 1 state deal 0 N 1 r I 1 4 A va 4 1 V pig ja X j c NO 0 I 1 thornas thomaz jefferson by ELMO SCOTT WATSON NC 13 hundred and thirty years ears ago the biggest bigge Bt real estate deal in history w was s closed in fit the city of new orleans 2 n s on december 20 1603 1601 a crowd gathered in the historic place d armes amies now known as jackson square in tho the center was a tall flagpole at the top of 0 which fluty V byl V it red the tricolor of france drawn up along one side of the square was axy a detachment of united states v army troops facing them on the other side of the flagpole were cre sp spanish troops and a few french olli officers cers A few hours before alerre clement laussat daussat La ussat french prefect of louisiana gen tames james wilkinson of the united states army and william 0 0 claiborne former governor of mississippi territory had met in thu the famous old Cab cabildo lido which faces on the square there the credentials of the two americans america n were read ns as was the authority of the frenchman to hand over to them official possession of a certain tract of land the keys of the c city ity of now new orle ins were given to claiborne and lie he dissolving the allegiance of the Inh inhabitants atil ta to of new orleans to france welcomed wel corned them as citizens of the united states then the three men stepped out into the place d armes arms at a signal the tricolor or of france began to descend and the stars and stripes of the united stats states to ascend midway on the flagstaff tho the two banners met and were saluted and when the american lag flag had reached the top of the staff and the french bin ban ner the bottom bott oin it meant tint that the louisiana ter rl eltory tory had changed hands for the sixth and last time find and was wag henceforth american soll soil thus the fitting ting climax to this biggest real estate deal in history in which napoleon bonaparte the first consul of prance france had sold to thomas jefferson erBon president ot of the united states for a veritable empire of square miles it doubled the original area of the new republic and gave to that republic the land which alch in the future was to he be the following bates louisiana arkansas missouri lown iowa the part of minnesota west of the mississippi north dakota south dakota nebraska and most of OkIn oklahoma homa kansas montana wyoming and a large pirt part of colorado it extended our boun boon darles claries from the canadian border to the gulf of merico anti and from the rocky mountains to the mississippi river which henceforth was to be ours freed forever from froin the menace of a foreign pow power er holding one of our most important sate gate ways vas to the sea new orleans like so ninny important events in american Americ no history the louisiana purchase had its origin in Euro european penn politics and intrigue the nun anti territory biad tin first been claimed for france franc by the explorer la salle who in lisa had taken possession of it in the name of louis XIV in iii 1712 the orand grand monarch Alon lind had far fanned ined louisiana to t antohne crozat the greatest merchant hant donop follst of tits his day but crozat unable to make use is of it had turned it over lie five years litter later to john law the scotch adventurer ciote whose li ote mis ills sIs sIppI bubble had almost overnight trans formed him film from a hero in france to the most hated man in that country so in 1731 the lou illana territory tei eltory went back tu to the french crowt irown again and in it 1702 1762 louls louis XV had tin ceded it to spanish territory it hit lind lill the din the colonies on the atlantic sea Beahon honnI rii were winning their freedom from great bridah and taking their first faltering steps as a nev net nation fatiori nat iori in the he meantime stirring events had beet taking place tit in france the bourbons had hen dethrone the horrors of the french lind had run their course and a new world figure hm risen above the horizon napoleon Ilona parle the first consul of france within a year ear after lie he had become the muster master of europe ile he had bad crushed austria and the states of the italian peninsula rean v with england was in sight bight and six wet ka afeei ills ids victory at Al marango arengo napoleon Nn sent it a demand to spain to cede louisiana hack back to franco france tin the main reason back of that demand was lits his dr de sire along with his other oilier plans iliin i to dominate tin the world to rebuild the french powei in america find and begin upon a il y of colon lr expansion the llie treaty by which spain ceded Louls Loul lami sinni back to france in 1802 was kept secret but som after thomas jefferson Terson Id president in 1801 tie lie suspected what hat was going on across the at lintle french control of new orleans ani t rench or of the mississippi would linit n barlous meaning ine anim for the united states cope aspe dally to the settlers of ohl ohio kentucky and ten tel bessee As chirl early its as 1790 1409 alie evere ft ere sending dowl the river pounds of tobacco bar i els aels of lour flour 2 4 of if hemp wa bar els eis of elder cider and as rainy many more inore of loi fo shipment abroad so long as the spanish were vere tit in control this mer merce would not be seriously air acted for ren iron though there tind had tien been mutters of annoy anoe between american commercial interests and the tha spanish authorities in general the ameri treaty 1 1 rl M F W aa I 1 III A 1 igo S IN 3 the place dermes anale ir ka alfr COUNTR 0 10 0 11 ats V 0 the louisiana purchase cans had not found the restrictions restrictions of the spaniard oppressive but with the arrogant napoleon holding new orleans matters might be very different indeed then don juan ventura morales spanish governor of new orleans preparatory to turning the LoA sInna territory over to france closed the port to the americans and the western settlers looked upon this as prophetic of what napoleons policy of strangling american trade and checking farther american expansion was to be what Te fferson tho thought tight of tt it Is reflected in the following ng letter to robert livingston american tain min ister to france the cession of Loul louisiana sinna and the Florl das by spain pain to france works most sorely in the united states there Is on the globe one single spot the possessor of which Is our natural and habitual enemy it Is 13 new orleans through which the produce of three or of our territory must pass to market and from its fertility it will ere long yield more that than half of our whole produce and contain more than halt half of our in habitants spain might have hae retained it quietly for years not so can it ever to be in the hands of france every eye in the rhe united states Is now blied flied on the affairs of 11 lie ile then went on to instruct livingston and 1 aobert pinckney Amer american lenn minister to spain to west florida front from spain and new orleans irom france congress was also fully aware of lie he necessity for action and ant it hacked backed up tip jelter jeffer on by on january 2 1803 1603 the of for the purchase of the desired errit territory ory jefferson also appointed james mon oe as minister extraordinary to paris to aid lly egston in the negotiations in the meantime however events had been aking place in europe and also in america mch were destined to make napoleon play into jeffersons hands Altho although peace had been declared between france and england in n 1802 napoleons belligerent attitude toward england was rapidly bringing about a state of mind which meant another war then too nn na pol po leons cons plan of colonial expansion was going none too well the rebellion of toussaint lover lure in santo domingo had been crushed but at i 1 fearful price and tills this made napoleon realize tho the difficulties of currying carrying out tits his ambitious for establishing reestablishing re french commercial in the new world with war with great areat britain imminent na knew that his problem was greatly in lie ile was quick to see that england mis nil hohol tress of the seas could easily seize and hold louisiana livingston had find not lind had much sue cess in his negotiations for the pur chase of now new orleans with two of napoleons napoleon ministers talleyrand ond and Mar marbois bols nut but on has ter Suil sunday day 1803 the first consul announced an decision to tits his ministers minister ile he would oil ell not only new orleans but the whole coulst inn ana territory to the united states A day or two after this monroe arrived in carls find and talleyrand told the two american ministers of napoleon proposal they could scarcely believe their ears when talleyrand told them of napoleons decision they suspected a trick but when talleyrand convinced them that the otter offer was sincere they were more than willing to begin to talk terms however now ever their negotiations dragged on for some time complicated by the fact that was III and scarcely able to play his part 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 late took upon themselves the gre great responsibility ot of accepting Il Marb arbols terms on april SO 30 SI Sl arbola arbols ston and monroe signed the covenants coe nants by which the united states bound itself to pay directly to franco pro nce the sum of and to assume debts owed by france to american citizens estimated at making the total of it Is said that after they hey had affixed their signatures livingston remarked we have lived long but this Is the noblest work vork of our lives from this day the united states takes its rank among the powers pow ers of the earth H the curious thing Is that they could not realize that they had bought something of a pig in it a poke in that the boundaries of 0 the louisiana territory were not cle arly defined so they had bad not the slightest notion of the ane vast extent of the territory which they had acquired tor for their country neither could they realize that no other american purchasers purchaser of territory would eyer acquire so much for 0 so o little for they got this vast domain for less than 13 15 a square mile within a hundred years 15 would not buy a square inch of some of that land I 1 in other respects it was it a strange transaction livingston and monroe had far exceeded their authority in buying louisiana and as a matter of fact napoleon had bad no right to sell it without the lie consent of 0 spain and his own assembly spain immediately made a protest that tho the sale was illegal a protest which she did not barq to maintain too stoutly considering the nature of the first consul many blany frenchmen were also bitter about the sale nen even in this country there was considerable criticism of course the westerners were delighted hut but the federalists in the enst recalling how jefferson had denounced washington and adaris for using powers not expressly delegated to the president in the constitution were quick to denounce jefferson for doing the same tiling thing and the president assuming responsibility for what tits envoys had done and dubious of the legality of the purchase made the historic that lie ho had stretched its his powers until they cracked 11 but in october congress ratified the covenants and the next month daussat laussat arrived in new orleans to assume authority over that city anti and Loul louisiana slana territory preliminary to turning both tier over to their new owners the spanish ang came cama down clown and the french tricolor took its place to stay there for only 20 days then to give way former to the stars and stripes 0 by west aru union |
