The Louisiana Purchase

The Greatest Land Deal

in the History of the United States!
Where Was the Original
Louisiana Territory?
 French
• 1682 — French explorers
claimed the entire
Mississippi River
drainage and named it for
King Louis V.

• 1722 — New Orleans,

established by a private
French trading company
for the shipment of
exports from the
Mississippi Valley, mainly
furs, tobacco, and indigo, New Orleans

became the capitol of the

Territory.
 British
• 1763 — In the Treaty of
Paris, which concluded the
Seven Years' War (known as
the "French and Indian War"
SPANISH
WEST
in North America), major land
Mississippi BRITISH exchanges are made. All of
EAST
River
LOUISIANA Louisiana east of the
. Mississippi, except New
Orleans, goes to Britain.
New Orleans
• New Orleans and all of
Louisiana west of the
Mississippi goes to Spain.
 Spanish
West of the East of the
Mississippi Mississippi
1783 — Following the
American War of
Independence, Britain
U.S. cedes its old Louisiana
Mississippi R. Territory land east of
SPANISH
the Mississippi, to the
United States, and
gives Florida back to
New Orleans Spain.
and
Florida
 Spanish New Orleans
1795 — Charles
Si! si! Pinckney, U.S.
America Minister to Spain,
may use
my negotiates an
beautiful agreement with Spain
port. allowing Americans to
use New Orleans as a
duty-free port for
foreign commerce, for
renewable three-year
periods.

Charles IV, King of Spain

Napoleon and the Mosquitoes
O K Guys, I’m
taking over!

That’s
what
you
think!
Napoleon, an aggressive, Mosquito, an aggressive,
ambitious military genius. yellow-fever-carrying insect.
Why Does Napoleon Want
Louisiana?
• Emperor Napoleon
Bonaparte has a vision of
a renewed western empire
for France.

• Control over the vast

Louisiana Territory would
halt the westward
expansion of the young
United States and would
supply French colonies in
the West Indies with the
goods they needed.
Napoleon’s Scheme
I LOVE
power!

• His scheme includes the

recapture of Louisiana from
a very weak Spain.

• Napoleon takes a break

from his conquests in
Europe to send French
troops to the West Indies.
 The BIG Secret
Oui,
• 1800 — Secretly, under
pressure from Napoleon Charlie.
For dis, I
Bonaparte, King Charles weel
IV of Spain, gives ALL of geeve
Louisiana, including New your son-
in-law a
Orleans, back to France, leetle
on condition that it not be Italian
sold or given to any other kingdom.
country.

• Weak Spain and strong

France secretly sign the
Treaty of San Idelfonso. First Consul Napoleon
Bonaparte
Thomas Jefferson

Meanwhile….back in
the U.S.A.
 1801 Mississippi River
• When Thomas Jefferson Allegheny Mountains
became president in 1801,
two out of every three
Americans lived within fifty
miles of the Atlantic Ocean.

• Only four crude roads crossed

the Allegheny Mountains.
Ohio River
• The U.S. ended on the
eastern banks of the
Mississippi River.
Spanish
Florida

• Florida was governed by

Spain
 The Secret is Discovered
Jefferson • 1801 — President Thomas
just wants
a little Jefferson is shocked when
port. he learns the secret Treaty
of San Idelfonso.

• Considering strong French

control over New Orleans to
be a serious threat, he
instructs his Minister to
France in Paris, Robert R.
Livingston, to try to buy
New Orleans and Florida, or
Robert Livingston,
at least western Florida.
Minister to France
Jefferson Stands Up to Napoleon
• Also, Jefferson let it be I weel have it
known that the U.S all!!
would ally itself with
England and fight
France if the French
start a war on the
continent.

• The French decline to

sell New Orleans or
western Florida. Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte
 Toussaint L’Overture
Florida The
West
Haiti
Indies

Two years later…the French army off the coast of

Florida in the West Indies is having some
problems.
Napoleon’s Plan Collapses
I
LOVE
power!

1803- Napoleon's plan

collapses when his
Caribbean army is
defeated by yellow fever
carrying mosquitoes and
a brilliant black general
named Toussaint
L’Overture who has
been leading a slave
General Toussaint revolt on French Haiti for
L’Overture 12 years.
The Best-Laid Plans…
I hate
mosquitoes • The remaining French
! troops are forced to return
to France defeated. Thus
preventing them from
reaching their ultimate
destination--Louisiana--
and from being able to
defend it.

• As Napoleon's New World

empire disintegrates, the
loss of French Haiti makes
Louisiana unnecessary.
What Jefferson Wanted
I just want a little
port near the
Mississippi River.
 You can
count on Jefferson Persists
me to
secure • President Jefferson,
the deal, learning that the
Mr. defeated French might
President.
be willing to consider
selling some land after
all, sends Monroe to
Paris with instructions
from Secretary of State,
James Madison, to buy
a small piece of land.

James Monroe, Minister

• Congress appropriates
to Spain and France $2 million.
 The French Reply
$2
million?
No
deal!
Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand-Perigord, the
French Minister of Foreign
Relations, declines the offer.

Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand-Perigord, the
French Minister of Foreign
Relations
The BIG Surprise!
You may
have zee
whole
territory. Needing money to
I’m going prosecute his
home.
campaigns elsewhere
on the globe, Napoleon
changes his mind and
decides to offer to sell
ALL of Louisiana,
(including New Orleans)
to the United States.
 Let’s Make A Deal
• Robert Livingston is
prepared to pay only
$2 million for a PORT
such as New Orleans.

• Talleyrand says
Louisiana would be
worthless to France
without the port city,
and asks Livingston to
make an offer. Louisiana Purchase negotiations
 Jefferson Acts Quickly
I will stretch
my
presidential • Although there are no
power ‘till it provisions in the
cracks! Constitution for buying
territories, Jefferson, a
Republican, has
Congress appropriate
$10 million.

• The Federalist Party is

very unhappy.

President Thomas Jefferson

 The Final Offer
How about
$15 million Let’s see
for ALL of it? James,
Congress
only gave
us $10
million.

Charles Maurice de
Talleyrand-Perigord, the
French Minister of Foreign
Relations James Monroe,
Minister to France Robert Livingston,
and Spain Minister to France
 A Waste of Money?
• Amazed by the offer,
Jefferson accepted and
rushed the treaty through
Congress, in spite of doubts
about its constitutionality.

• Federalists attacked the

purchase not only as a
blatant use of executive
power, but as a waste of
money.
Louisiana Purchase Treaty
• Nevertheless, the treaty was
signed.
 What Jefferson Got
• April 30, 1803 - the
United States negotiates
the purchase of the
Louisiana Territory
$15,000,000! including the port of New
Orleans from France for
$15 million.

• With a stroke of a pen

America doubled in size,
making it one of the
largest nations in the
world.
 A Sweet Deal!
The sale included over
600 million acres at a
cost of less than 3 cents
an acre in what today is
the better part of 13
states between the
Rocky Mountains and the
Mississippi River.
 Without Shedding A Single
Drop of Blood!
• For President Thomas
Jefferson it was a
diplomatic and political
triumph.

• In one fell swoop the

The Transfer of Louisiana in
St. Louis, 1804.
purchase of Louisiana
ended the threat of war
with France and opened
up the land west of the
Mississippi to
settlement.
The Heart of America:
New Lands to Explore

The Lewis and Clark Expedition 1804-1806