Louisiana Purchase

Is it possible to double the size of your country overnight? President Thomas Jefferson accomplished this through the Louisiana Purchase on November 10, 1803. The American government finalized this mass transfer of North American land from France by paying the latter $11 million. The United States gained an additional 828,000 square miles, encompassing the territory from today’s Montana north to New Orleans south. Beyond the acquisition of land and resources, this strategic purchase benefitted the United States in several other ways, including the exploration and eventual expansion toward the west coast of North America.

Fig. 1- Hoisting of American Colors over Louisiana (1804), Place d'Armes (now Jackson Square), New Orleans, by Thure de Thulstrup, 1904. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

Louisiana Purchase: Background

The history of the Louisiana Purchase is wrought with colonial conflict.

French and Indian War

In the 16^th-18^th centuries, Britain and France colonized much of the North American continent. Britain possessed the Thirteen Colonies. They eventually declared independence in 1776 and formed the United States. New France (1534-1763) comprised five administrative regions in North America:

• Louisiana
• Canada
• Hudson’s Bay
• Plaisance (Newfoundland)
• Acadia (Nova Scotia)

The entire French holdings encompassed the land from the Canadian prairies to the northeast and from Hudson’s Bay to the Gulf of Mexico.

However, France remained in a prolonged conflict with Britain over trade and territory. The end of colonial France in North America came with the French Indian War (1754-1763).

• The French and Indian War between Britain and France over the upper Ohio River valley culminated in the Treaty of Paris (1763). As a result, France lost its land east of the Mississippi River to Britain. Spain, which joined this conflict at the end to counter Britain, received New Orleans and western Louisiana. In exchange for Havana (Cuba), Spain ceded Florida to Britain.

Fig. 2 - A map of North America following the Treaty of Paris (1763), by cartographers Robert Sayer, Jean Baptiste Bourguignon d’Anville, and Robert de Vaugondy Didier. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

Louisiana between Spain, Britain, and France

Louisiana went to Spain through the Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762). However, Spain did not challenge the British control of the land east of the Mississippi River and kept western Louisiana. Louisiana returned to France in 1802 through the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso (1800) and the Treaty of Aranjuez (1801). In other words, between 1763-1803, the control of Louisiana changed from France to Britain in the east and Spain in the west to France again and, finally, to the United States.

Spain’s reasons for returning Louisiana to France came from its unstable position in the region. Through Pinckney’s Treaty (Treaty of San Lorenzo) agreed upon in 1795, the United States and Spain worked out their territorial disputes.

Therefore, this treaty greatly benefitted the United States rather than Spain.

Louisiana Purchase: Summary

The reason for the return of Louisiana to France was Napoleon’s I dream of linking Louisiana to the French-controlled Saint-Domingue (Haiti). These colonial possessions were to grant France access to significant resources, such as the sugar industry in the Caribbean. Napoleon I first articulated his vision around 1795. However, the French were too bogged down in an imperial quagmire—such as the rising tensions with Britain—to truly regain their colonial control over a significant part of North America. As a result, Napoleon I ultimately decided to sell Louisiana to the United States.

Fig. 3 - Napoleon wearing coronation robes, by François Gérard, ca. 1805. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

Louisiana Purchase: Facts

The purchase of Louisiana was not immediate. The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secret, but the Americans learned about it through their minister to Great Britain. Then, Thomas Jefferson sought to suggest purchasing New Orleans and evaluating the rest of Louisiana. Eventually, the U.S. House first had to approve France’s payment.

Some politicians questioned the legality of increasing the territory of the United States. Furthermore, Thomas Jefferson communicated and negotiated with Napoleon’s I administration. His communication did not always involve Congress. The latter was an early example of a President acting without Congressional guidance.

Louisiana Purchase: Timeline

Fig. 4 - A map of the Louisiana Purchase.

Whereas buying Louisiana was relatively simple, incorporating it into the United States was more complex. For instance, the exact boundaries of Louisiana were unclear in the previous treaties, such as that of Fontainebleau. This ambiguity precipitated a conflict with Spain. Those populating Louisiana were ethnically diverse—from colonial Europeans such as the French and Spanish to the Indigenous tribes and African slaves. The residents were, therefore, not treated equally.

Fig. 4 - A portrait of Thomas Jefferson, by Rembrandt Peale, 1801. Source: Wikipedia Commons (public domain).

Relations with the Indigenous People and African Slavery

The United States government acquired land that various Indigenous people already populated. The negotiations between the United States and France did not include them.

• The poor treatment of the Indigenous people comprised removing them from their land, ultimately leading to the Trail of Tears. The Trail of Tears began in the 1830s and ethnically cleansed tens of thousands of Indigenous people through forced relocation.

Louisiana also had a long history of slavery. Spain was one of the central powers engaged in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. The French residents also owned slaves from the Caribbean.

The message of President Thomas Jefferson concerning the cession of the province of Louisiana to the United States; 10/21/1803; Records Relating to Foreign Relations during the 8th Congress; Records Relating to Treaties with Foreign Countries, 1789 - 2000; Records of the U.S. Senate, Record Group 46; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. [Online Version, https://www.docsteach.org/documents/document/jefferson-congress-louisiana-territory, February 16, 2022].

Louisiana Purchase: Historiography

Historians have examined the Louisiana Purchase from a variety of perspectives, including:

• The meaning of acquiring a massive landmass by a country through a financial transaction rather than war.
• The impact of the Louisiana Purchase on Indigenous Americans enslaved African-Americans and the French and Spanish settlers who found themselves part of the United States.
• The relationship between the United States and France—and their respective foreign policies—facilitated the Louisiana Purchase.
• The French perspective on North America as the land of the "noble savage" is rooted in Enlightenment ideas.

Aftermath and the Effects of the Louisiana Purchase

Following the purchase of Louisiana, the U.S. government sought to explore its territory. It tasked Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark to determine whether there was a waterway connecting the Columbia and Missouri Rivers. Lewis and Clark’s Corps of Discovery successfully investigated and documented a part of the North American continent to the Pacific Ocean between 1804 and 1806.

The Lewis and Clark expedition also communicated diplomatically with the Indigenous people they encountered on the way. The first half of the journey began in St. Louis and concluded on the Oregon coast. The explorers also contributed to science by recording information regarding 122 new animals and 178 new plants.

The American drive westward continued after Lewis and Clark until the United States reached its present-day borders. The concept of Manifest Destiny, introduced in 1845 by the writer John O’Sullivan, advocated the expansion of the United States. This concept involved religious undertones, which fused colonial expansion with a mission to do so granted by God. This expansion occurred by various means. For instance, the United States purchased Alaska from Russia in 1867.