Download Louisiana Purchase After the French and Indian War, France ceded

Louisiana Purchase
After the French and Indian War, France ceded all of Louisiana east of the Mississippi to
Britain, except for the city of New Orleans. France gave New Orleans and the western part
of Louisiana to Spain. By the Treaty of Paris, the United States received the British part of
Louisiana.
Napoleon Bonaparte obtained the return of Louisiana from Spain in 1800, under the Treaty
of San Ildefonso (Louisiana had been a Spanish colony since 1762.) However, the treaty
was kept secret, and Louisiana remained under Spanish control until a transfer of power to
France. The transfer finally took place on November 30, 1803, just three weeks before the
cession of the colony to the United States.
The port of New Orleans was crucial to trade on the Mississippi. Jeferson, knowing this,
sent James Monroe to Paris in 1802, seeking to negotiate a treaty with France that would
allow the United States to benefit from New Orleans. Jeferson put forth four options: the
purchase of only New Orleans, the purchase of New Orleans and Florida, the purchase of
some Louisianan land allowing the US to build a port there, or the purchase of navigation
rights on the Mississippi.
The French, however, rejected all four options. For them, it was all of Louisiana or nothing.
Napoleon was preparing to launch an invasion of Britain and the faction in France who
favored raising funds for the coming war were ascendant over those, such as de Talleyrand,
who hoped for a French empire in North America. It is also possible that the French
understood that Jeferson was prepared to go to war rather than tolerate a strong French
presence in the region and this would have disturbed Napoleon's imminent launch of a global
war. The US agreed to purchase Louisiana for $15 million. The Senate ratified the treaty in
1803, thus increasing the size of the United States dramatically.
Although Jeferson did buy the Louisiana Purchase, he had to stretch the Republican view of
literal constitutionality. The president did not have the right to buy land in the constitution,
but Jeferson rationalized that the land would greatly benefit Americans. The Federalists
were particularly opposed to the purchase and reasoned that the conflicting interests of
those settling the new States with the interests of the established States would threaten the
Union.
13.3.1 The Lewis & Clark Expedition
Shortly after purchasing the Louisiana Territory, Jeferson sent two men, Meriwether Lewis
and William Clark, to survey the new land. In 1804, the two men (and forty or so others)
set out from St. Louis and traveled northwest over the next two years. By December 1805,
the party had reached the mouth of the Columbia River (which spilled into the Pacific
Ocean) with the help of Sacajawea, a Shoshone Indian who served as their interpreter, and
her husband Toussaint Charbonneau (a Canadian fur trapper). In 1806, the party split into
two groups - one led by Lewis, the other by Clark - eventually reconvening in Fort Mandan
(located in present-day North Dakota).
With journals in hand, Lewis, Clark, and the other members of the Expedition returned to St.
Louis by September 1806 to report their findings to Jeferson. Along the way, they continued
to trade what few goods they still had with the Indians and set up diplomatic relations with
the Indians. Additionally, they recorded their contact with Indians and described (and at
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Jefersonian Republicanism (1800 - 1824)
times drew) the shape of the landscape and the creatures of this western world, new to the
white man. In doing so, they fulfilled many of Jeferson's wishes for the Expedition. Along
the way, William Clark drew a series of maps that were remarkably detailed, noting and
naming rivers and creeks, significant points in the landscape, the shape of river shore, and
spots where the Corps spent each night or camped or portaged for longer periods of time.
13.3.2 The Pike Expedition
In 1805, Captain Zebulon Pike, a soldier, set out to explore the new territory as well. He
started in St. Louis as well, but unlike Lewis and Clark, traveled directly west into the
Rocky Mountains. He reached Santa Fe, where he was captured briefly by Spanish soldiers
in the area. Pike returned to Washington in 1807 to report the number of Spanish forces in
the region. More important, however, was his description of the area - he nicknamed the
territory "The Great American Desert" due to its relative lack of vegetaion. Coincidentally,
it was this nickname that would prevent settlers from "moving west" for the next thirty to
forty years, but eventually the westward expansionist movement took full bloom.
13.4 Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts
In 1807, Britain and France, frustrated with America's refusal to help either of them in the
Napoleonic Wars, were constantly seizing American merchant ships and taking their cargo
and sailors.
13.4.1 The Chesapeake-Leopard Afair
Britain disregarded American neutrality - among other things, it seized American ships and
forced their sailors to join the Royal Navy, often without regard for the sailors' nationality.
This was a practice known as impressment. In June of 1807, the British ship Leopard
attacked the American Chesapeake in American waters because the commander of the latter
ship had refused to let the British search the ship for British deserters. The Americans lost
and four "deserters" were taken from the Chesapeake. Jeferson demanded an apology from
the British and an end to impressment. While the British did apologize, they did not stop
searching American ships or end the practice of impressment. The British claim that these
impressed sailors were "deserters" was not subject to review, and these sailors were often not
really deserters from the Royal Navy.Many Americans begin to get distraught by the British
impressment of sailors. This became one of the deal breaker to beginning the War of 1812.
13.4.2 The Embargo Act and its aftermath
On June 22, 1807 Jeferson called an emergency Cabinet meeting to discuss sea trade with
western countries. Americans urged Jeferson to go to war with France. In response to
continued disregard to US neutrality, on December 22, Congress passed the Embargo Act.
This law ordered that merchants could not trade internationally (at all, not just to France
and Britain), in hope that it would protect the merchant ships and weaken the French
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