USA > Louisiana > A history of Louisiana, Volume II > Part 20
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The following extracts from a letter of Livingston and Monroe to Madison, dated May 13, 1803, are interesting:
An acquisition of so great an extent was, we well know, not contemplated by our appointment ; but we are persuaded that the circumstances and considerations which induced us to make it, will justify us in the measure to our government and country. . . . By this measure we have sought to carry into effect, to the utmost of our power, the wise and benevolent policy of our government, on the principles laid down in our instructions. The possession of the left bank of the river, had it been attainable alone, would, it is true, have accomplished much in that respect ; but it is equally true that it would have left much still to accomplish. By it our people would have had an outlet to the ocean, in which no power would have a right to disturb them; but while the other bank remained in the possession of a foreign power, circumstances might occur to make the neighborhood of such power highly in-
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jurious to us in many of our most important concerns. A divided jurisdiction over the river might beget jealousies, discontents, and dissensions, which the wisest policy on our part could not prevent or control. With a train of colonial governments established along the western bank, from the entrance of the river far into the interior, under the command of military men, it would be diffi- cult to preserve that state of things which would be necessary to the peace and tranquillity of our country. A single act of a capricious, unfriendly, or unprincipled subaltern might wound our best interests, violate our most unquestionable rights, and in- volve us in war. But by this acquisition, which comprises within our limits this great river, and all the streams which empty into it, from their sources to the ocean, the apprehension of these dis- asters is banished for ages from the United States. We adjust by it the only remaining known cause of variance with this very powerful nation; we anticipate the discontent of the great rival of France, who would probably have been wounded at any stipula- tion of a permanent nature which favored the latter, and which it would have been difficult to avoid, had she retained the right bank. We cease to have a motive of urgency, at least, for in- clining to one power, to avert the unjust pressure of another. We separate ourselves in a great measure from the European world and its concerns, especially its wars and intrigues. We make, in fine, a great stride to real and substantial independence, the good effect whereof will, we trust, be felt essentially and ex- tensively in all our foreign and domestic relations. Without ex- citing the apprehension of any power, we take a more imposing attitude with respect to all. The bond of our union will be strengthened, and its movements become more harmonious by the increased purity of interest which it will communicate to the sev- eral parts which compose it.
The considerations expressed by Livingston and Mon- roe were so eminently wise that on July 29, 1803, Secre-
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tary of State Madison wrote to them: "In concurring with the disposition of the French government to treat for the whole of Louisiana, although the western part of it was not embraced by your powers, you were justified by the solid reasons which you give for it; and I am charged by the President to express to you his entire ap- probation of your so doing."
The original treaty of cession was drawn up in the French language, and afterward translated into English. Barbé-Marbois said that after the three negotiators had signed the treaty they rose and shook hands, and Living- ston expressed the satisfaction of all at the completion of their labors. He said this was the finest work of their whole life, and that from this day the United States were numbered with the powers of the first rank, and by them would be reestablished the maritime rights of all the nations of the earth, now usurped by one only. He added that the treaties they had just signed were pre- paring centuries of happiness for numberless generations. Only twelve years after the treaty of cession of Louisiana to the United States British invaders were repelled from the soil of Louisiana and a British army totally defeated at the battle of New Orleans.
CHAPTER XI
THE RATIFICATION OF THE TREATY OF CESSION, AND THE TRANSFER TO THE UNITED STATES
Bonaparte ratifies the treaty-Jefferson calls an extra meeting of Congress- Debates in the Senate-Opposition of the Federalists-Boundaries of Loui- siana-The transfer to the United States-Laussat's " Memoirs "-Message of Jefferson-Claiborne's proclamation and address-Census of 1803.
N May 22, 1803, Bonaparte ratified the treaty of cession, without waiting for the ratification of the United States. On the same day hostilities were begun between France and England, but Louisiana could now, be considered as being already an American possession, and as such was protected from the British. The latter could ill afford to be on bad terms with the United States at the very moment when war had again broken out between them and France, which was then ruled by the greatest captain of modern times.
The treaty of cession ratified by the First Consul reached Washington on July 14, 1803. The Spanish minister, Yrujo, protested against the cession to the United States, and declared that the act was null, as the French government had bound itself not to retrocede the
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province to any other power, and had not obtained, as agreed upon, the recognition of the King of Etruria by all the courts of Europe. It was thought by some that France and Spain were acting in concert, and that Loui- siana would not be transferred to the United States. Such a supposition was absurd, and President Jefferson issued a proclamation on July 16, 1803, calling an extraordinary session of Congress for October 17, 1803. In his message of that date he said:
Congress witnessed at their late session the extraordinary agita- tion produced in the public mind by the suspension of our right of deposit at the port of New Orleans, no assignment of another place having been made according to treaty. They were sensible that the continuance of that privation would be more injurious to our nation than any consequences which could flow from any mode of redress ; but, reposing just confidence in the good faith of the government whose officer had committed the wrong, friendly and reasonable representations were resorted to, and the right of deposit was restored. Previous, however, to this period, we had not been unaware of the danger to which our peace would be per- petually exposed whilst so important a key to the commerce of the Western country remained under foreign power. Difficulties, too, were presenting themselves as to the navigation of other streams which, arising within our territories, pass through those adjacent. Propositions had therefore been authorized for obtain- ing on fair conditions the sovereignty of New Orleans and of other possessions in that quarter interesting to our quiet to such extent as was deemed practicable, and the provisional appropria- tion of two million dollars to be applied and accounted for by the President of the United States, intended as part of the price, was considered as conveying the sanction of Congress to the acquisi- tion proposed. The enlightened government of France saw with
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just discernment the importance to both nations of such liberal arrangements as might best and permanently promote the peace, friendship, and interests of both, and the property and sover- eignty of all Louisiana which had been restored to them have on certain conditions been transferred to the United States by instru- ments bearing date the 30th of April last. When these shall have received the constitutional sanction of the Senate, they will without delay be communicated to the Representatives also for the exercise of their functions as to those conditions which are within the powers vested by the Constitution in Congress. Whilst the property and sovereignty of the Mississippi and its waters secure an independent outlet for the produce of the Western States and · an uncontrolled navigation through their whole course, free from collision with other powers and the dangers to our peace from that source, the fertility of the country, its climate and extent, promise in due season important aids to our treasury, an ample provision for our posterity, and a wide spread for the blessings of freedom and equal laws.
On October 22, 1803, Jefferson sent a message to the Senate and House of Representatives, announcing that the conventions entered into for the cession of Louisiana had been ratified, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and were communicated for the consideration of Congress in its legislative capacity. The debates in the Senate on this question were animated. On November 2 Samuel White, of Delaware, spoke of the uncertainty of Spain's allowing the French prefect in New Orleans to deliver the province to the United States; then he spoke of the evils that would ensue if " this new, immense, un- bounded world " should ever be incorporated into the Union. The citizens of the United States would leave
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their present territory and cross the river and " will be removed to the immense distance of two or three thou- sand miles from the capital of the Union, where they will scarcely ever feel the rays of the General Government; their affections will become alienated; they will gradu- ally begin to view us as strangers; they will form other commercial connections, and our interests will become dis- tinct." Mr. White then declared that "fifteen millions of dollars was a most enormous sum to give."
William Hill Wells, of Delaware, shared the opinion of his colleague, and opposed the bill, which was to au- thorize the creation of a stock to the amount of eleven million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. James Jackson, of Georgia, favored the bill, and said that the frontier people would not cross into Louisiana; that the Southern tribes of Indians could be persuaded to go there, and their place would be filled up with settlers from Europe. He concluded his remarks with words that prophesied the defeat of the British at New Orleans in 1815:
We have a bargain now in our power, which, once missed, we never shall have again. Let us close our part of the contract by the passage of this bill; let us leave no opportunity for any Power to charge us with a want of good faith; and having executed our stipulations in good faith we can appeal to God for the justice of our cause; and I trust that, confiding in that justice, there is virtue, patriotism, and courage sufficient in the American nation, not only to take possession of Louisiana, but to keep that pos- session against the encroachments or attacks of any Power on earth.
ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON 1747-1813
(Upper left) Chancellor of New York and Minister to France, who negotiated and signed the Treaty of Transfer of Louisiana from France to the United States in 1803. From a painting by Gilbert Stuart belonging to Mr. Carleton Hunt and sisters, -Louise Livingston Hunt and Julia Barton Hunt, -heirs of the late Mrs. Cora L. Barton (daughter of Edward Livingston), Montgomery Place, Barrytown- on-Hudson, N. Y.
JAMES MONROE 1758-1831
(Upper right ) Envoy Extraordinary to France, who negotiated and signed the Treaty of Trans- fer of Louisiana from France to the United States in 1803. From a painting by Gilbert Stuart owned by his great-granddaughter, Mrs. George B. Goldsborough, Easton, Md.
FRANÇOIS, MARQUIS DE BARBÉ- MARBOIS 1745-1837
(Centre) Minister of Finance under Bonaparte, who negotiated and signed the Treaty of Trans- fer of Louisiana from France to the United States in 1803. From a painting by Jean Fran- çois Boisselat in the Versailles Museum.
DENIS, DUC DECRÈS 1761-1820
(Lower left) Vice-Admiral of France and Min- ister of Marine and of the Colonies under Bona- parte, who advised against the transfer of Loui- siana to the United States. From a painting of the French school (artist unknown) in the Versailles Museum.
CHARLES MAURICE, DUC DE. TAL- LEYRAND-PÉRIGORD, PRINCE DE BÉNÉVENT 1754-1838
(Lower right) Foreign Minister under Bona- parte and one of the negotiators in the trans- fer of Louisiana to the United States. From a painting by Baron François Pascal Simon Gérard in the Versailles Museum.
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Robert Wright, of Maryland, asked why the Presi- dent was distrusted, he who had been so " very much alive to the peaceful acquisition of this immense territory, and the invaluable waters of the Mississippi." He added that the Louisianians would not be less disposed to loyalty to the United States than they had been to the prefect of France. " Can they be so unwise as to prefer being the colonists of a distant European power to being members of this immense empire, with all the privileges of Ameri- can citizens? "
Timothy Pickering, of Massachusetts, discussed the question from a constitutional point of view, and declared that the incorporation of the inhabitants of Louisiana in the Union could not be effected without an amendment of the Constitution. "He believed the assent of each indi- vidual State to be necessary for the admission of a foreign country as an associate in the Union: in like man- ner as, in a commercial house, the consent of each mem- ber would be necessary to admit a new partner into the company. He had never doubted the right of the United States to acquire new territory, either by purchase or by conquest, and to govern the territory so acquired as a dependent province; and in this way might Louisiana have become territory of the United States, and have re- ceived a form of government infinitely preferable to that to which its inhabitants are now subject."
Jonathan Dayton, of New Jersey, Pierce Butler, of South Carolina, and John Taylor, of Virginia, favored the bill, and the latter argued that it was constitutional. Uriah Tracy, of Connecticut, spoke rather bitterly
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against the bill, and said that universal consent of all the States was necessary, " and this I am positive can never be obtained to such a pernicious measure as the admission of Louisiana-of a world, and such a world, into our Union. This would be absorbing the Northern States, and rendering them as insignificant in the Union as they ought to be if, by their own consent, the measure should be adopted."
- John Breckenridge, of Kentucky, spoke at great length, and paid a high tribute to Jefferson's adminis- tration :
But if my opinion were of any consequence, I should be free . to declare that this transaction, from its commencement to its close, not only as to the mode in which it was pursued, but as to the object achieved, is one of the most splendid which the annals of any nation can produce. To acquire an empire of perhaps half the extent of the one we possessed, from the most powerful and warlike nation on earth, without bloodshed, without the op- pression of a single individual, without in the least embarrassing the ordinary operations of our finances, and all this through the peaceful forms of negotiation, and in despite, too, of the op- position of a considerable portion of the community, is an achievement of which the archives of the predecessors, at least, of those now in office, cannot furnish a parallel.
Wilson Carey Nicholas, of Virginia, and William Cooke, of Tennessee, spoke in favor of the bill, which was carried by a vote of twenty-six yeas to five nays. In the House of Representatives the debates were very long, and by a vote of ninety yeas to twenty-five nays a resolu- tion was adopted to make provision for carrying into
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effect the treaty and conventions concluded at Paris on April 30, 1803.
Jefferson, like some members of Congress, had been somewhat puzzled by the question whether it was consti- tutional to acquire foreign territory by purchase; but he had approved the action of Livingston and Monroe, and had called a meeting of Congress to consider the treaty of cession and the conventions annexed thereto. The Federalists opposed the measure violently, and tried to show what an immense sum of money fifteen million dollars was. No one, however, knew exactly what Loui- siana was, and ridiculous stories were told about the prov- ince. The most absurd was the statement that there was a vast mountain of salt, a thousand miles up the Missouri.1 " The length was one hundred and eighty miles; the breadth was forty-five; not a tree, not so much as a shrub, was on it; but, all glittering white, it rose from the earth, a solid mountain of rock-salt, with streams of saline water flowing from the fissures and cavities at its base! " Fortunately, the magnificent explorations of Meriwe- ther Lewis and William Clark were soon to make known the vast regions of the West as far as the Pacific.
** We have seen that Louisiana was ceded to the United States in 1803 with rather obscure boundaries. The Floridas, Oregon, and Texas were claimed as included in the Louisiana Purchase. In 1819 a treaty was signed by which all claim to Texas west of the Sabine River was given up by the United States, and the Floridas were received from Spain. That treaty was the work of John Quincy Adams, who was convinced that the claim to
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Texas was just, but who relinquished it for reasons of ex- pediency. Mr. Henry Adams believes also that Texas formed part of Louisiana in 1803, but Professor John R. Ficklen has given proof to the contrary. He says: 2
The Floridas and Oregon, which at various times were claimed by the United States as portions of the Louisiana Purchase, have been declared by the sober judgment of history to have formed no part thereof. A similar judgment, it may be predicted, will finally be pronounced in the celebrated case of the Louisiana Purchase vs. Texas.
Jefferson had appointed General James Wilkinson and William C. C. Claiborne, Governor of the Missis- sippi Territory, commissioners to receive Louisiana from Laussat, the French commissioner. Claiborne had also been appointed governor of the new American territory. As it was feared that Spain might attempt to prevent the transfer of the province to the United States, part of the militia of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee received orders to hold themselves ready to march at a moment's notice.3 The military force in the West assembled at Fort Adams, and five hundred militiamen of Tennessee came as far as Natchez. Claiborne ordered the volunteer company of horse of the Mississippi Territory to prepare to ac- company him on December 10. Wilkinson and Clai- borne met at Fort Adams, and on December 17 they camped within two miles of New Orleans, with their troops. On December 31, 1803, the former Spanish in- tendant, Morales, wrote to Minister Cayetano, as fol- lows:4
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Only twenty days did the capital remain in the power of the French Republic. On the sixteenth General Wilkinson arrived with three hundred men, and camped in the vicinity of the city. On the seventeenth, Governor Claiborne arrived with the remain- der of the troops, which with the militia (cavalry and infantry of Natchez ) amounted to six hundred men. On December 20 the transfer took place with the same ceremonies as on November 30. The Americans manifested their joy when the banners were raised and pulled down. In the sala consistorial Governor Clai- borne delivered an address, and he published a proclamation. The Americans, on the days following the transfer, showed distrust of the Spaniards. At present they appear satisfied with the courtesies shown them.
Narrative of Laussat, dated " an XII, 3 Nivôse ": 5
The American commissioners, Claiborne, Governor of the Ter- ritory of Mississippi, and Wilkinson, brigadier-general in the army of the United States, were together on the 25th Frimaire at Marigny Point, on the bank of the river, where General Wilkinson had placed his camp. Messrs. Claiborne and Wilkin- son sent Major Wadsworth to me to ask whether I could receive them on Sunday at noon. I answered affirmatively, and sent the Major of Engineers Vinache, the Colonel commanding the militia Bellechasse, and the French citizen Blanque, my friend, to meet them in my carriage.
They arrived in the yard with an escort on horseback of about thirty volunteers from Natchez, and they were saluted on their approach by a volley of nineteen guns. After a few minutes given to etiquette in my parlor, they passed into my cabinet. We had there a conference of an hour. They manifested a de- sire to delay the taking possession until Tuesday, to have time for preparations.
It was sufficient for me to announce, after their departure, that the next day, at eleven o'clock in the morning, I would return
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their visit on horseback in their camp, to have at half-past ten (without any further attention on my part) a military cavalcade in my yard of about sixty men to serve as an escort. That will make known to the government the feelings of the Louisianians and the mettle of their character.
On Tuesday I had all the militia drawn up in battle array on the square in front of the City Hall. The crowd was immense, and the most beautiful weather favored that ceremony. The com- missioners of the United States arrived at the head of their troops and were saluted outside the gates by the company of grenadiers of the militia. The troops of the United States were placed in line of battle on the square, opposite those we had there, and their entrance into the city was announced by volleys of twenty-one guns fired from the forts.
Having gone to the large hall of the City Hall, the commis- sioners of the United States, Claiborne and Wilkinson, handed me their powers in public meeting, and these were read. I caused then to be read the treaty of cession, my own powers, and the procès-verbal of the exchange of ratifications. I proclaimed the delivery of the country to the United States; I added to it that of the keys of the city to Mr. Claiborne; and I declared absolved from the oath of fidelity to the French Republic any inhabitant of the country who preferred to remain under the new domination.
We went to one of the balconies of the City Hall. Then the French flag was seen to descend from the top of the staff in the middle of the square, and the American flag was seen to rise. When they met at the same height, one cannon was fired as a signal, and immediately began the volleys from the land batteries and from the harbor.
The commissioners of the United States came with me to the militia, the command of which I delivered to them, and they caused our posts to be relieved immediately by their troops. I had been constantly accompanied during these ceremonies by a great num- ber of Frenchmen and Louisianians, members of the municipality, militia, and others.
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Judge Martin says that when the flag of the United States rose to the top of the staff in the square, and the flag of France was lowered, " a group of citizens of the United States, who stood on a corner of the square, waved their hats, in token of respect for their country's flag, and a few of them greeted it with their voices. The colonists did not appear conscious that they were reaching the Latium sedes ubi fata quietas ostendunt."
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Barbé-Marbois says that fifty former French sol- diers had constituted themselves the guardians of the tri- colored banner, and that when it was lowered from the staff they received it in their arms. They manifested their regrets, the sergeant-major wrapped the banner around his body, and a parade took place around the city. The little troop was saluted with military honors by the American soldiers, and went to the French commissioner's house, accompanied by the officers of the militia, who were all French by birth or by descent. They addressed Laussat as follows: "We have wished to give France a last proof of the affection we shall always maintain for her. In your hands we deposit this symbol of the bond that had attached us again to her temporarily." The commissioner answered, " May the prosperity of Louisi- ana be eternal!"
In a letter to his government Laussat said: "
I have only to congratulate myself on the events during the twenty days that the French Republic has commanded in these countries. It seems to me also that the inhabitants have not found too long the duration of her domination.
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'A little later he said:
The United States surely do not pay dear for this interesting and magnificent country. They do not even pay half of what New Orleans alone will be worth to them, and by their tariff they will derive from its custom-house one million dollars (five mil- lion francs ) before four years.
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