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Introduction.
THE history of the
Mississippi Valley, which for the first hundred years after its discovery,
was known to political geography as the province of Louisiana, must ever
be of surpassing interest to the American student.
Its existence and value
were neglected by the Spaniards who sought and found fame and wealth in
Central and South America. When at last this field was fully occupied the
Spanish explorers turned to the Northern Continent hoping to find there
territories as rich in treasure as those of the South, but disaster dogged
their footsteps. After two attempts at conquest, exploration of the valley
of the Mississippi was abandoned for a century.
During this time the other
maritime nations of Europe had planted settlements along the coast. The
country they occupied was a comparatively narrow strip bounded on the west
by the densely-wooded heights of the Alleghanies. The French explorers had
discovered and taken possession of the Gulf and valley of the St.
Lawrence. Their intrepid hunters soon penetrated to the great lakes and
learned from the Indians of the great river which might lead to the
Pacific Ocean. To solve the riddle, expeditions were sent from Canada, one
to ascend the river, the other under La Salle to seek the mouth, which he
reached on April 9, 1682. For the king, Louis XIV., he laid claim to the
whole of the lands on all the streams falling into the great river
Mississippi. Iberville reaped the fruit of the discovery of La Salle and
founded the colony of Louisiana at Ocean Springs (Old Biloxi) in 1699. Its
growth was slow. The colonists did not attend at first to the agricultural
work which was needed. Pestilence and hostile Indians were combated with
difficulty. Commerce suffered from the monopolies of Crozat and Law, and
when directly governed by the Crown the colony might have flourished, but
a dual form of government, a governor and an intendant, and unwise
commercial laws retarded the progress of colonial Louisiana.
The result of the war
between England and France was to cause the dismemberment of Louisiana.
The country on the eastern bank of the river was ceded to England and that
on the west, together with the island of Orleans, to Spain. The French
inhabitants protested in vain. Milder governors succeeded the severe
O'Reilly. The strict commercial regulations of the Spanish colonies were
but little observed, and Louisiana advanced rapidly in wealth. The
enterprising population of the American states began to claim a free
outlet for their products and were only granted a temporary place of
deposit. The revolution in France called to office men who wished to
recover its ancient colonies and finally Bonaparte, in 1800, dreaming of a
colonial empire, under pretense of an exchange for the duchy of Parma,
compelled the retrocession of Louisiana by a secret treaty. The government
of the province was left in the hands of the Spanish officials, who
withdrew the right of deposit. Thereupon arose such an outcry from the
western settlers that the President was compelled to take immediate steps
to obtain the command of the mouth of the river, and to that end offered
to purchase New Orleans, but Bonaparte needed money and feared the seizure
of Louisiana by England. He offered to the astonished American envoys the
whole province. The price of $15,000,000 was quickly arranged and a treaty
was signed. A commissioner was sent from France to receive Louisiana from
Spain, and twenty days later, on Dec. 20,1803, the ancient French colony
became a portion of the United States, bringing an accession of territory
which gave to the young republic a great place among the nations of the
world.
The Spanish, and French
Explorers and the French Settlements, 1512-1763.
There are three kinds of
title to unknown lands, those of gifts, discovery, and possession. The
first is seldom of much validity without the addition of one of the other
two. The second has in many cases been admitted, but subject to being
superseded by the third, which in the hands of strong powers is
invincible. All of these find illustration in the continent of North
America, the title to which by the gift of Alexander VI. in the Bull of
partition of 1495, lay with Spain.
It was strengthened by the
discovery of Florida by Ponce de Leon in 1512 and by the settlement of St.
Augustine in 1565. The maritime powers of Europe, disregarding the claims
of Spain, did not hesitate to occupy the Atlantic coast by settlements
from the St. Lawrence to Virginia before Spain took steps to take
possession of the Gulf coast by founding Pensacola on the Gulf of Mexico.
In 1528, Pamphilo de
Narvaez, seeking to rival the deeds of Cortez and Pizarro, landed in Tampa
Bay with an army of 500 men. After useless wanderings in search of gold in
the interior, he embarked with his few remaining companions for Mexico.
They passed the mouth of the Mississippi, and after shipwreck and
disaster, in which Narvaez and many others were lost, a few survivors,
headed by Cabeza de Vaca, landed in Rio de las Palmas, and finally reached
the Spanish settlements in Mexico.
The Frenchman Cartier, in
1534, discovered the St. Lawrence, which gave to France access to the
interior of the continent.
The pompous expedition of
Hernando de Soto arrived in Florida in 1539. He penetrated among hostile
tribes as far north as the 37th degree of latitude in Kentucky, and after
continual fighting, in which his losses were great, reached the banks of
the Mississippi in April, 1541, at a point near the present town of
Memphis. He crossed the river at that place and marched through Arkansas.
Harassed by hunger and fatigue, the army, led by its indomitable chief,
followed the Bed River to its junction with the Mississippi. Hernando de
Soto was seized with fever and died on June 30, 1542, in the forty-second
year of his age. To prevent his body falling into the hands of the
Indians, it was sunk in the middle of the river. His lieutenant Muscoso
built ships and led the few survivors down the Mississippi to the Gulf.
They went westward along the coast and eventually reached Panuco, Mexico.
For 130 years the valley of
the Mississippi was un-visited by the white man. In 1584, despite the
protests of Spain, an abortive attempt at the colonization of Florida on
the Atlantic coast was made by the French. The Dutch and English meanwhile
were rapidly laying the foundation of permanent settlements along the
Atlantic coast.
In Canada the French colony
was growing. In 1673 Frontenac sent Marquette and Joliet to confirm the
report of a great western river. On their return, after having traveled
down the Mississippi to its junction with the Arkansas, it was determined
to prosecute the explorations, and Robert Cavelier de La Salle was sent to
make a complete examination of the river. Under his instructions in 1680
Father Louis Hennepin with two companions ascended the river to the Falls
of St. Anthony; in 1682 La Salle himself with twenty-three white men,
eighteen Indians, ten squaws and three Indian children decended the river
to its mouth, which he reached on April 9. He gave to the newly-discovered
country the name of Louisiana after his master Louis XIV., on whose behalf
he laid claim to all the lands watered by the Mississippi and its
tributaries.
After building some
trading-posts and fortifications along the Mississippi River, one near the
mouth of the Arkansas River, and another in the neighborhood of the
present city of St. Louis, La Salle went to France, to lay before King
Louis XIV. his plan for the development of a French empire in the New
World. He actually succeeded in securing an interview with the King
himself, before whom he placed his great dream of French world-wide
empire. He spoke of the possibilities of connecting the mouth of the St.
Lawrence and the mouth of the Mississippi by French settlements, and of
the fear of Spanish aggressions from the southwest. His representations
appealed to the King, and were seconded by the French Minister Seignelay.
Thereupon King Louis authorized La Salle to establish a settlement near
the mouth of the Mississippi River. He also gave instructions authorizing
La Barre, who had taken possession of La Salle's posts along the
Mississippi, to return the same into the hands of La Salle himself.
After some delay in
securing ships and settlers, La Salle in 1684 sailed from La Rochelle with
four ships. The mariners were not familiar with the gulf and passed by the
mouth of the Mississippi River, and a landing was effected at Matagorda
Bay, which is on the coast of the present state of Texas.
At this point La Salle
determined to establish a fort. Unfortunately for his enterprise his
mechanics were inefficient, and dissension arose among the settlers, after
Beaujeu, the commander of the small fleet, had sailed away. To add to this
sad state of affairs, the only remaining vessel of La Salle, which was
laden with the provisions for the colony, was wrecked, and it was
necessary to secure help from some source, or the colony would perish. La
Salle formed the bold purpose of proceeding overland to Canada, and on
such a desperate expedition he departed with a few of his followers. He
had gone only a short distance when he was shot by one of the party. Thus
perished the greatest of French explorers in North America, the man who
planned more broadly for the French empire in America than any of the
French statesmen. A few of his followers succeeded in reaching Fort St.
Louis of the Illinois, where they met Tonty, the chivalric explorer and
devoted friend of La Salle, who had been exploring the Arkansas country.
The colony which had been
planted by La Salle in Texas was destroyed by the Indians. The Spaniards
had not been unmindful of the action of La Salle, and themselves had sent
a force from Mexico against the colony, but they found only the ruins of
the settlement. After the death of La Salle in 1687, several years elapsed
before the French made any further effort to settle the lower Louisiana
region. France was not in a position to push her colonial schemes. Louis
XIV. was engaged in many European wars, and the long war with Holland and
England from 1688 to 1697 occupied his entire attention. The treaty of
Ryswick, however, left open to him an opportunity to consider the
development of his American colonial schemes. The Count de Pont-chartrain,
Louis XIV.'s minister of marine, was favorable to the same colonial
schemes and policies which had been advocated by Colbert and Seignelay.
He, therefore, selected a brilliant young officer, Pierre Le Moyne
d'Iberville, to lead an expedition into the Mississippi country, to
rediscover the great river and to make a settlement somewhere in the
surrounding region.
Louisiana Settled.
After the failure of La
Salle's expedition, Iberville, who had won fame by successful attacks on
the English on Hudson's Bay, went to Paris to urge the necessity for
action in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of money and of interest in
colonial questions delayed his departure. English and Spanish spies
reported the intended expedition to their governments, and Spain, the most
interested, sent an expedition to found Pensacola, so that on the arrival
of Bienville she had strengthened her claim to the gulf coast by actual
settlement. Nothing daunted, Iberville, with his brother Bienville, aged
nineteen,' continued their voyage, and in February, 1699, cast anchor at
Ship Island. Both brothers were familiar with Indian signs, so that they
rapidly acquired means of communication with the few natives whom they
encountered.
Iberville and his brother
left their ships at Ship Island, and proceeding in some small boats
rediscovered the Mississippi River on March 2, 1699. After several days
they found a very muddy stream flowing into the Gulf, which they assumed
to be the Mississippi River, and this they ascended past the present site
of the city of New Orleans, returning by the way of the lake, which
Iberville called Pontchartrain, to Ocean Springs (Old Biloxi), where the
first French settlement in the Mississippi Valley was planted.
Iberville then appointed
Sauvole as governor, and his brother, Bienville, second in command, and on
May 4 of the same year he sailed for France. During the absence of
Iberville the colonists explored the surrounding region, Bienville going
up to the lands of the Mobile, Chickasaw and Alabama Indians.
In December, 1699,
Iberville returned from France with supplies and additional settlers. His
object now was to make a settlement on the Mississippi River proper, and
he ordered a fort to be built about fifty-four miles from the mouth of the
river. He himself proceeded up the river as far as the present site of
Natchez. In command of this fort on the Mississippi he placed his brother,
Bienville. His last visit to Louisiana was in December, 1701. Sauvole, who
had been put in charge of the colony at Biloxi, died of fever in August,
1701, and the seat of the colony was removed in 1702 to a settlement on
the Mobile River. Iberville was sent on an expedition to the West Indies
in 1705, and died at Havana in July, 1706. The present city of Mobile was
founded in 1711.
The colony was in an
unfortunate position; communication with the mother country, on which it
depended for almost every necessity, was prevented by the state of war
with England, and the colonists suffered from disease and privations. In
1702 it was decided, as mentioned above, to leave Biloxi for Mobile, but
war with the Alabamas broke out in that year and a little later with the
Chickasaws. The outlook was improved in 1704 by the arrival of ships with
provisions and colonists to whom lands were allotted along the river, but,
unfortunately, there was an outbreak of an epidemic supposed to be yellow
fever, and among the victims in 1704 was the brave Tonty, who had been
with La Salle. Much dissatisfaction was unjustly felt with the management
of Bienville. The colony was neglected by France, and suffered from want
of food and supplies. Cadillac became governor in 1713 and Bienville was
sent against the Natchez to punish them for the murder of some Frenchmen.
The early years of the
Louisiana colony were not profitable in a financial way. At one time the
colony was almost at the point of starvation and was saved by securing
provisions from the Spaniards at Pensacola in Florida, which settlement
had also been saved by provisions the year before secured from the French
at Biloxi. Beginning with 1702, the French and Spanish powers became
friendly in the New "World, due to the fact that a French prince was made
King of Spain, and France and Spain were fighting as allies against
Austria and England.
The War of the Spanish
Succession, as it was called, was very hurtful to the growth of the
colony, as the king could give no attention to it. The population in 1706
was about eighty-two and the total head of cattle was about forty-six.
Under the adverse
circumstances existing, Louis XIV. in 1712 granted the whole of Louisiana
to a wealthy merchant named Antoine Crozat. The population was now about
400, scattered among several settlements and trading-posts. Crozat's
charter was for fifteen years, with the exclusive right to control all
trade to and from the colony. Crozat was thus made a sort of proprietor,
though the king bore part of the expense of running the colony. Under
Crozat's orders, efforts were made to open up trade with Mexico, but they
did not succeed. By 1717 there were some 700 persons in Louisiana, chiefly
on the Mississippi and Mobile Rivers, and at Biloxi.
The rising of the Natchez
Indians in 1716 compelled immediate action. Bienville was sent with only a
few soldiers to inflict punishment. By strategy he succeeded, and
compelled the natives to assist in the building of Fort Rosalie. In 1716
Crozat, being dissatisfied, recalled Cadillac and left Bienville to govern
the colony until the arrival of de L'Epinay, the new governor. Hardly had
de L'Epinay arrived before Crozat, finding that his monopoly was
unprofitable, surrendered it in 1717, and soon after he had done this the
Mississippi or Western Company, under the direction of a shrewd Scotchman,
John Law, secured a charter good for twenty-five years to the Louisiana
Territory, with exclusive commercial rights and power to form settlements
and to develop industries. The king gave the company all the forts,
magazines, guns, ammunition, vessels, boats and provisions, etc., in
Louisiana which had been surrendered by Crozat.
Bienville was appointed
commander-general and governor, and he determined at once to make a
permanent settlement on the Mississippi River. In February, 1718, he
selected the present site of New Orleans, which was named in honor of
Philip of Orleans, the Regent of France. It was Bienville's intention to
move the seat of government immediately to New Orleans, but this was
opposed by the Superior Council. France now being at war with Spain, an
expedition was undertaken against Pensacola, which was captured, but later
returned to the Spaniards.
The more accessible
portions of the colony had been granted to capitalist shareholders in the
company who sent out shiploads of workers and their wives and children.
Biloxi and Mobile were too small to deal readily with the numbers who had
arrived and much sickness resulted.
The failure of Law in 1721
for a time threatened the destruction of the colony, but the Mississippi
Company showed faith in its value, and continued its shipments of men and
material. The settlers on Law's concession, abandoned after his failure,
went to New Orleans and were given lands above the city. By their industry
the Cote des Allemands or German Coast soon became one of the richest
parts of the state.
Further troubles with the
Natchez occurred in 1723, and a year later the many complaints made
against Bienville resulted in his being recalled; before his departure he
issued a revision of the Black Code for the management of the slaves in
the colony. The government of Perier, who arrived in 1726, was marked by
the coming of the Ursulines in 1727 and by a great war with the Natchez
Indians. From 1727 to 1731 the existence of the colony was endangered by
Indian troubles, but considerable reinforcements were sent from France,
and after much bloodshed the Natchez were practically exterminated.
In 1731, after fourteen
years of continuous expenditure with little hope of eventual profit, the
company resigned its charter and Louisiana became a crown colony.
Bienville, exonerated from the charges brought against him, was reinstated
as governor. He determined to protect the colony by securing the
submission of the Chickasaws. In the attempt he suffered great losses and
returned to New Orleans after only partial success. To his difficulties
were added the financial troubles resulting from the edict which withdrew
the paper of the Mississippi Company from circulation. The last years of
his administration were devoted to measures beneficial to Louisiana. He
left New Orleans on May 10, 1743. During his two terms of office, covering
thirty-five years, he had constantly believed in and worked for the
success of the colony in the history of which he had been the most
important factor.
The ten years (1743-1753)
of the administration of Vaudreuil were rendered difficult by the war
between England and France and by Indian wars. The colony, however, made
considerable progress. Vaudreuil was succeeded by Kerlérec in 1753 who
labored under many difficulties, internal and external. The colony was
deprived of communication with Europe by the presence of English cruisers.
France suffered defeat in Canada, and by the treaty of Paris in 1763
surrendered the territory east of the Mississippi, excepting the Island of
Orleans, to Great Britain, and to Spain, by the secret treaty of
Fontainebleau in 1762, all the rest of Louisiana.
Louisiana under Spain.
Kerlérec, being recalled to
France in 1763 to answer various charges brought against him, was
succeeded by D'Abbadie, whose short term of office was marked by the
expulsion of the Jesuits and the publication of the cession of Louisiana
to Spain. He died in 1765 and was followed by Aubry who was little fitted
for the difficult position created by the delay of Spain in taking
possession of the territory.
Many of the Acadians,
expelled from Nova Scotia in 1755, arrived in Louisiana after ten years of
wandering. They were hospitably received and a tract of land was granted
to them westward of the German Coast. By their devotion to agriculture
they have done much to advance the wealth of Louisiana. In July, 1765,
came definite news of the arrival in Havana of Antonio de Ulloa, the
official charged with the duty of receiving the cession of the colony. He
arrived in New Orleans in 1766. He was a man of merit and a distinguished
savant, but he utterly lacked the qualifications necessary for the
discharge of his instructions. The government remained in the hands of
Aubry at the expense of Spain.
The cession of Louisiana to
Spain was generally obnoxious to the people of New Orleans and the
surrounding country. They were greatly attached to France, so they held a
meeting in New Orleans, composed of delegates from every parish, and the
richest merchant of the state was sent to France, begging that steps
should be taken whereby the cession should not go into effect.
Bienville, then eighty-six
years of age, residing in Paris, begged the king to take back Louisiana,
but the king declared that the matter had gone too far, and that Louisiana
must pass into the hands of the Spaniards. When this announcement was made
the people were filled with consternation, and when Don Antonio de Ulloa
arrived, representative of the King of Spain he was very coolly received.
He feared the state of affairs and would not take official possession
until some troops arrived.
The people wished to remain
French, and were much opposed to the rule of Spain. As Louis XV. had not
listened to their entreaties they thought of establishing a republican
form of government in Louisiana. The French banner was not yet taken down
and the people asked that Ulloa be withdrawn. In October, 1768, a
revolution broke out against his rule, and Ulloa departed from the colony.
As a matter of fact, he had been given notice that he had to embark. The
inhabitants thereupon printed a long memorial in explanation of their
conduct and making charges against Ulloa, but the expelled governor was
heard at the court of Spain. The chief of the Revolution of 1768 was
Lafrénière, a heroic and eloquent man.
Don Alejandro O'Reilly was
then appointed as captain-general of the province, and sailed to
Louisiana. He took possession of the country in the name of the King of
Spain. The Louisianians hesitated, and were almost ready to resist, but
they were overawed by O'Reilly's military spirit and the strength of his
soldiers and ships, so finally, on Aug. 18, 1769, Louisiana was
surrendered into the hands of O'Reilly as a representative of the King of
Spain, and Spanish domination prevailed in Louisiana.
The first step of O'Reilly
was to establish a firm government assimilating Louisiana to other Spanish
colonies. Claiming that the domination of Spain dated from the coming of
Ulloa, he arrested and sent for trial to the Spanish court twelve of the
most prominent of those who had resisted the cession. They were all
convicted and six sentenced to death, the others to different terms of
imprisonment. O'Reilly's severity was inexcusable, and his victims are
known as the "Martyrs of Louisiana." He abolished the Superior Council and
established a cabildo, a form of government which lasted during the entire
time of the Spanish domination. His successor, Luis de Unzaga, took up
office in 1770 and married a Creole, a Louisianian of French origin. Under
his mile rule the dissatisfaction of the French disappeared.
Though commerce was
restricted by the narrow policy of Spain, necessary supplies were allowed
to enter by smuggling, and prosperity increased. The War of Independence
in 1775 increased the difficulties of Spanish rule. It was the cause of
the coming to New Orleans of a great number of Americans, which
continually increased until the final union with the United States. When
the American colonies began to struggle for independence in 1775 the
people of Louisiana were greatly interested. They were in full sympathy
with the colonies. The population of Louisiana had increased considerably,
for in 1769 New Orleans had a population of over 3,000 and the whole
province of about 14,000, and by 1776 the colony had increased still more.
A report of 1776 shows that
there were a number of settlements along the river other than New Orleans,
and gives the resources of the country with reference to commercial
products, indicating the great possibilities to Spain from these sources.
The commerce of the colony
amounted annually to about $600,000. Most of this commerce went to
England. It is not to be forgotten in this connection that the English had
secured East and West Florida from Spain by the treaty of 1763, thus
giving England all of old Louisiana east of the Mississippi River, except
the Island of Orleans. Consequently the English people were in close touch
with this Mississippi trade, and vessels went direct from London to New
Orleans.
At Baton Rouge was a large
English settlement, and it was feared by the Spanish power that too many
English would come into the province. Complaint was made that the English
were also friendly with the Indians, and were inciting them to rebellion
and insurrection; hence the report of 1776 favored Spain's entering into
the war against England because the Spanish settlers still residing in
Florida were in sympathy with Spain, and because the rebellion of the
American colonies would tend to increase Spain's chances of success. As is
well known, this suggestion proved true, for at the end of the American
Revolution Spain secured possession of East and West Florida, and thus,
with Louisana and Mexico, encircled the Gulf.
At this time the governor
of Louisiana was Bernardo de Galvez, who had been appointed to this
position in 1777. He was the son of the Viceroy of Mexico and nephew of
the president of the council of the Indies. He had acquired a reputation
for bravery in Africa and had come to Louisiana as captain of the local
regiment of militia. On the declaration of war between Spain and England,
Galvez, with an army of 1,400 men, captured Baton Rouge and the British
settlements on the Mississippi in 1779. In spite of great difficulties, in
the following year he took Mobile and Pensacola in 1781, and thereby won
the whole of West Florida for Spain. By the Treaty of Paris in 1783 a
boundary was found between the territories of Spain and of the United
States and the navigation of the Mississippi was declared free. These
great successes won great rewards and Galvez was named Viceroy of Mexico
in succession to his father. It is due to the efforts of Galvez that
Louisianians by right claim that they took part in the war for American
independence.
In 1783 Miro became
governor of Louisiana. He also married a French Creole and by his liberal
interpretation of the Spanish laws permitted the rapid growth of the
surrounding settlements of the Anglo-Saxon colonies. The king of Spain
also granted more liberal commercial privileges to the Louisianians and
this greatly increased the wealth of the people.
Miro conciliated the
Indians, chiefly through the influence of Alexander McGillivray, the
halfbreed Indian chief of the Talaponches. He was led to hope that he
might induce some of the Western states to secede and place themselves
under Spanish rule. New Orleans prospered greatly but suffered much loss
from a great fire in 1788, according to the governor, amounting to
$2,595,000. In 1785 New Orleans contained about 5,000 persons and
Louisiana and "West Florida about 32,000. The census of 1789 shows about
5,500 in New Orleans, and in Lower Louisiana 35,000 and Upper Louisiana
2,000. Louisiana proper had increased 10,000 in five years. The white
population in 1788 was 19,500.
The language in use was
chiefly French, and Governor Mir6 reported that he could not get the
people, except Spanish families, to consent to the use of Spanish in the
schools, though that language was used in all court proceedings. Mir6
prevented the introduction of the Inquisition. The French revolution and
its results, both in France and Santo Domingo, brought into the colony
large numbers of Frenchmen, thus accentuating this element in Louisiana.
Miro resigned in 1791 and was succeeded by Baron Carondelet, who continued
the liberal commercial policy of his predecessor. The peace of the colony
was much disturbed by the presence of revolutionary Frenchmen who had some
hopes of regaining Louisiana for France. The fortifications of the city
were put in good condition, and the movement subsided. In 1795, by the
Treaty of Madrid, the free navigation of the Mississippi was reap-proved
and a right of deposit in New Orleans was granted to the citizens of the
United States, renewable at the end of three years. The sugar industry
which had been abandoned for nearly thirty years became vastly important
through the discovery of the means of granulation, and prosperity reigned
in the colony. New Orleans was provided with public lighting and police
protection.
In 1797 Carondelet received
promotion and was followed by Gayoso de Lemos, during whose government the
presence of incoming American settlers was more and more felt. Spain
revoked the right of deposit, and the whole west demanded its reenactment.
The United States prepared for war, but Spain gave way and restored the
right. On the death of Gayoso, Bouligny took temporary charge and was
followed in 1797 by Casa Calvo.
In 1801 Salcedo became
governor, and under him happened the event which brought about the
termination of the Spanish rule. The intendant Morales withdrew by
proclamation the right of deposit which the citizens of the United States
had. About this time a great man had injected himself into European
politics, Napoleon Bonaparte. He dreamed of a colonial empire. On Oct. 1,
1780, he negotiated a secret treaty of peace through his minister,
Berthier, at St. Ildefonso, with the king of Spain, whereby all of
Louisiana was retroceded to France. But not till 1802 did the king of
Spain finally ratify the treaty. The First Consul appointed Bernadotte,
afterward to be king of Sweden, as governor-general to take formal
possession of Louisiana, but Bernadotte would not go to America unless he
had a sufficient armed force, which Bonaparte refused to furnish. He even
went so far as to draw up a complete system of government for the
province. General Victor was then appointed to take possession of
Louisiana, but at this time the peace of Amiens between England and France
was broken and Bonaparte never sent an expedition to America. So during
this period the Spanish officials continued to rule just as some forty
years before the French officials were in charge awaiting the arrival of
Spanish authorities. In the meantime, the United States was becoming
very-much disturbed about the navigation of the Mississippi. How could the
tobacco raised in Tennessee and Kentucky be shipped if the Mississippi
River should be closed? The grain trade of the Northwest would have no
other outlet. The position became daily more critical for the United
States, which feared that England might eventually seize Louisiana.
Bonaparte was therefore approached by the representatives of the United
States for the purchase of the city of New Orleans. To strengthen these
offers the representatives were to explain to the French that this
government could with difficulty keep back the army of Western settlers
which was preparing to take possession of the city.
Bonaparte, whose hopes of
the reconquest of Santo Domingo had been defeated, resolved to prevent the
fall of Louisiana into the hands of the English, hence he was willing to
listen to American overtures. The infant republic of the United States had
become a giant in strength, but so rapidly that control of its members was
difficult, if not impossible. From 1783 an increasing proportion of the
surplus products of the settlers on the eastern bank of the Mississippi
had, by the consent of the Spanish governors of Louisiana, found its way
to New Orleans, a right of deposit having been granted. The pressure of
the Western settlers for an outlet by the Mississippi River became so
great that President Jefferson felt compelled to instruct Robert
Livingston, the ambassador in Paris, to immediately secure the mouth of
the river. He was to offer $2,500,000 for the city and for the Floridas.
Monroe was sent to assist Livingston, but before his arrival Bonaparte had
come to the decision to cede the whole province. When Monroe arrived he
and Livingston agreed to listen to Bonaparte's plan. With great wisdom
they accepted the proposition. After a little negotiation the sum of
$15,000,000 was fixed on as the purchase price and a treaty was signed on
April 30, 1803. The transfer of the province of Louisiana by Spain to
France took place on Nov. 30, 1803, in the Cabildo building in New
Orleans. At the same place, on Dec. 20, 1803, Laussat, the French Colonial
Prefect, transferred the province to the American commissioners, Wilkinson
and Claiborne. When the treaty of cession was signed Bonaparte remarked:
"This accession of territory strengthens forever the power of the United
States, and I have just given to England a maritime rival that will sooner
or later humble her pride." Certain it is that the acquisition of
Louisiana was the beginning of the making of the United States into a
world power.
Bibliography.— For the
student manuscript material must be sought in the national and
departmental archives of England, France, Spain and Mexico, in the
collections of the historical societies of Louisiana at New Orleans, of
Missouri at St. Louis, of Illinois at Chicago, and Wisconsin at Madison,
also in the manuscript department of the Library of Congress at
Washington.
The principal printed
sources of foreign languages are the histories by Le Page du Pratz (Paris,
1758); Laussat: Memories (Paris, 1831); Ga-yarre (2 vols., New Orleans,
1846); Villiers du Terrage (Paris, 1906); Margry: Origines Francaises des
Pays d'Outre-Mer (6 vols., Paris, 1879-88); and Franz (Leipzig, 1906). In
English consult histories of Louisiana by Martin (New Orleans, 1827);
Gayarré (4 vols., New Orleans, 1854-1866) and Fortier (4 vols., New York,
1904); Houck: History of Missouri (3 vols., St. Louis, 1908); Hamilton:
Colonial Mobile (Boston, 1897); King: Biography of Bienville (New York,
1892). For the language and literature see Fortier: Louisiana Studies (New
Orleans, 1894); the folk-lore see Fortier: Louisiana Folk Tales (Boston,
1894); for the history and description of New Orleans, see History of New
Orleans, edited by Rightor; King: New Orleans, The Place and the People
(New York, 1896). The Howard Memorial Library of New Orleans contains
complete apparatus for the study of Louisiana and New Orleans history.
Alcee Forties,
Professor of Romance Languages, Tulane University. |
