Who owns the louisiana purchase

For one thing, they considered it foolish to voluntarily give up an important French holding on the American continent. The First Consul happened to be sitting in his bath when his brothers arrived. I have decided to sell Louisiana to the Americans. A manservant slumped to the floor in a faint. On April 11, when Livingston called on Talleyrand for what he thought was yet another futile attempt to deal, the foreign minister, after the de rigueur small talk, suddenly asked whether the United States would perchance wish to buy the whole of the Louisiana Territory.

The latter knew America well, having spent some years in Philadelphia in the late s as French ambassador to the United States, where he got to know Washington, Jefferson, Livingston and Monroe. I renounce it with the greatest regret. I require a great deal of money for this war [with Britain]. He was in a hurry to get some money for the depleted French treasury, although the relatively modest price shows that he was had in that deal.

Although the purchase was undeniably a bargain, the price was still more than the young U. Not all Americans agreed, however. The favorable majority, however, easily prevailed and New England remained in the Union. As for the ever-succinct Thomas Jefferson, he wasted little time on rhetoric. All the way to the Pacific. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.

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Within a week of his letter to du Pont, Jefferson wrote U. The presence of Spain was not so provocative. A conflict over navigation of the Mississippi had been resolved in with a treaty in which Spain recognized the United States' right to use the river and to deposit goods in New Orleans for transfer to oceangoing vessels.

In his letter to Livingston, Jefferson wrote, "Spain might have retained [New Orleans] quietly for years. Jefferson's vision of obtaining territory from Spain was altered by the prospect of having the much more powerful France of Napoleon Bonaparte as a next-door neighbor.

New Orleans and Louisiana west of the Mississippi were transferred to Spain in , and French territories east of the Mississippi, including Canada, were ceded to Britain the next year. But Napoleon, who took power in , aimed to restore France's presence on the continent.

The Louisiana situation reached a crisis point in October when Spain's King Charles IV signed a decree transferring the territory to France and the Spanish agent in New Orleans, acting on orders from the Spanish court, revoked Americans' access to the port's warehouses.

These moves prompted outrage in the United States. While Jefferson and Secretary of State James Madison worked to resolve the issue through diplomatic channels, some factions in the West and the opposition Federalist Party called for war and advocated secession by the western territories in order to seize control of the lower Mississippi and New Orleans.

Aware of the need for action more visible than diplomatic maneuvering and concerned with the threat of disunion, Jefferson in January recommended that James Monroe join Livingston in Paris as minister extraordinary. Later that same month, Jefferson asked Congress to fund an expedition that would cross the Louisiana territory, regardless of who controlled it, and proceed on to the Pacific.

This would become the Lewis and Clark Expedition. Monroe was a close personal friend and political ally of Jefferson's, but he also owned land in Kentucky and had spoken openly for the rights of the western territories. Shortly thereafter, Jefferson wrote to Kentucky's governor, James Garrard, to inform him of Monroe's appointment and to assure him that Monroe was empowered to enter into "such arrangements as may effectually secure our rights and interest in the Mississipi, and in the country Eastward of that.

As Jefferson noted in that letter, Monroe's charge was to obtain land east of the Mississippi. Meanwhile, the French Army in St. Domingue was being decimated by yellow fever, and war between France and England still threatened. Although this far exceeded their instructions from President Jefferson, they agreed.

When news of the sale reached the United States, the West was elated. President Jefferson, however, was in a quandary.