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HISTORY OF
MISSOURI CHAPTER I LOUISIANA
PURCHASE BRIEF HISTORICAL SKETCH The purchase in 1803 of the vast territory west of the
Mississippi River, by the United States, extending through Oregon to the
Pacific coast and south to the Dominions of Mexico, constitutes the most
important event that ever occurred in the history of the nation.
It gave to our Republic additional room for that expansion and
stupendous growth, to which it has since attained, in all that makes it
strong and enduring, and forms the seat of an empire, from which will
radiate an influence for good unequaled in the annals of time. In 1763,
the immense region of country, known at that time as Louisiana, was ceded
to Spain by France. By a secret article, in the treaty of St. Ildefonso,
concluded in 1800, Spain ceded it back to France.
Napoleon, at that time, coveted the island of St. Domingo, not only
because of the value of its products, but more especially because its
location in the Gulf of Mexico would, in a military point of view, afford
him a fine field whence he could the more effectively guard his
newly-acquired possessions. Hence he desired this cession by Spain should
be kept a profound secret until he succeeded in reducing St.
Domingo to submission. In this undertaking, however, his hopes were
blasted, and so great was his disappointment that he apparently became
indifferent to the advantages to be secured to France from his purchase of
Louisiana. In 1803 he sent out Laussat as prefect of the colony,
who gave the people of Louisiana the first intimation they had that they
had once more become the subjects of France. This was the occasion of
great rejoicing among the inhabitants, who were Frenchmen in their origin,
habits, manners, and customs. Mr. Jefferson, then President of the United
States, on being informed of the retrocession, immediately dispatched
instructions to Robert Livingston, the American Minister at Paris, to make
known to Napoleon that the occupancy of New Orleans, by his government,
would not only endanger the friendly relations existing between the two
nations, but, perhaps, oblige the United States to make common cause with
England, his bitterest and most dreaded enemy; as the possession of the
city by France would give her command of the Mississippi, which was the
only outlet for the produce of the Western States, and give her also
control of the Gulf of Mexico, so necessary to the protection of American
commerce. Mr. Jefferson was so fully impressed with the idea that the
occupancy of New Orleans, by France, would bring about a conflict of
interests between the two nations, which would finally culminate in an
open rupture, that he urged Mr. Livingston, to not only insist upon the
free navigation of the Mississippi, but to negotiate for the purchase of
the city and the surrounding country. The question of this negotiation was of so grave a
character to the United States that the President appointed Mr. Monroe,
with full power to act in conjunction with Mr. Livingston. Ever equal to
all emergencies, and prompt in the cabinet, as well as in the field,
Napoleon came to the conclusion that, as he could not well defend his
occupancy of New Orleans, he would dispose of it, on the best terms
possible. Before, however, taking final action in the matter, he summoned
two of his Ministers, and addressed them follows: “I am fully sensible of the value of Louisiana, and
it was my wish to repair the error of the French diplomatists who
abandoned it in 1763. I have scarcely recovered it before I run the risk
of losing it; but if I am obliged to give it up, it shall hereafter cost
more to those who force me to part with it, than to those to whom I shall
yield it. The English have despoiled France of all her northern
possessions in America, and now they covet those of the South. I am
determined that they shall not have the Mississippi. Although Louisiana is
but a trifle compared to their vast possessions in other parts of the
globe, yet, judging from the vexation they have manifested on seeing it
return to the power of France, I am certain that their first object will
be to gain possession of it. They will probably commence the war in that
quarter. They have twenty vessels in the Gulf of Mexico, and our affairs
in St. Domingo are daily getting worse since the death of LeClere. The
conquest of Louisiana might be easily made, and I have not a moment to
lose in getting out of their reach. I am not sure but that they have
already begun an attack upon it. Such a measure would be in accordance
with their habits; and in their place I should not wait. I am inclined, in
order to deprive them of all prospect of ever possessing it, to cede it to
the United States. Indeed, I can hardly say that I cede it, for I do not
yet possess it; and if I wait but a short time my enemies may leave me
nothing but an empty title to grant to the Republic I wish to conciliate.
I consider the whole colony as lost, and I believe that in the
hands of this rising power it will be more useful to the political and
even commercial interests of France than if I should attempt to retain it.
Let me have both your opinions on the subject.” One of his Ministers
approved of the contemplated cession, but the other opposed it. The matter
was long and earnestly discussed by them, before the conference was ended.
The next day, Napoleon sent for the Minister who had agreed with him, and
said to him: - “ The season for deliberation is over. I have determined
to renounce Louisiana. I shall give up not only New Orleans, but the whole
colony, without reservation. That I do not undervalue Louisiana, I have
sufficiently proved, as the object of my first treaty with Spain was to
recover it. But though I regret parting with it, I am convinced it would
be folly to persist in trying to keep it. I commission you, therefore, to
negotiate this affair with the envoys of the United States. Do not wait
the arrival of Mr. Monroe, but go this very day and confer with Mr.
Livingston. Remember, however, that I need ample funds for carrying on the
war, and I do not wish to commence it by levying new taxes. For the last
century France and Spain have incurred great expense in the improvement of
Louisiana, for which her trade has never indemnified them. Large sums have
been advanced to different companies, which have never been returned to
the treasury. It is fair that I should require repayment for these.
Were I to regulate my demands by the importance of this territory
to the United States, they would be unbounded; but, being obliged to part
with it, I shall be moderate in my terms. Still, remember, I must have
fifty millions of francs, and I will not consent to take less. I would rather make some desperate effort to preserve
this fine country.’ That day the negotiations commenced. Mr. Monroe
reached Paris on the 12th of April, 1803, and the two
representatives of the United States, after holding a private interview,
announced that they were ready to treat for the entire territory. On the
30th of April, the treaty was signed, and on the 21st
of October, of the same year, Congress ratified the treaty. The United
States were to pay $11,250,000, and her citizens were to be compensated
for some illegal captures, to the amount of $3,750,000, making in the
aggregate the sum of $15,000,000, while it was agreed that the vessels and
merchandise of France and Spain should be admitted into all the ports ot
Louisiana free of duty for twelve years. Bonaparte stipulated in favor of
Louisiana, that it should be, as soon as possible, incorporated into the
Union, and that its inhabitants should enjoy the same rights, privileges
and immunities as other citizens of the United States, and the clause
giving to them these benefits was drawn up by Bonaparte, who presented it
to the plenipotentiaries with these words:-- “Make it known to the people of Louisiana, that we
regret to part with them; that we have stipulated for all the advantages
they could desire; and that France, in giving them up, has insured to them
the greatest of all. They could never have prospered under any European
government as they will when they become independent. But while they enjoy
the privileges of liberty let them remember that they are French, and
preserve for their mother country that affection which a common origin
inspires.” Complete satisfaction was given to both parties in the
terms of the treaty. Mr. Livingston said:- , I consider that from this day
the United States takes rank with the first powers of Europe, and now she
has entirely escaped from the power of England,” and Bonaparte expressed
a similar sentiment when he said: “By this cession of territory I have
secured the power of the United States, and given to England a maritime
rival, who, at some future time, will humble her pride.” These were prophetic words, for within a few years
afterward the British met with a signal defeat, on the plains of the very
territory of which the great Corsican had been speaking. From 1800, the date of the cession made by Spain, to
1803, when it was purchased by the United States, no change had been made
by the French authorities in the jurisprudence of the Upper and Lower
Louisiana, and during this period the Spanish laws remained in full force,
as the laws of the entire province; a fact which is of interest to those
who would understand the legal history and some of the present laws of
Missouri. On December 20th, 1803, Gens. Wilkinson and
Claiborne, who were jointly commissioned to take possession of the
territory for the United States, arrived in the city of New Orleans at the
head of the American forces. Laussat, who had taken possession but twenty
days previously as the prefect of the colony, gave up his command, and the
star-spangled banner supplanted the tri-colored flag of France. The agent
of France, to take possession of Upper Louisiana from the Spanish
authorities, was Amos Stoddard, captain of artillery in the United States
service. He was placed in possession of St. Louis on the 9th of
March, 1804, by Charles Dehault Delassus, the Spanish commandant, and on
the following day he transferred it to the United States. The authority of
the United States in Missouri dates from this day. From that moment the interests of the people of the
Mississippi Valley became identified. They were troubled no more with
uncertainties in regard to free navigation. The great river, along whose
banks they had planted their towns and villages, now afforded them a safe
and easy outlet to the markets of the world. Under the protecting eegis of
a government, republican in form, and having free access to an almost
boundless domain, embracing in its broad area the diversified climates of
the globe, and possessing a soil unsurpassed for fertility, beauty of
scenery and wealth of minerals, they had every incentive to push on their
enterprises and build up the land wherein their lot had been cast. In the purchase of Louisiana, it was known that a
great empire had been secured as a heritage to the people of our country,
for all time to come, but its grandeur, its possibilities, its
inexhaustible resources and the important relations it would sustain to
the nation and the world were never dreamed of by even Mr. Jefferson and
his adroit and accomplished diplomatists. The most ardent imagination never conceived of the
progress which would mark the history of the ‘ Great West.” The
adventurous pioneer, who fifty years ago pitched his tent upon its broad
prairies, or threaded the dark labyrinths of its lonely forests, little
thought that a mighty tide of physical and intellectual strength, would so
rapidly flow on in his footsteps, to populate, build up and enrich the
domain which he had conquered. Year after year, civilization has advanced further and further, until at length the mountains, the hills and the valleys, and even the rocks and the caverns, resound with the noise and din of busy millions, “ I beheld the westward marches Of the unknown crowded nations. All the land was full of people, Restless, struggling, toiling, striving, Speaking many tongues, yet feeling But one heart-beat in their bosoms. In the woodlands rang their axes; Smoked their towns in all the valleys; Over all the lakes and rivers Rushed their great canoes of thunder.” In 1804, Congress, by an act passed in April of the
same year, divided Louisiana into two parts, the 6 Territory of
Orleans,” and the “District of Louisiana,” known as “Upper
Louisiana.” This district included all that portion of the old province,
north of 66 Hope Encampment,” on the Lower Mississippi, and embraced the
present State of Missouri, and all the western region of country to the
Pacific Ocean, and all below the forty-ninth degree of north latitude not
claimed by Spain. As
a matter of convenience, on March 26th, 1804, Missouri was
placed within the jurisdiction of the government of the Territory of
Indiana, and its government put in motion by Gen. William H. Harrison,
then governor of Indiana. In this he was assisted by Judges Griffin,
Vanderburg and Davis, who established in St. Louis what were called Courts
of Common Pleas. The District of Louisiana was regularly organized into
the Territory of Louisiana by Congress, March 3, 1805, and President
Jefferson appointed Gen. James Wilkinson, Governor, and Frederick Bates,
Secretary. The Legislature of the territory was formed by Governor
Wilkinson and Judges R. J. Meigs and John B. C. Lucas. In 1807, Governor
Wilkinson was succeeded by Captain Meriwether Lewis, who had become famous
by reason of his having made the expedition up the Missouri with Clark.
Governor Lewis committed suicide in 1809 and President Madison appointed Gen. Benjamin Howard of Lexington, Kentucky, to fill his place. Gen. Howard resigned October 25, 1810, to enter the war of 1812, and died in St. Louis, in 1814. Captain William Clark, of Lewis and Clark's expedition, was appointed Governor in 1810, to succeed Gen. Howard, and remained in office until the admission of the State into the Union, in 1821. The portions of Missouri which were settled, for the purposes of local government were divided into four districts. Cape Girardeau was the first, and embraced the territory between Tywappity Bottom and Apple Creek. Ste. Genevieve, the second, embraced the territory from Apple Creek to the Meramec River. St. Louis, the third, embraced the territory between the Meramec and Missouri Rivers. St. Charles, the fourth, included the settled territory, between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. The total population of these districts at that time, was 8,670, including slaves. The population of the district of Louisiana, when ceded to the United States was 10,120. |
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