Napoleon's Presence In The New World: A Case Study

The Louisiana Purchase was a seminal event for a new nation that caused heated debates to just how constitutional this deal of land was. Due to Jefferson’s familiarity with the French during his time in France as an American envoy. Another factor that led Jefferson to purchase of this vast land, was his understanding of the potential dangers of the French military. Posted on the Mississippi River, controlling the ports, and what can enter and leave, this would make trade for the United States much more difficult. The deal was instantly popular but soon found

The port of New Orleans was controlled by France. France eventually gave over the rights to Spain. Spain didn’t want a vast majority of new settlers coming into the land, so Spain closed New Orleans and the lower part of the Mississippi to any foreigners. Spain eventually gave the rights of navigation and exploration of the land and New Orleans Port over to the Americans. France soon gained a new leader by the name of Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon was a powerful tiny man who took over a vast majority of land in Europe. Spain gave the Louisiana territory to Napoleon, because of the gigantic size of the property.

After the Seven Years War, the French were forced to hand over Louisiana to Spain, but subsequently was taken back by a French leader, Napoleon Bonaparte. This caused Jefferson and Madison to panic; by no means did they want Bonaparte to have control over this vast land. Promptly, Jefferson sent Robert R. Livingston as the United States minister, to meet with Bonaparte and try to convince him to not occupy Louisiana, and if needed, offer to purchase New Orleans. Jefferson was preparing to seize New Orleans along the Mississippi river, when he resigned from the cabinet, due to his belief that taking either Louisiana, or New Orleans was

Thomas Jefferson a leader of the Republican Party had long imagined an empire of Liberty that would span “North America.” (Sparknotes.com, 2014) Thomas Jefferson probably never knew beforehand that acquiring that empire would require a great deal of strain that would test his ability to make America great. Jefferson wanted America to be great and he knew that in order to do that he had to somehow act in the best interest of America to acquire Louisiana. In the midst of acquiring Louisiana Jefferson had to find the balance between the French and New Orleans.

With all of the social and economic rifts in America, Napoleon saw a perfect opportunity to capture the sugar colony of St. Domingue from their slave rebellion and establish Louisiana as a part of his American empire. After having purchased Louisiana from France in 1800, Napoleon sent his troops to St. Domingue, preparing to acquire New Orleans. New Orleans had been a major trading port for America, dealing with almost half of America’s import and exports, and Thomas Jefferson began to question his trust in France when Napoleon threatened to take it. Jefferson decided to discretely handle the matter by approaching the situation as it came rather than taking a rash action that would surely create dissonance between France and America. Thomas Jefferson knew that the American West would be put into jeopardy if France captured it as they would have the same commercial rights and privileges as they did whilst under the Spanish. Jefferson issued a warning to Napoleon and treated to side with Britain if France captured New Orleans. As Napoleon’s army weakened and his fear of American attack grew, he decided to sell Louisiana to Thomas Jefferson for a mere 15 million dollars. This made Jefferson reevaluate his strict interpretation of the Constitution as he had to create his own rules with the Elastic Clause in order to obtain the land and secure American safety. Napoleon was not American and therefore did not hold an opinion on federalism and different interpretations of the Constitution. However, he had a major impact on the politicians of the Jeffersonian Age and made people reevaluate how they viewed America. The whole transaction also made America a more powerful force who was willing to side with their long-term enemy with due cause. Napoleon challenged Federalists and Democratic-Republicans as they scrambled to save Louisiana from French rule and

Few humans have ever come as close to ruling over the entirety of Europe as Napoleon Bonaparte did. As the end of the French Revolution drew near, Napoleon Bonaparte did not hesitate long to create policies that kept him in power. With such power, it was certain that Napoleon would use it to influence to people all over Europe. Napoleon’s impact on the people of France and Europe, who he affected through propaganda, his ideas of nationalism and patriotism, and a codification of laws, was a very long-standing and resilient ideology that was mostly prevalent during the French Revolution.

The Louisiana Purchase was an acquisition of a significant portion of North America; larger than the size of fifteen current states in the U.S. according to Encyclopedia Britannica, the deal was, “at less than three cents per acre… the greatest land bargain in American history.” The United States purchased this territory from Napoleon, and thus doubled the size of the republic. This newly acquired territory went from the Mississippi River, all the way east to the Rocky Mountains, and then into the Gulf in Mexico. The United States came to the realization that the land was an absolutely essential necessity if they were to later form a trading post. The city of New Orleans, which began in this new land began growing rapidly in population. As the population and job market grew, New Orleans opened as an important seaport that “served as a distinctive cultural gateway to North America, where peoples from Europe and Africa initially intertwined their lives and customs with those of the native inhabitants of the New World.” America was flourishing, but the tension was rising in other nations. Great Britain, for instance, battled France and defeated Napoleon in Europe, and then decided to pursue the U.S. The rooted cause of the War of 1812 began when Britain launched a series of three invasions on the U.S. “The War of 1812 is often called the Second War for Independence, for despite granting the United States its independence in 1783, the British continued to station British forces

Like any region or province which has been invaded, New France was in an unstable condition after the British had captured it. It would be a challenge for any British man to govern New France. With almost all the habitants being of French origin, keeping order in New France with ethnic tension between the government and the habitants would have been difficult. Changing institutions and laws to unfamiliar ones could possibly make the people unhappy and they could rebel or a civil war could have started. If there was conflict between the government and the people of which it governs, it would be easy for a third party to come in and take over. With the Americans in the south, they could have taken advantage of the tension in New France and invaded,

The Louisiana Purchase is the biggest exchange of land in history. Jefferson’s acquisition of this big piece of land doubled the United States’ size for 15 million dollars. The Louisiana Purchase would have not happen without Napoléon’s loss of interest in the french american empire. At the time, Thomas Jefferson was in office,the president’s political beliefs opposed this to happen, what convinced him? As the United States started to expand, gaining alliance with the most powerful forces on the planet, business and influence started to flourish. New Orleans became the most diverse place in the country both socially and politically.

The other issue was that the westward migration would weaken the political influence of the New England states, their stronghold. As a result, the New England states wanted to secede from the Union. When Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana from Napoleon, Napoleon was going into a war that was unavoidable with England. Napoleon needed the money for necessities and Naval Power of Great Britain. Once Jefferson bought from Napoleon, the American Government thought they could sell the vacated Indian land in parcels and “pay the whole debt contracted ( to

At the conclusion of the French and Indian War, Spain formally takes possession of the Louisiana Colony as stipulated in the Treaty of Paris in 1763. France had secretly transferred Louisiana to Spain in 1762 with the Treaty of Fountaineblue. “By the end of the French period of Louisiana, New Orleans was a commercially prosperous, self-sustaining city, trading all across the French commercial system” (Wall, p. 65). It had become a major port city for importing and exporting products. With the transfer of rule from France to Spain, the Louisiana colony would experience some social, political, cultural and economic consequences.

They were demanding that Jefferson go to war to win back their rights. The situation just go worse. Jefferson was worried and wondered what would happen when the French took over New Orleans. In 1803 Jefferson sent James Monroe to negotiate a Napoleon about purchasing the port city of New Orleans, and part of Louisiana.

The Louisiana territory stretched from modern day New Orleans in the south, the Great Lakes in the Northeast, to Montana in the northwest. Jefferson was confident in his plan for expansion but was discouraged when he became aware of the transferred title of Louisiana from Spain to France. This posed a problem for the United States because Napolean (French leader) had set his mind on reestablishing an empire in North America. Jefferson was then advised to go

President Jefferson worried what would happen if France controlled New Orleans? He believed he should buy New Orleans from France. President Jefferson directed Robert Livingston and James Monroe to buy New Orleans. When the two men got to

After Jefferson bought Louisiana from Napoleon for fifteen million dollars, the United States was in the position of domination. The United States was slowly beginning to not only grow geographically but politically as well. However, there is an important question to be asked, Why would Napoleon give up so much for so little? As the Documentary, How the States Got Their Shapes “The answer: Haiti. When the slaves in Haiti overthrew France that, basically, took France out of the game in North America. Haiti is the crown jewel of the French Empire. It 's where all the sugar comes from. It 's where all the money comes from. The only reason you need New Orleans and all that land to the west is to provide food for Haiti.” Therefore, since Haiti no longer belonged to France, France was out of the competition. It is important to pinpoint that before the United States (the 50 states) America shared land with the Spaniard, English, and Native Americans. Thus, the Haitian Revolution gave the United States more land, and power to conquer land. Through the Haitian revolution United States was closer to be “destined to secure territory from "sea to sea," from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean” as the political cartoon American Progress, from John Gust illustrates.