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1933

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
LOUISIANA TERRITORY

WALTER ROBINSON SMITH, Ph. M.
Instructor in American History in Washington University

St. £outs, ZTCtssourt.
THE ST. LOUIS NEWS COMPANY,
Publisher's Agents
1904.

PREFACE.
The extraordinary revival of interest in all sorts of infor
mation regarding the Louisiana Purchase calls for a historical
manual, brief, accurate, and readable, which the extensive litera
ture of the Territory does not at present contain. This volume
is an attempt to supply such a want. It consists of the revised
copy of four lectures delivered before the Washington University
Association on the Mary Hemenway Foundation. The author
lays no claim to exhaustive use of original sources but has ex
amined the wide range of literature touching upon the history of
the Purchase Territory and accepted well authenticated facts
wherever found. Special acknowledgments of aid and kindness
are due to Miss Louise Dalton in charge of the Missouri Histor
ical Society Library, 1600 Locust Street, and to Dean Marshall
S. Snow and Chancellor Winfield S. Chaplin of Washington Uni
versity. St. Louis, April 25, 1904.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.

I. LA SALLE AND NEW FRANCE.
Discovery of the Mississippi, 3. Early French explorations, 4.
Quebec founded by Champlain, 4. Difficulties of exploration, 5. Gov
ernment of New France, 6. Jean Nicollet, 6. Early life of La Salle, 7.
Explorations on the Ohio and Illinois, 7. Joliet and Marquette, 9, 10.
La Salle's plan, 11. Journey, 12. Reaches mouth of the Mississippi, 13.
In Texas, 14. Death and character, 15.
II. NEW ORLEANS AND FRENCH LOUISIANA.
D'Iberville takes up work of La Salle, 16. Bienville and the En
glish, 17. Settlements at mouth of the Mississippi, 18. Population in
1711, 18. Louisiana under a monopolist, 18. Failure of Crozat, 19.
The Mississippi Company, 19, 20. Founding of New Orleans, 20. Ex
plorations, 21. Discovery of upper Rockies, 22. Cahokia and Kaskas
kia founded, 22. Development of Louisiana, 23. Government of Louis
iana, 25. French and Indian War, 28. Fall of New France, 29.
III. ST. LOUIS AND SPANISH LOUISIANA.
Effect of transfer on Louisiana, 30. Creole Revolution, 31. New
Orleans occupied by Spanish, 33. Founding of St. Louis, 35. Develop
ment, 36. Life of early settlers, 37. Government, 38. The Spaniards
in St. Louis, 39. Death of Laclede, 40. Indian attack upon St. Louis,
40. Condition at time of the Purchase, 41. Religious quarrel at New
Orleans, 42. Administration of Galvez, 43. Aid to Americans in Rev
olution, 44. Echoes of the French Revolution, 45. The right of de
posit and the treaty of Madrid, 46.
IV. A DIPLOMATIC DRAMA: THE GREAT PURCHASE .
Inauguration of Jefferson, character, 48. Godoy, 50. Talleyrand,
50. Napoleon Bonaparte, 50. Efforts of France to regain Louisiana,
50. X. Y. Z. affair, 51. Napoleon's plan, 51. Compensation to Spain,
53. Treaty of San Ildefonso, 53. Spanish America, 54. Livingston
fm)

IV Contents
sent to France, 55. St. Domingo, 56. Toussaint L. Ouverture, 57. Re
bellion in Hayti, 57. The elements of the struggle, 58. Napoleon's St.
Domingan policy, 59. Le Clerc in St. Domingo, 59. Failure, 60. Jef
ferson's diplomacy, 61. Party management, 62. Monroe sent to France,
63. War excitement, 64. European war, 65. Napoleon decides to sur
render Louisiana, 66. Negotiations, 67. The Purchase, 68.
V. LOUISIANA TERRITORY UNDER THE UNITED STATES.
News of the purchase, 70. Jefferson's constitutional scruples, 70, 71.
Provisions of the Treaty, 72. Party littleness, 72, 73. Government of
the New Territory, 74. Boundaries, 75. Extent and ideas of the new
territory, 75, 76. Transfer from Spain to France, 77. From France
to the United States, 78. Division of Territory, 80. Loussat's letter,
81. New Orleans at time of purchase, 82. Upper Louisiana, 84. Burr
conspiracy, 85. Lewis and Clark expedition, 86. Pike's explorations,
87. Louisiana admitted into the Union, 88. Speech of Josiah Quincy,
88. Jackson at New Orleans, 89. States carved out of the Territory,
90, 91. Riches of the Mississippi Valley, 91.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE
LOUISIANA TERRITORY.

CHAPTER I.
LA SALLE AND NEW FRANCE.
NATIONS no less than individuals possess a variety of
characteristics which give them success along different
lines of activity. This truth is strikingly illustrated
in the early history of the New World. The Spanish
and Portuguese did most of the work of discovery and explora
tion by sea; the French were the most noted explorers by land
and the most brilliant administrators over a widely extended
territory and a diversified native population; and, while the
English did little of the work of discovery and exploration, they
were the most successful colonizers. With regard to the
Mississippi valley, it may be said that the Spanish discovered it,
the French explored it and conceived the idea of constructing
therein a great empire, and the Anglo-Saxon settled it and de
veloped resources and a population beyond anything of which
the boldest French pioneer ever dreamed.
The discovery of the Mississippi was the work of Hernando
De Soto. He had been conspicuous in the ruthless conquest of
Peru, and was later the Spanish Governor of Cuba. Landing
on the coast of Florida with nearly six hundred well-equipped
men he plunged boldly into the wilderness and after months
of hardship and suffering, discovered the Mississippi river; but
it was only to be buried beneath its turbid waters, while his
followers fled down its friendly current, glad to escape from
the Eldorado of their dreams which had proved rather to be a
nightmare of misery and death. The discovery passed out of
men's minds, and a century and a quarter later, when the French
explorers floated down the same majestic stream, they were un
conscious that any European had ever before gazed upon its
banks. (3)

4 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
The attention of France was called to the New World dur
ing a war with Spain which was begun in 1521. The exchequer
of Spain was being gorged with gold and silver from the mines
of Mexico, and the ambitious Francis I. decided that he would
like to have his treasury supplied in the same way. In 1524
Verrazano was sent out to explore the regions north of Mexico,
in the hope of finding gold and a northwest passage to the Orient.
He skirted the American coast from North Carolina to Maine,
and returned with the best map of the coast made during the
epoch. Ten years later Jacques Cartier landed further to the
north, and finally sailed up the St. Lawrence river as far as
Montreal. In 1540 Roberval attempted to plant a colony in
Canada, but failed. In 1562-65 followed Coligny's noble but
unfortunate attempt to make a settlement in Florida. It was
wiped out in cold blood by the Spaniards, forming a tragedy
which has been most graphically portrayed by Francis Parkman
in his "Pioneers of France in the New World."
It was not until the opening of the next century that France
succeeded in planting a permanent colony in the New World.
The chimera of mines bursting with wealth and streams whose
beds were studded with pearls had vanished, and the prospect
of fortunes to be made in the fur trade and the New Foundland
fisheries now lured on the adventurers. In 1603 the Sieur de
Monts obtained a monopoly of the fur trade, with permission to
plant colonies in a large tract of land extending from New York
to Cape Breton, known as Acadia. Port Royal was settled the
next year, and in 1608 Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec.
Champlain was cheerful, brave, adventurous, high-minded, a
man of culture, shrewd, and enterprising; a hero worthy of
France and of his reputation as the founder of Canada. The
early history of America furnishes no more gallant and attrac
tive character. He made the one mistake of alienating the
Iroquois Confederacy, but that was probably necessary, or at
least defensible. No magnificent cavalcade of adventurers,
backed by the treasures of Mexico and Peru, were at his com-

La Salle and New France. 5
mand; he had, to depend upon Indian allies, and without the aid
of the Algonquins, which meant the fatal enmity of the Five
Tribes, he could not have explored the strategic regions about
the lake which bears his name. He remained in New France,
guiding her destinies with ability and discretion until his death
in 1635. Before the death of Champlain trading-posts and missions
had been planted along the banks of the St. Lawrence at
Tadoussac, Quebec, Montreal, and Three Rivers, and the Jesuits
had penetrated the western wilds and were baptising the naked
savages on the coast of Lake Huron. But the growth of New
France was slow. The interests of the adventurers who held a
monopoly of the fur trade were opposed to the extension of set
tlements. A growth of population would divide their profits.
Moreover, the class of pioneers was inferior. Few of them were
animated by any high motives, while a vast majority were driven
on solely by the free life of the wilderness, and the lust of
trade. Montaigne's famous complaint that if you "Put three
Frenchmen into the deserts of Lybia, they will not live a month
together without fighting," is eminently justifiable. This spirit
lost to France an empire in India, and in the early history of
America, jealousies, bickerings, and petty squabbles over every
conceivable situation were constant. The Franciscans opposed
the Jesuits, and both opposed the Huguenots, who of all French
men were most capable of success in colonizing America. The
traders were always ready to cut each other's throats, and were
continually harassed by the " coureurs-de-bois," a sort of French
"poor white trash" who lived among the Indians, and carried on
an independent traffic in spite of the fur trade monopoly. The
support from France was vacillating and uncertain, yet the
colonial authorities of the mother country were ever ready to in
terfere, and their meddlesome changes of policy added not a
little to the turbulence of the colony. Nor was the friendship
of the Indians, which the Frenchman, with his facile and adapt
able nature, was able to obtain much more easily than the exclu-

6 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
sive Englishman, wholly to be relied upon; for as soon as they
found the French trader unable to defend himself, they were
no less ready to take his scalp than his hatchets in return for
furs. Only the devotion of the missionaries with the skill of a
few of the leaders was able to save the colony from destruction.
Under such conditions the colony drifted until, in 1661, the
young Louis XIV. assumed personal control of the government
of France. He took great interest in New France, adopted it
as a foster child, and injured it by excessive paternal care, rather
than by neglect. Richelieu had established autocratic govern
ment in Canada in the early part of the century, and Louis XIV.
now strengthened it by sending out three able men to take charge
of affairs and inaugurate a new era. They were Marquis de
Tracy, military commandant, in charge of all military affairs;
Sieur de Courcelle, governor, who was to have charge of the gen
eral enterprises of the colony; and Jean Baptiste Talon, intend
ant, whose duties were to regulate the minor affairs of the colony
and guard the actions of the other two. Large reinforcements
came over, bringing the best army America had yet seen.
Canada immediately took on new life. An expedition of
six hundred French regulars marched into the heart of the Iro
quois country and terrified the Long House into peace for twenty
years. They were then ready for Western exploration. About
1640 a settlement had been made as far west as the Sault St.
Marie and a missionary post established among the Indians on
the borders of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Just before the death
of Champlain, he had sent out Jean Nicollet to explore this
region. Nicollet had been given by Champlain as a hostage to
the Indians to bind a treaty of peace and to be trained as an
interpreter for future dealings. He had been adopted and lived
among the Ottawas and Nipissungs for sixteen years, and had
just returned to the settlements. Champlain had heard of a
race of beardless men beyond the great lakes and a "great water"
still beyond. Who could doubt that these were Orientals and
the great water beyond the Indian Ocean? Nicollet set out in

La Salle and New France. 1
1635 with a small party, taking along a Chinese robe of bril
liantly flowered damask, in which to greet the Mongolians be
yond Lake Michigan. He reached the vicinity and sent some
of his Indian attendants to announce his coming. Then, array
ing himself in his Chinese robe, and waiving a pistol in each hand,
he advanced to meet the expectant savages, for they were none
other than the tribe of Winnebago Indians. The women and
children fled screaming with terror, but the warriors looked on
in admiration and envy. A great feast was prepared, in which
a hundred and twenty beavers were devoured, and Nicollet passed
on. He crossed over to the Wisconsin river, and descended so
far that he could report on his return that in three days more
he would have reached the sea. The water which he called the
sea was what the Indians called the "Messipi;'' none other than
the great river which nearly a hundred years before had kept
from savage' desecration the body of De Soto.
The report of this journey aroused in the Jesuits and others
a great desire to solve the mystery of the forests and learn
what became of the great water which was soon reported to be
a river. This desire first took tangible form in the heart of a
heroic young Frenchman who had recently come over to Canada
from Rouen, Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La Salle. He was the
son of a wealthy merchant and had received a good education.
Early in life he seems to have been fascinated by the mighty re
ligious organization which was then making its force felt through
out the world and allied himself with the Jesuits. But his tower
ing ambition and consciousness of ability chafed under its ma
chine-like routine, and he withdrew from the order with a reputa
tion for scholarship, unimpeachable integrity, and a determination
which nothing could shake. His connection with the Jesuits had
cut off his inheritance and with very limited resources he started
for Canada where his brother was a priest of St. Sulpice. It is
probable that before leaving France he had formed a stern re
solve to carve out of the Western wilderness a name for himself
and an empire for France. At any rate, as soon as he arrived

8 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
at Montreal in 1666, he was offered some land above the La Chine
rapids on the extreme frontier in a very dangerous position, and
immediately settled upon it. The grant had been made because
such an estate would be in the line of attack from the Indians,
and serve as a warning to the priests of the Seminary; it was
accepted because it was a post of advantage in carrying on the
fur trade, and gave La Salle a good chance to study the Indian
languages and customs. This opportunity was assiduously used,
and he was soon master of a number of Indian dialects. From
a party of Senecas he heard much of a river called the Ohio, or
Beautiful River, which was so long that it took many months to
traverse it. Common report apprised him of the geography be
yond the great lakes. Like nearly all of the early explorers his
imagination flew across the wild and lonely regions that stretched
away toward the sunset and he dreamed of new avenues of com
merce and riches in traffic with China and Japan. The long
river mentioned by the Senecas was doubtless the Ohio and Mis
sissippi merged into one, and La Salle thought it must flow into
the "Vermilion Sea." This sea was the Gulf of California, and
La Salle thought it would open up a western passage to China.
La Salle was a man of action, and his resolution was soon
formed. He hastened to Quebec to obtain the permission of the
government to make his intended exploration. The cost was to
be borne by himself, and since he had no money, it took nearly
all of his estate to purchase four canoes with supplies and hire
fourteen men for the expedition. It was midsummer, 1669,
when the party set out. Soon the Indians became hostile, a large
part of the men forsook him, but nothing daunted the resolution
of La Salle. He pushed on to the Ohio, and floated down to the
rapids near Louisville. During the next year he went north
ward, crossed Lake Erie, ascended the Detroit river, passed
through Lake Huron, thence to Lake Michigan. From Lake
Michigan he ascended the Chicago river, crossed the portage to
the Illinois, and descended it far towards the Mississippi. Tra
dition says that La Salle reached the Mississippi by both the

La Salle and New France. 9
Ohio and the Illlinois, but this is not probable. He had dis
covered these two rivers, however, gained confidence, broadened
his ideas, and returned ready to promulgate his larger plan.
Meanwhile, it is necessary to leave La Salle, and trace an
other expedition of importance. The governor and intendent of
France had become interested in the discovery of the Missis
sippi. For this purpose an expedition was planned and put in
charge of Louis Joliet. Joliet was a native of Canada, having
been born in Quebec in 1645. He was educated by the Jesuits,
but, like La Salle, had renounced the priesthood to become a
merchant. There was no spark of genius in his make-up. He
was simply an intelligent, courageous, prudent leader; possessed
of abundant enterprise and sound judgment. A Jesuit priest,
Jacques Marquette, was sent along as secretary of the expedition.
Marquette was an excellent linguist, possessed of a gentle and
poetic nature, a rare spiritual insight and elevation of character,
coupled with the courage of a knight and the endurance of an
Indian. On a May day of 1673 these two men with five companions
and two birch canoes, supplied with an abundance of smoked
meat and Indian corn, turned their faces toward the unknown
West. They plied- their paddles by day and drew up their
canoes into the edge of the forest where they encamped by night.
Passing along the northern shores of Lake Michigan, they glided
into Green Bay, thence up the Fox river past Lake Winnebago,.
and carrying their canoes across the narrow portage, they em
barked on the placid waters of the Wisconsin. They were
warned by the Indians not to venture further, because the tribes
beyond were ferocious, and the forests and rivers were inhab
ited by demons. But on they floated, down the current which
led they knew not where — perhaps to the Vermilion Sea, pos
sibly to the Gulf of Mexico, or perchance to the South Sea.
One month after starting, to their inexpressible joy, they glided
out upon the blue waters of the Mississippi, and turned their
prows to the Southward. For days the solitudes along the

10 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
stream were unrelieved by the faintest trace of man, but after
a fortnight they reached the Indian village of Peoria, where they
were feasted and again advised to retrace their journey. Un
heeding, they re-embarked, floated past the mouth of the Illinois,
and soon their canoes were tossing about in the surging vortex
formed by the mighty Missouri, whose angry current rushed in
with a momentum that could only have been acquired by coursing
through unknown vasts of barbarism to the West.
Recovering from their fright, they continued on their way
down the swollen current, past St. Louis, beyond the mouth of the
Beautiful River; on and on, until they reached the lands of the
Arkansas. Here they landed and after a narrow escape, suc
ceeded in making friends with the Indians. The increasing
danger of the situation now led to a serious council regarding a
change of policy. They had gone far enough to prove that the
Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of Mexico, and not into the
South Sea or the Gulf of California, and would it not be better
to return and report progress preparatory to a more extended
enterprise? They thought so, and beneath the sultry rays of a
July sun, they set out to toil against the gloomy current and to
drive their canoes up the river and thence to the Canadian set
tlements on the St. Lawrence. Marquette sickened, but his in
domitable spirit encouraged the others. Reaching the mouth of
the Illinois, they ascended it and slowly made their way to the
mission settlement on Green Bay, where Marquette was left to a
lingering death, while Joliet passed on to Montreal to report the
result of the expedition.
While Joliet and Marquette were gliding down the bosom of
the Mississippi, La Salle was making a friend of the new gov
ernor, Frontenac, and recovering from the bankruptcy into which
his last explorations had plunged him. Even before their re
turn, he surmised that the Mississippi emptied into the Gulf of
Mexico, and when this notion was confirmed, his dreams began
to materialize into plans. He had been opposed in all of his
work by the Jesuits; he had been ridiculed and persecuted by

La Salle and New France. 1 1
the Canadian traders; why not leave to them the icy regions of
the St. Lawrence, and found a new empire in the mild and fertile
valley of the Mississippi? The bold genius of a natural soldier
and frontiersman was his, and he readily blocked out the ele
ments of his plan. If he could erect a fortified post at the
mouth of the Mississippi, it would serve as a defense against
both England and Spain. Then a regular line of forts and
trading posts could be established from Ontario to the Gulf, and
the whole trade of the Mississippi valley could be converged
into the fort at its mouth, and thence to Europe by sea. Ac
cording to the French theory of international law, the discovery
of a river gave a tentative title to all of the lands drained by
that river and its tributaries ; how much more secure would be
this title if that of occupation were added to that of discovery,
and if a line of forts bearing aloft the fleurs-de-lis and bristling
with French cannon warned the world that this territory from the
Alleghanies to Mexico belonged to the King of France !
The scheme was brilliant and far-reaching, and success
would require genius, daring, suffering; but La Salle was not
daunted. With him, to form a plan meant an immediate and
persevering effort to realize it. He appealed to Governor Front
enac, to whose imagination and ambition the idea appealed no
less than to that of its originator. But the governor could lend
no financial aid. The only resource was an appeal to le Grand
Monarque of France. Consequently the autumn of 1677 finds
him at the court of France, where he obtained permission to
make the projected explorations, build forts, find a route to
Mexico, and as a financial aid, he was given a monopoly of the
trade in buffalo hides. He returned in 1678, and replaced with
stone the wooden Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, which was
the first in his chain of forts to be extended to the Gulf. He
engaged forty men for the expedition down the Mississippi.
Two of these deserve special mention. Henri de Tonty
was a Neapolitan officer, who had had a hand blown off in the
Sicilian wars. He had the hand replaced by one of iron, over

12 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
which he wore a glove. From Italy he went to France, thence
to Canada. He was sensible and brave, always loyal to La
Salle, and his character was not badly typified by the Indian
sobriquet of Iron Hand. The other was Louis Hennepin, a
Franciscan friar, whose love of adventure had brought him to
New France. He went along as reporter for the expedition,
and was not without usefulness. His ability was undoubted, and
he deserves credit for the exploration of the upper Mississippi;
but his claim that he first descended the Mississippi to its mouth,
put forth after the death of La Salle, was so preposterous that
he has gained as great a reputation for mendacity as George
Washington for truthfulness.
La Salle first set about constructing the Griffin, the largest
vessel yet built for the navigation of the Lakes. A party under
Tonty was sent in advance to build Fort Niagara, the second
link in the chain of forts. Late in 1678 La Salle set forth in
the Griffin, and after a mutiny and various buffetings on the
stormy lake, reached the southern end of Lake Michigan. Here
he built the third in the line of forts at the mouth of the St.
Joseph river in Michigan. Meanwhile, the Griffin had been
sent back to the St. Lawrence with a cargo of furs to appease
the greedy and frightened creditors, who had loaned La Salle
money at forty per cent, interest, and had later threatened to
prevent his departure, for fear that he would never return.
Early in 1679 La Salle and the remainder of his company
pushed on through the wilderness and erected on the banks of
the Illinois the fourth fort. It was appropriately named Fort
Creve-coeur, or Heartbreak. The Griffin had long since been
due with much needed supplies. It had either foundered on
the lakes or been scuttled by a mutinous crew, and the little
party on the Illinois were threatened by both famine and In
dian massacre. It was under these circumstances that the he
roic soul of La Salle formed a resolution that for courage and
determination has never been surpassed. Before the ice of win
ter had left the streams, he set out with five companions to walk

La Salle and New France. 13
through a dense wilderness, part of it infested with hostile In
dians, over a thousand miles to Montreal; there to obtain sup
plies, return to Creve-coeur, which he left in the hands of his
faithful lieutenant, Tonty, and then continue his work.
By the time La Salle and his companions had reached Lake
Erie, the hardships had so exhausted them that La Salle alone
had to ferry five sick men across to the fort on the Canadian
shore. Taking three fresh men, he proceeded to Montreal, only
to learn that the ship which was to come from France with sup
plies had been wrecked and everything lost. Moreover, as he
was gathering supplies, a message arrived from Fort Heart
break that the garrison had mutinied, driven out Tonty, pulled
the block-house to pieces, and that they were now waiting on
Lake Ontario to murder him on his return. With iron resolu
tion he set out, captured the whole party, and sent them to the
governor in chains; then proceeded on his way to the rescue of
Tonty. This was done in the summer of 1680, and the autumn
of 1681 saw him again on the road to the Mississippi. He had
proved himself superior to his enemies, to the elements, and to
a series of calamities that would have appalled any ordinary
heart. But fortune now seemed to take up his cause. He set
out by way of Ontario, Lake Michigan, the Chicago river, crossed
the portage to the Illinois, descended it to the Mississippi, and
floated on, week after week, until at last on April 9, 1682, the
fleurs-de-lis were planted at its mouth and the great basin from
the Alleghanies to the Rockies was declared to be the possession
of the King of France, under the name of Louisiana. The
period of discovery was complete; all that remained was to cinch
the title by settlement. And this is where the vastness of La
Salle's plan had to wait on time and circumstances, and led to
his own sad fate.
He returned up the Mississippi, and fortified a new post
at Starved Rock on the Illinois, which he named St. Louis.
Leaving Tonty in command, he hastened to France, where he
was honored by an audience with the haughty Louis XIV. He

14 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
was thoroughly successful, and a magnificent expedition was
fitted out to go by sea to the mouth of the Mississippi, and there
establish the long desired fortress. But the fates again began
spinning their fatal web in which La Salle was soon enmeshed.
Beaugeu was selected as the naval commander, and a period of
bickering and strife followed. La Salle rightly felt that his
will should be obeyed, and he showed little address in dealing
with another who was likewise used to command. The disagree
ment of the commanders was less fatal, however, than the mis
takes of the pilots who missed the mouth of the Mississippi, and
passed along the coast of Texas, probably to the Matagorda bay.
Here, after the loss of some of the vessels, La Salle and a party
landed and built Fort St. Louis of Texas, in 1685, while the
fleet searched for the mouth of the river, and finally sailed home
to France. The expedition had left France in 1684 with about four
hundred people on board, including several families and a num
ber of girls who were to help found homes in the new land. By
the end of 1686 the situation was desperate, and a trip to France
was found necessary. La Salle determined to return by way
of Quebec, passing up the Mississippi, and getting supplies from
Tonty at St. Louis of the Illinois. Early in 1687 he set out with
sixteen whites and two Indians, leaving twenty people, includ
ing seven girls, behind. They must find the Mississippi, but
knew not where, and started out through the wilderness to the
east. Their hunger was soon desperate, and by the time they
reached the Trinity river, a mutinous spirit arose in the com
pany. Three of La Salle's faithful friends were murdered by
the mutineers. La Salle had a presentiment that they were
planning to take his life, but the vigilance thus aroused was un
availing. Two mutinous wretches skulked in ambush, while a
third decoyed La Salle into a fatal spot where he was shot dead.
Thus ended the career of the boldest genius France lent to
the New World. After great suffering, six of the remaining
party reached Canada, while those left behind at St. Louis of

La Salle and New France. 15
Texas were attacked by Indians and nearly all killed. Of the
whole of La Salle's party only fourteen ever reached a French
settlement. At his death La Salle was only forty-four years of age.
He had been in Canada but twenty-one years ; yet his person
ality had been stamped more indelibly upon the fabric of New
France than any other character in her history. Reared in a
home of refinement and luxury, educated in the best schools of
Rouen, he became in America a frontiersman whose lofty pur
pose gave him an endurance surpassing the native coureurs-de-
bois and even his Indian guides. He was unselfish and far-
seeing, but too autocratic and self-contained to inspire loyalty
in mediocre minds. His life seemed inextricably interwoven with
fate. Pursued by the ridicule and slander of enemies, harassed
by creditors, deserted and betrayed by subordinates, twice poi
soned and more than once marked for destruction by mutineers,
he pursued his ends with a singleness of purpose, and a depth
of determination never surpassed. He endured his misfortunes
in silence, and pinned his faith to his own indomitable will. His
plans failed during his lifetime, because it was cut short by the
hand of the assassin, and because of their very vastness; but
New France continued to develop along the lines marked out
by his genius, and the French empire in America which crumbled
in the middle of the next century before the onslaught of the
United Colonies, backed by the English lion and the cross of
St. George, was simply the fruition of his ideal.

CHAPTER II.
NEW ORLEANS AND FRENCH LOUISIANA.
THE work of La Salle was not destined to perish but to
bear fruit in the new century about to begin. He had
sown the seed with infinite toil and his very life's blood ;
but while his bones lay bleaching on the plains of
Texas, one of his most persistent enemies was to reap where he
had sown. The faithful Tonty, who had been left at St. Louis
of the Illinois, applied in 1694 for a commission to fulfill the
task left incomplete by the death of his chief, but the commis
sion was refused. In 1698, Le Moyne d'Iberville was more
successful, and obtained permission to plant a colony in the gate
way to Louisiana. Iberville was a native Canadian, who had
joined the French navy, and by sheer ability forced his way to
the rank of post-captain. He had learned on the frontier the
value of well-directed guns, and carrying this idea into the navy,
he preceded the "stars and stripes" in showing how large a part
markmanship could play in deciding naval battles. Against
great odds, he drove an English fleet out of Hudson Bay and
established a control in that region that lasted for years. With
a splendid reputation for valor he now took up the mantle of
La Salle and wore it with honor. In breadth and brilliancy of
conception he was La Salle's inferior; but not in energy, fire,
and resourcefulness. Iberville sailed from Brest with two warships and a num
ber of transports in October, 1698. His destination was the
mouth of the Mississippi, which he entered in March, 1699- He
arrived not any too soon; for England and Spain had both de
cided to occupy the mouth of the river. While coasting along
from Florida to the Mississippi, he had come upon two Spanish
ships in the harbor of Pensacola, who were bent upon securing
(16)

New Orleans and French Louisiana. 17
the whole region for the King of Spain. Likewise, before the
close of the year, Bienville, a younger brother of Iberville, while
on an exploring expedition up the Mississippi, met an English
ship under command of Captain Louis Bank, who had been sent
out to found a settlement on the Mississippi. They were not
quite sure that this was the Mississippi, however, and Bienville
readily convinced the too credulous Englishmen that it was an
other stream on which Louis XIV. [had several flourishing settle
ments. The ship departed, but not before the French engineer
under Captain Bank had given Bienville a petition to be carried
to King Louis, signed by four hundred Carolina Huguenots, ask
ing that they be allowed to settle as Frenchmen in Louisiana
with liberty of conscience. This petition was spurned and thus
was saved to the Carolinas some of their best immigrants and lost
to France through bigotry the services of her noblest sons in
America. Iberville built a fort at Biloxi, on the coast of Mississippi,
where he left Sieur de Sauville and Bienville in command and
returned to France. Through fear of English interference, he
was almost immediately sent back with reinforcements. His
instructions were to establish pearl-fisheries, bison farms, and to
look for mines, which was "la grande affaire." Bienville had
been exploring the region round about, and on one excursion
had discovered an Indian chief wearing a blue-hooded cloak. He
likewise had a letter which had been written on a piece of bark
by Tonty thirteen years before, when he had descended the Mis
sissippi from Fort St. Louis to meet La Salle. While the latter
was famishing in the barren wilds of Texas, his lieutenant with
supplies was wearily waiting for him on the banks of the Mis
sissippi. When Iberville returned to Louisiana, he went up stream
as far as Natchez, but later descended, and in January, 1700,
built a wooden redoubt on one of the mouths of the Mississippi.
He called it Fort La Boulaye, and its purpose was to serve as a
2

18 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
barricade against the English. This fear of the English was
well founded. A quarter of a century before Joliet had found
English goods on the banks of the Mississippi, and it was known
that they were now in constant communication with the Chicka-
saws. Iberville next ordered the feeble establishment at Biloxi
to be removed (1701) to Mobile Bay. This drew a protest from
the Spanish, which availed nothing, and a third settlement was
soon made at Dauphin Island. The strategic point at the mouth
of the Mississippi was neglected in order to erect a barrier on
the Spanish frontier; but its importance was not forgotten.
Louisiana thus established, drifted on in turbulence and
peril. Recruits were occasionally sent out by the French gov
ernment. These recruits consisted of marriageable girls, ques
tionable in quality, religious overseers, male and female, soldiers,
workmen, and vagabond adventurers. They were, as a whole,
rather a worthless lot, who had not the initiative to hunt for
mines, nor the stability to settle down as planters, nor even the
ability to govern themselves and live in peace and harmony.
They depended on the paternalism of the French government
for everything. Idleness and vice were common, and quarrels
perpetual. Animals sent out for propagation were slaughtered
and eaten by the improvident colonists, while famine and pesti
lence made annual visitations. By 1711, the population had
reached the grand total of 380 souls, 170 of whom were in the
King's pay, living in the four settlements of Mobile, Biloxi,
Dauphin Island, and Ship Island.
Moreover Louis had tired of a dependency which had been
a constant drain upon his resources for thirteen years, without
yielding any revenue in return and decided to try the disastrous
expedient of turning it over to a merchant adventurer. A
wealthy business man, named Anthony Crozat, offered to send out
two ship-loads of colonists a year, and continue the settlement
in return for a monopoly of trade for fifteen years in the whole
region drained by the Mississippi, the Missouri, the Ohio, and
their tributaries, as far north as the Illinois. The officers were

New Orleans and French Louisiana. 19
still to be selected and paid by the King, and a garrison of sol
diers was to be maintained for nine years. La Mothe-Cadillac,
the turbulent governor of Detroit, was transferred to Louisiana
to take the place of the capable Bienville, and things steadily
drifted from bad to worse. By 1717 Crozat had sickened of his
bargain and gladly surrendered his contract to the King.
While the grinding monopoly of Crozat was in general harm
ful, it was not without some good results. The population had
grown more discontented because they were forbidden to leave
Louisiana — thus adding prison bars to misery — and to carry on
individual trade; "freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, of
trade, and of action, were alike denied" says Parkman; but their
numbers had increased, and some explorations had been made.
In 1714, Juchereau de Saint-Denis had been sent out to explore
western Louisiana. He had ascended far up the Red river, es
tablished a post at Natchitoches, and crossed to the Spanish set
tlements in Mexico. An effort was made to open trade with
the Spaniards, but it was unsuccessful. Trading stations had
been established on the present sites of Natchez and Nashville.
Coureurs-de-bois had been sent out to search for mines, but their
failure and faithlessness doubtless 'inspired Governor Cadillac to
send to France the despairing note that "this colony is a monster
without head or tail, and its government is a shapeless absurdity."
The failure of Crozat was not enough for the French gov
ernment, and the whole region was next turned over to that notor
ious financial charlatan, John Law. He organized the Missis
sippi Company, the shareholders in which were to fatten on the
gold mines of Louisiana. Huge ingots of gold from this distant
Eldorado were displayed in shop windows by the side of diamonds
which were crystallized in a single night by the magic of the
Louisiana atmosphere, from the liquid in the petals of certain
flowers. Speculation became hysterical and men fought for
places in the line to the bank where shares were sold. The com
pany's ships were flooded with volunteers to emigrate.
But disillusion was speedily to follow. The emigrants

20 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
learned the miserable truth, and in their fury sent exaggerated re
ports of hardships and suffering back to France. The dazzling
bubble soon burst, scattering ruin in its wake,' while John Law
was forced by the infuriated bankrupts to flee for his life.
The rule of the Mississippi Company in Louisiana was short
but energetic. Bienville was again made governor and allowed
to carry out a scheme long contemplated. The redoubt at the
mouth of the Mississippi had been abandoned, and a port was
desired higher up the stream. Bienville consequently searched
out the best location and in February, 1718, laid the foundation
of New Orleans, ever to remain the idolized Mecca of the Creoles.
It soon became the center of the Louisiana settlement, and
formed a basis for the exploration and trade of the West.
New France now had two capitals : the one on the banks of
the St. Lawrence controlling the frigid regions to the north; the
other commanding the lazy bayous at the mouth of the Missis
sippi. From Canada and Louisiana proceeded simultaneously
the enterprises that were to explore in detail and settle the basin
of the Mississippi. From Canada went out Le Sueur who vis
ited the Sioux about the headwaters of the Mississippi as early
as 1683. Ten years later he built a fort on the banks of Lake
Pepin, after which he went to France and secured a monopoly of
the fur trade for ten years. An expedition was fitted out in
France, but La Sueur was captured by the English on the way
to Canada. He next decided to make Louisiana his base of
operations, and in April, 1700, started up the Mississippi with
twenty-five men for the Sioux region in Minnesota. In the
autumn they ascended Blue Earth river and built a strong fort
which they named Fort l'Huillier. Here they spent the winter,
and in the spring descended the Mississippi and sailed to France
with a cargo of beaver skins and four thousand pounds of worth
less blue earth, which they imagined would prove a valuable com
modity. The indefatigable La Sueur afterwards fitted out an
other expedition, but died on the road to America.
In 1719 Benard de la Harpe set out from Louisiana, as-

New Orleans and French Louisiana. 21
cended the Red river, left a few men at Natchitoches, passed
along the northern border of Texas, thence overland north and
west to the Arkansas, and finally rested among the Nassonite
Indians. They told him that by ascending their river he could
reach the Spanish settlements, which indicates that he was in the
neighborhood of a tributary of the Rio Grande. Two years
after his return he started out to explore the Arkansas, but soon
gave up the attempt.
While La Harpe was ascending the Red river in 1719, Du
Tisne went up the Missouri river beyond the center of the- present
State of Missouri. Later he started overland from the Missis
sippi near the southern boundary of the state and penetrated the
forest beyond the Osage towards the western border of the State.
In 1722 Bourgmont went up the Missouri and built Fort
Orleans near the mouth of the Grand. He then proceeded west
ward, passed along the Kansas river, thence west and south to
the Arkansas, where he managed to assemble the chiefs of all
the Indian tribes of the region, and exact a treaty of peace
whereby the French were to be allowed a free passage through
the country to trade with the Spaniards in Mexico. Some fifteen
years later, the Mallet brothers explored the Platte river, went up
its south fork, thence across the plains of Colorado and south
to Santa Fe, where they arrived in 1739.
Meanwhile, the Canadians were plunging into the wilder
ness far to the northwest. Pierre la Verendrye, with Montreal
as headquarters, between 1731 and 1740, erected a chain of forts
from Lake Superior to the Dakotas — Fort Pierre, on Rainy Lake ;
Fort St. Charles, on the Lake of the Woods; Fort Maurepas, at
the mouth of the Winnipeg river; Fort Bourbon, on Lake Win
nipeg; Fort La Reine, on the Assiniboin; and Fort Dauphin, on
Lake Manitoba. La Verendrye had two sons, Pierre and Chev
alier de la Verendrye, no less daring than himself. Using Fort
La Reine as headquarters, they set out in 1742 in search of the
Pacific ocean. They struck out boldly to the west, crossed the
Missouri into Dakota, passed just north of the Black Hills,

22 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
crossed the "Bad Lands," threaded the defiles of the Powder
River mountains, and at last descried in the distance the rugged,
snow-capped peaks of the Rockies. This Parkman pronounces
the discovery of the Rocky rnountains proper, although their
southern extension had long been known to the Spaniards. This
gigantic wilderness trip had been made with only two followers,
without any government aid, and antedated by sixty-two years
the expedition of Lewis and Clark.
Practically the whole of Louisiana had now been traversed
by the hardy and intrepid French explorers. In the meanwhile
New Orleans had passed through numerous vicissitudes. The Mis
sissippi Company had sent out various ship-loads of reinforce
ments. One was a cargo of twenty marriageable girls who were
all happily mated within thirty days. In June, 1719 a company
of 800 arrived at New Orleans. In October, 200 Germans,
valuable as colonists because they were willing to work, settled
what was later known as the German coast on the banks of the
river twenty miles above New Orleans. Before the close of the
year, 500 negro slaves were brought out to swell the force of
laborers. New Orleans was drained and palisaded; a levee con
fined the Mississippi to its banks; warehouses were built. A
Jesuit station was founded which experimented with various
fruits and farm products. A company of Ursuline nuns founded
a school for girls, 1727, and established a hospital for the care
of the sick.
Other enterprises were begun and new settlements planned.
The monopoly of Crozat had left the Illinois region where La
Salle had planted Fort St. Louis, in the possession of Canada;
but that of the Mississippi Company had been made to include
the whole Mississippi basin to the Lakes. Jesuit missionaries
had never ceased to labor among the Indians on the Illinois, and
in 1700, Father Marest led some of the Kaskaskias to the Mis
sissippi at the mouth of the Kaskaskia river, and there founded a
settlement. Within a few weeks of the same date, Father Pirret
founded Cahokia, across the river opposite the present site of

New Orleans and French Louisiana. 23
St. Louis. Kaskaskia and Cahokia were the oldest permanent
settlements in Illinois, Cahokia probably being the senior by a
few weeks. Here came roving Canadians, coureurs-de-bois, and
occasional stragglers from the Gulf. The earliest settlers mar-,
ried Indian squaws and built rude little huts of logs or bark to
house their numerous progeny. Later, white women from Can
ada or Louisiana reached these settlements and gradually French
began to replace the Indian homes.
In 1720 Pierre Boisbriant was sent up from New Orleans
with 100 men and founded Ft. Charters, sixteen miles above
Kaskaskia. It was built of wood, but afterwards replaced by
stone and made the capital of upper Louisiana. Here resided
the commandant and the three councillors who ruled the settle
ment and maintained the military connexion between Canada
and Louisiana.
A Jesuit monastery was established at Kaskaskia in 1721.
During the same year Philip Renault brought 200 miners and
500 slaves and opened lead mines at Galena, Illinois. Prospect
ing parties were sent across into Missouri, where the Mine La-
motte and the Potosi mines were opened up. Fur traders pen
etrated the forests and prairies far and near, and hunters found
a paradise of delight in the deer, wild turkeys, bear and other
game in abundance. Nor was the more stable occupation of
agriculture wanting; for, in 1745, Upper Louisiana sent to New
Orleans 400,000 pounds of grain. About 1735 a settlement was
made on the Missouri side of the river at St. Genevieve which
formed the oldest permanent settlement in the present State of
Missouri. The population of the whole region by 1745 had
reached nine hundred. But after all is said, the growth of
upper Louisiana was slow. The population was worthless and
dissolute, and when the Treaty of Paris turned it over to the
Spanish it showed little prospect of future greatness.
The new era of enterprise begun with the advent of John
Law's Mississippi Company, continued under its guidance until
November, 1731, when Louisiana again reverted to the King.

24 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
New Orleans was progressing slowly, and gradually drawing to
itself the radiating lines of industry throughout the whole prov
ince. Indigo, rice, tobacco, and lumber were exported in small
quantities. By 1745, the population of the whole territory had
grown to 4,000 French and 2,000 negroes. But nothing could
preserve from dire threats of starvation a population composed
of vagabonds kidnapped in the streets of Paris, convicts swept
from the j ails of France, profligate adventurers, male and female,
a heterogeneous polyglot of confirmed idlers, tale-bearers and gen
eral delinquents, preserved from utter inaninity by an occasional
officer of real merit or an unfortunate of noble spirit — all cast
together by force of circumstances into the midst of a wilderness
demanding toil and fortitude and reeking with hardship and
peril. In 1730 the whole New Orleans settlement had to live on
the seeds of wild grass and reeds for three months. Food from
the Illinois region or from the home government stood, more
than once, between the garrison and famine. Moreover, pesti
lence crept into the filthy huts while fevers hovered about the
dank atmosphere, and hastened the peopling of the new-born
cemeteries. But amidst the general gloom and perpetually impending
disasters, there were compensating features. The vision of em
pire that fired the heart of La Salle still warmed the pride of
the Frenchmen. Great schemes to cut off the Englishmen, who
were slipping through the gaps of the Appalachian mountains
and reaching out with grasping fingers to seize the latent wealth
of the west, were being matured. The French leaders were dot
ting the extremities of the Ohio and St. Lawrence regions with
forts and garrisons. Parties were sent out to the English bor
ders to plant the fleurs-de-lis and to sink leaden tablets bearing
the arms of France as a warning to all intruders. At the junc
tion where the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers unite to form
the Ohio, one of these parties came upon a sober and dignified
youth, bearing an important commission from Governor Dinwid-
die, of Virginia. Business of great moment was transacted. A

New Orleans and French Louisiana. 9,6
year later, that same youth led a military force to the same
neighborhood and fired the first shot in a war that was to deter
mine the nationality of the whole valley of the Mississippi and
her tributaries. Yet two times more that young man returned,
and not a Frenchman was left to rule the disputed territory. A
quarter of a century later this self-same leader was to be the
hero of a second war and drive the last red coat from the soil
of the United States.
But before taking up the results of the momentous struggle
that was to decide the fate of Louisiana, it may be well to consider
further the government of the territory under French rule. In
general features, the control of Louisiana was like that of Can
ada. New France was simply a reproduction of Old France.
Louis XIV. was its benevolent despot, the paternal source of
every species of activity. From his palace in Versailles the
Grand Monarch issued edicts to control the minutest affairs of
life. Parkman declares that "the new settler was found by the
King, sent over by the King, and supplied by the King with a
wife, a farm, and sometimes with a house." Even when Louis
iana had grown burdensome and was shifted to the shoulders of
the monopolist Crozat, and later tossed into the lap of the Mis
sissippi Company, the paternalism of Versailles continued. The
people of Louisiana were naturally indolent and shiftless, and
this excessive coddling tended to reduce them to helpless auto
matons. What an instructive contrast the race of people this
system developed presents to that produced by the lassez faire
policy of the English government. The sturdy Puritan from
the southeast of England, the covenanting Scotchman from the
north of Ireland, the Huguenot refugee from the fetters of the
supreme bigot of France, the sober Dutchman from freedom-
loving Holland, left to shift for themselves in a wilderness in
hospitable and full of danger, were molded into sympathy in
the crucible of distress and developed a self-sufficiency and an
independent spirit which, when aroused, were irresistible. Self-
government became second nature, and before their steady ad-

26 Brief History of ihe Louisiana Territory.
vance, the wilderness faded away. The hunting grounds of the
savage gave place to civilized homes, and when at last they were
brought face to face with the French, the inexorable law of the
survival of the fittest decided the result.
At New Orleans the usual French governor appointed by
the King stood at the head of affairs. He had autocratic power
over the general enterprises of the colony — a little Louis XIV. in
his domain. But as others were subject to his orders, so was he
likewise subject to the minutest whim of the court of France.
Standing next to the governor, and taking the place of the in
tendant of Canada, was the comissaire-ordinnateur, a sort ¦ of
commissary general, who had control of the stores and regu
lated details of administration to which the governor could not
well give attention. He was also to keep a watch on the actions
of the governor, and report any irregularities to the King. There
was consequently at no infrequent intervals bad feeling or regu
lar feuds between the two leading officers. In the early period,
military law alone prevailed and was administered by a military
tribunal, composed of these two officials. The advice of the priests
was doubtless of some value, but not regularly sought. After
1715 the tribunal was enlarged and its powers more specifically
defined. With the advent of the Mississippi Company, a royal
edict was promulgated (1719) which erected a Superior Council
for the free administration of justice and the general affairs of
the colony. It was to be composed of such directors of the com
pany as might chance to be in the colony, the governor, two lieu
tenant-governors, the King's attorney-general, the King's com
missary, and four other persons. This council was to share the
former power of the governor, who was no longer absolute.
In 1720 a proclamation was issued informing the inhabitants
that they could get supplies from the company's stores at fixed
rates, and that they must send all of their products to these stores,
where they would be paid for at the scheduled prices. The
straight-jacket trade policy which was preparing the peasantry
of France for the Revolution and the Reign of Terror was now to

New Orleans and French Louisiana. 27
be strictly enforced in Louisiana. To this commercial servitude
was added the restriction that the inhabitants were not to leave the
colony without the consent of the company. The vine, hemp,
flax, all products that could come into competition with those of
the mother country were proscribed. In 1724 a severe Black
Code was enacted, Jews were forever expelled from the colony,
and every mode of worship except the Roman Catholic was pro
hibited. One thing to be noticed about Louisiana in contrast with
Canada was the small influence of the priests. Soon after the
founding of the colony the Curate de la Vente, who was the
spiritual head of the settlement, had essayed to play a leading
part in temporal affairs, whereupon Bienville had sent him about
his business. He then became a malcontent, and had much to do
with Bienville's dismissal as governor, but the priests were never
able to gain as much control of the government as they did in
Canada. Louisiana was divided for ecclesiastical administration
into three districts. The Carmelites had control of the settle
ments to the east of the mouth of the Mississippi; the Capuchin
territory reached from New Orleans to the Illinois, and the Jes
uits were allotted the Wabash and Illinois district. The morals
of the people were naturally low and the difficulties besetting the
work of the priests were multitudinous. In addition to their
task of administering to the spiritual wants of the dissolute colon
ists was the urgent call for the conversion of the Indians. In
Canada their labors of love had often preserved the French from
Indian hostility; in the feeble condition of Louisiana such a mis
sion was even more indispensable.
The general affairs of the colony, it must be admitted, were
poorly managed. Bienville left Louisiana in 1743, never to re
turn. He had spent nearly half a century in honest service for
the upbuilding of the territory ; but the most that can be said for
him is that he was faithful and patriotic. He was sensible and
public spirited, but had none of the brilliance, the tact, or the
compelling energy that characterized Champlain and La Salle in

28 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
Canada, or Dupleix and Labourdonnais in India. Yet it must
not be forgotten that the materials with which he had to build
were inferior, that the obstacles in his pathway were many and
stupendous, and that to him Louisiana owed more than to any
other individual. He is rightly styled the father of Louisiana.
After the departure of Bienville, few things of importance
occurred before the transfer of Louisiana to Spain. The Mar
quis of Vaudreuil was sent over as governor, and served until his
services were required in Canada. He was then succeeded (1753)
by Kerleric, who held the office during the remainder of the
French ownership. The population of the territory steadily
grew, but the state of affairs was ever critical. Official corruption
was common; political cliques and factions kept up a perpetual
tumult ; and rival religious organizations intrigued for each other's
ruin. The finances were necessarily unstable, and the paper-
money curse periodically appeared. The annual budget continu
ally increased. For the first twenty years of the colony's history,
the annual expense to the King of France was about 150,000
livres. The budget now ran from half a million to a million
livres a year, a large part of which must come from the hard-
pressed treasury of the mother country. No wonder that the
French ministers were ready to part with a colony which had
been a constant burden for half a century and showed as yet no
signs of ever becoming self-sustaining !
But with Louisiana was destined to go the whole of New
France. The visions of Champlain and La Salle were never to
materialize. The glittering fabric of empire, which had cost so
much blood and treasure, which had inspired so many heroic deeds
and sustained so many despairing souls, was woven too thinly to
stand the stress of conflict. The attenuated settlement, stretching
from Acadia to New Orleans, was no match for the compact
mass of English-American citizens, clustered on the Atlantic
coast, whose industry had made them opulent, whose government
had made them self-sufficient, and whose number had grown to ten
times that of their rivals. The French and Indian War was a

New Orleans and French Louisiana. 29
struggle of England against France, of the self-governing colo
nies against the paternal absolutism of New France ; the result is
not far to seek, nor does its events need to be recounted. Louisiana
played little part in the struggle, but was present at the division
of spoils. In 1761 the French ambassador presented a memorial to
the Spanish government, in which he confessed that France was
unable to protect Louisiana, and solicited the aid of Spain. On
November 3, 1762, a treaty was signed at Fontainebleau, by which
the French King, "from the pure impulse of his generous heart"
ceded to his "cousin of Spain" all the country "known under the
name of Louisiana." But France retained possession, and in
February of the next year, a new distribution of territory was
made by the Peace of Paris. According to this treaty, the part
of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, together with the island of
New Orleans, was left to Spain, in return for aid given to France
during the war ; Spain ceded Florida to England, getting Havana
in return ; Canada and the remaining territory east of the Missis
sippi, went to England. Thus crumbled into ruins, by virtue of
its own infirmities and before the growing enterprise of the Eng
lish colonies, aided by the genius of Pitt and Wolfe, the magnifi
cent conception of a great French empire, within whose huge
dimensions the paltry acres of Old France could be hidden with
as much ease as the political shrewdness of le Grand Monarque
amidst the statesmen of our Constitutional Convention of 1787.

CHAPTER III.
St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana.
THE news of the transfer of Louisiana to Spain in 1763
was received with consternation by the loyal inhabitants
of that province. Fleeting rumors of the first transfer
had reached them, but they had been cast aside with in
credulity. Were they to be bartered away as merchandise ? Were
their national character and rights so far forgotten that they were
to be transformed into Englishmen or Spaniards without their
consent ? What was to become of their property, their laws, their
society? Was the prospect of a glorious empire to be renounced
by the dastardly impolicy of surrender on the very threshold of
success ? It was only with the publication of the King's Procla
mation that the bitter truth went home; and then, for a brief
moment, the spirit that glorified the Fourth of July, 1776, stirred
their wrathful souls.
Governor Kerleric was recalled in 1763, and M. D'Abbadie
sent out to succeed him under the title of director-general. Ker
leric was accused of extravagance and peculation, probably not
without justice, and cast into the Bastile. It was to D'Abbadie
that Louis XV. addressed his communication which was published
in October, 1764. D'Abbadie was instructed to deliver up the
country to the Spanish governor, and the colonists were assured
that under his Catholic Majesty the "protection and good will"
which they had heretofore enjoyed would be extended, their re
ligion and property would not be disturbed, nor would the ordi
nary course of justice be interrupted. Even the Superior Council
was to be continued. Indeed, so gradual was the change, so
little energy did the Spanish government show in assuming con
trol, that the people began to imagine the transfer was only a

St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana. 31
ruse to circumvent in some way the English, and when, more than
a year later, the Spanish governor arrived, his dilatory tactics
confirmed the suspicion.
Meantime, the colonists had not remained silent. The Su
perior Council had invited each parish to send some of its most
distinguished citizens as delegates to an assembly which met at
New Orleans. Resolutions were passed, humbly supplicating the
King of France not to cast them away from his benign control,
and Jean Milhet, the wealthiest merchant of the colony, was sent
to carry it to the throne. When he arrived in Paris he called
upon the aged Bienville, who went along to help plead the cause
with the King's minister, Choiseul. But Choiseul informed them
that Louisiana could not maintain its precarious existence without
an enormous expense which France was utterly incapable of
meeting. "Is it not better/' said he, "that Louisiana should be
given away to a friend and faithful ally, than be wrested from
us by an hereditary foe?"
The failure of this mission shrouded the colony in gloom.
The dismal outlook grew drearier still when in March, 1766, Don
Antonio de Ulloa arrived as governor to take possession in the
name of the King of Spain. Ulloa^as a man of the highest dis
tinction in science and letters. He held high rank in the Spanish
navy, and had been equally successful as a civil administrator.
His courage was undoubted and his humanity far exceeded that
of the usual Spanish official. The instructions given to him by
Charles III. were also quite liberal. He was accompanied by
other civil officers, but since the necessary military force had not
yet arrived, it was decided to postpone taking formal possession
until the arrival of more troops.
Such liberalism was new to the inhabitants of Louisiana,
and they proceeded at once to misinterpret it. Those who had
received Ulloa with cold and sullen respect began to foment se
dition. The Superior Council asked him to show his commission,
whereupon he informed them that he was not yet ready to take
charge, and that if he were, he could only deal with Aubry, who

32 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
had succeeded D'Abbadie as governor. This rude blow at the
authority of the Superior Council made matters worse. A secret
association was formed throughout the region and a conspiracy
was hatched to drive out the Spaniards, with Ulloa at their head.
A petition to the Superior Council urging this action was pre
pared by two members of the Council and sent around for signa
tures. It was presented at a meeting of the Council in October,
1768. At the same time, a large body of the insurgents marched
into New Orleans under arms. Ulloa, glad to escape to his books
from such a turbulent position, prudently took to a ship and sailed
away. The chief objects of the Revolution were now accomplished,
and the people, trained to despotic government, shrank back in
terror at the boldness of their own actions. What would France
think? What would Spain do? The leaders soon found them
selves isolated, while the few Spaniards that were left were being
courted. How different the followers of Samuel Adams and
John Hancock when the decree of George III. had declared those
sterling patriots beyond the reach of pardon! One of the lead
ing conspirators, Foucault, turned traitor to his confederates.
The others knew not what to do. They appealed to the English
at Pensacola, but their emissaries were coldly received. Wild
schemes of proclaiming a republic with Lafrenere as protector
filled the air.
But the suspense was soon relieved by the news that General
Alexander O'Reilly had been appointed to succeed Ulloa as gov
ernor and was coming with a large military force. He arrived
in July, 1769, with 2,600 choice Spanish troops, bearing orders
to punish the leaders of the insurrection, and to establish Spanish
control and administration. O'Reilly was an Irishman whose
ability and courage had overcome the prejudice and pride of the
Spanish dons and had raised him to the front rank in the army
of Charles III. His military services were long and distinguished,
and he was equally able as an administrator.
The leaders against the Spanish in Louisiana saw the use-

St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana. 33
lessness of resisting such a force, and O'Reilly received a hearty
welcome. His attitude was conciliatory and flattering. A proc
lamation was issued, granting pardon to all save a few of the lead
ing conspirators. The inhabitants were all required to take the
oath of allegiance to the Spanish King, while several members
of the Superior Council and a number of others, twelve in all,
were shot or sent to Havana, where they were safely ensconced in
Moro Castle.
On the morning of the eighteenth of August, 1769, amidst
booming cannon and shouts of "Viva el Rey !" "Viva el Rey !" the
flag of France was lowered from the gate of New Orleans, while
that of Spain was raised to take its place. Then O'Reilly, ac
companied by his retinue of officers and the former French gov
ernor, Aubry, led the procession around the square and to the
cathedral, where addresses were made, and a solemn Te Deum
was sung, during which the fleet and army renewed their salutes.
These pious services over, they returned to the public square,
where the ceremonies were completed. Thus ended the supremacy
of the French in the land where, ninety-seven years before, La
Salle, with superb genius, had planted the fleurs-de-lis, as the
basis of a new empire to be carved out of the vast, unknown conti
nent. The colonial government set up by Spain was not materially
different from that established by France. The governor was to be
assisted by Loyola, commissary of war and intendant; Gayarre,
contador or royal comptroller; Navarro, treasurer; and a num
ber of minor officials. The Superior Council was to be replaced
by a Cabildo, composed of six perpetual regidors, two ordinary
alcades, an attorney-general-syndic, and a clerk. The Cabildo
was to sit weekly and to be presided over by the governor. The
offices of regidor and clerk were to be purchased at auction, and
were transferable. The ordinary alcades were elected annually,
and performed functions similar to those of an English justice
of the peace. After the organization of the cabildo, O'Reilly

34 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
gave up the governorship, and remained in general charge as
captain-general. The French code of laws was succeeded by a
set of regulations based upon the laws of Castile and the code
of the Indies ; but since both French and Spanish law were based
upon the Roman law, the changes were not burdensome.
While these things were occurring about New Orleans, inter
esting and important events were taking place in Upper Louis
iana. Early in 1764, Major Loftus arrived at New Orleans and
started up the river to take possession of the Illinois country,
in the name of the King of Great Britain. He was fired upon
by the Indians, and returned, loudly and unjustly condemning the
French as instigators of the attack. Meanwhile, the French
commandant, St. Ange de Bellerive, continued to exercise control.
Early in 1760, however, Captain Sterling reached Kaskaskia, and
took possession in the name of the English monarch. A procla
mation was issued, allowing the Catholics freedom of worship,
promising to those who would remain and take the oath of allegi
ance and fidelity to their new sovereign the rights and immuni
ties of British subjects, and assuring perfect freedom to those
who desired to leave the English possessions. This latter privi
lege was accepted by many who preferred Spanish to English
domination. Some departed from the colony in disgust, while
many others crossed the Mississippi into Missouri. Among these
was the French commandant St. Ange de Bellerive, who went over
to St. Louis and became the first governor of Upper Louisiana
under Spain.
St. Louis was at this time a growing village of small dimen
sions. Its founding was of no slight consequence in the history
of Louisiana. At the time of the cession of Illinois to the Eng
lish, all of the leading settlements of Upper Louisiana, except
Ste. Genevieve, were on the east bank of the river. The French
desired a strong post on the Missouri side, through which the
trade of the northwest could be diverted from the hated English.
There was no money for such an enterprise, and the old expedient
of granting a monopoly was resorted to. Early in 1763, Monsieur

St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana. 35
D'Abbadie granted to Maxent, Laclede & Company a monopoly
of the fur trade with the Indians of Missouri and the region west
of the Mississippi, as far north as the St. Peter. This firm became
generally known as "The Louisiana Fur Company," and they
had an expedition ready to start by the third of August.
The leader of the enterprise was Pierre Laclede Liguest,
(he generally signed himself simply Pierre Laclede), who was at
•this time thirty-nine years old. He was a tall, dark, black-eyed
Frenchman, spirited, enterprising, ambitious. Reared in the
shadow of the Pyrenees, he was familiar with both French and
Spanish character and customs, which fitted him for the great
work he was to perform. Peering from the narrow confines of
his own home to the hazy continent beyond the sea, his restless
imagination began to picture a settlement in far away Louisiana
where wealth would flow freely into his purse and the name of
Pierre Laclede would be supreme. With a number of friends he
set out for an adventurous career in the new world. He arrived
in New Orleans in 1755 and was soon head of a commercial es
tablishment. In 1763 he became junior partner in "The Louis
iana Fur Company." This gave him his coveted opportunity for
he was put in charge of the expedition to found a post near the
mouth of the Missouri to control the fur trade of the northwest.
After three months of toil against the impetuous current of
the Mississippi in unshapely and heavily laden boats, the mem
bers of Laclede's party reached St. Genevieve. But finding there
no suitable place to store their goods, they crossed to Fort
Chartres which was made headquarters for the winter. From
there Laclede, with a small party, explored the west bank of the
river up to the mouth of the Missouri. After careful examination
he selected a site for the new trade center, and later generations
have proved the wisdom of his choice. It was none other than
the high and delightful spot upon which the present metropolis
of St. Louis stands, a situation combining the excellences of
"healthful residence and of matchless facilities for commercial
exchange." He returned to Fort Chartres and enthusiastically

36 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
predicted that "he intended to establish a settlement which might
become hereafter one of the finest cities of America."
On this expedition he was accompanied by the youthful
Auguste Chouteau, whose name was to be indissolubly connected
with the founding of St. Louis, and whose brother, Pierre Chou
teau, was to become the patriarch in the development of the fur
trade of the west. These brothers were sons of Madame Chouteau,
who accompanied Laclede on his voyage up the Mississippi, and
with whom she lived in civil law marriage after separation from
her Catholic husband, Monsieur Chouteau. In the spring of
1764, Auguste Chouteau, then only thirteen years of age, was
sent in charge of about thirty workmen to begin felling the pri
meval forest for the new settlement. Laclede soon followed, and
the first buildings were erected on the block bounded by First,
Second, Walnut and Market streets. Here was erected the com
pany's store, and in the immediate neighborhood, the cabins of the
men, the home of Laclede, and in 1770, the first church in St.
Louis. The embryo village was named St. Louis in honor of Louis
IX., the patron saint of the reigning monarch, Louis XV., of
France. Such was the beginning of the future capital of Upper
Louisiana, the metropolis of the Mississippi Valley, to be the
scene one hundred and forty years later of the grandest memorial
celebration the world has yet seen.
The development of St. Louis was a brilliant contrast to the
tedious and painful growth of the other villages of the Louisiana
Territory. Circumstances favored the child of Laclede, for
tune smiled upon her, and almost immediately she sprang into
prominence. Within a few months St. Ange came over with the
French garrison from Ft. Chartres, and was followed by many of
the French families from Kaskaskia and Cahokia, who turned
with disgust from the clumsy, self-governing English intrtuders.
Within five years the hill-tops overlooking the stately Mississippi
were dotted with the cabins of some seven hundred inhabitants.
A family of young villages soon sprang up about the mother set
tlement, such as Carondelet, St. Charles, Bonhomme, Florissant,

St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana. 37
and Portage des Sioux. The Indian trade was pouring wealth
into the pockets of the natives, and a degree of prosperity un
known in French America prevailed.
The life of the early French settlers in Louisiana was highly
picturesque, a life chequered with extremes of light and shadow,
joy and sorrow, religious fervor mingled with utter frivolity, ease
never free from the shadow of hardship, and calamity following
close upon the heels of prosperity. Contrasted with the sombre
intelligence of New England Puritanism or the lonely brilliance
of the Virginia planter, the social structure was loose and hollow,
but withal bright and attractive. The facile, adaptable French
man, with free and easy manners, a vivacious spirit, and a fond
ness for display, mixed readily with the Indians and won their
lasting friendship. They took naturally to the wild life and en
joyed the license, the freedom, the exhilaration of the pure air
of the prairies and the forests. The young man became a
voyageur oh the rivers, then, perchance, drifted into the woods
as a hunter and trapper. Ignoring the monopolistic spirit of the
French authorities, he began clandestine trading as a coureur-
des-bois. He purchased his Indian squaw with gifts, and lived
on the outskirts of the Indian camp. His visits to the settle
ments were spent in carousals and debauchery. Civilization was
left behind, and the instruction of the priests forgotten. The
canoe, the gun, the dog, the trap, were his companions, the rude
wilderness hut his home. But by and by the suppleness of youth
gives way to the infirmities brought on by hardship, while the
conservatism of age tempers the wild heedlessness of youth. The
coureur begins to yearn for the quiet of the settlement where he
returns to build a cabin within whose shadows he can smoke and
chat away his declining years. Meanwhile a family of half-
breeds has grown up, and his sons have taken his place at the oar
and in the camp. Such is the adventurous and romantic life of
the coureur. But he is only a type, the forerunner of progress in western
life. St.'Louis had its quota of these, but not the large percent-

38 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
age found in the Illinois towns. Stable settlers came down from
Canada; the church crept in from the North and South; Creoles
and Frenchmen came up from New Orleans ; Englishmen drifted
in from the East; and emigrants still crossed over from Spain
and France. Merchants, traders, artisans, adventurers, priests,
soldiers, men of ability, men of ambition, men of culture, were
not lacking. St. Louis combined many of the characteristics of
Canada, the Illinois country, and New Orleans, without being like
either. More democratic and progressive ideas were adopted.
Instead of clinging to the old French idea of a commune, with
its system of common tillage, the land was parcelled out for in
dividual ownership. Instead of depending on individual hunters,
trappers, and boatmen, fur companies, transportation companies,
and mining companies were organized. In fact, St. Louis be
came a real western village, and only the larger infusion of sturdy
English blood was needed to make her typical of the rapid taming
of the vast expanse of the west, which a century has jeweled with
a thousand cities and made to blossom with luxuriance and wealth.
The government of St. Louis was similar to that of other
French towns. At first there was no organized civil government.
The mechanics and hunters and traders who came with Laclede
were bound together by common interests and were subject to his
orders. Laclede was never disposed to assume civil responsibility,
and about the only governmental function necessary was the allot
ment of land for use until the inchoate title thus acquired could
be confirmed by some higher authority. With the arrival of St.
Ange and his soldiers and the other Illinois immigrants, some
form of government became necessary. By common consent, St.
Ange was chosen de facto governor, awaiting the arrival of the
Spaniards. He was a man of mature years, being then over
sixty, who had seen much service in the French army. He was
no less able as an administrator than as a soldier, and his tact,
fairness, and practical intelligence soon proved the wisdom of his
selection. Associated with St. Ange in the civil administration
were Judge Lefebre, who had control of legal matters, and Joseph

St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana. 39
Labusciere, secretary and notary public. With this simple form
of self-government, the town started, and later the director-gen
eral of Louisiana, Aubry, completed the organization by appoint
ing two judges, an attorney-general, and a notary. Under this
government, St. Louis continued until the arrival of the Spaniards
in 1770. This event was heralded by the arrival of O'Reilly at New
Orleans. As soon as the commandant had overawed the rebellious
Frenchmen about the mouth of the Mississippi, he dispatched Don
Pedro Piernas with a body of Spanish troops to St. Louis to take
possession of Upper Louisiana. Piernas arrived in the spring of
1770 and quietly assumed control. He was a man of ability and
rare tact. Several weeks were spent in the hospitable home of
Laclede, cultivating the friendship of the people and familiariz
ing himself with the situation. On May 20, as lieutenant-gov
ernor in charge of Upper Louisiana, he assumed the reins of
government without opposition. Thus passed from the control
of the French the last foot of soil within the present bounds of the
United States.
But with a wisdom too uncommon among Spanish governors,
no radical changes were made. The venerable and popular St.
Ange was made captain of infantry in the Spanish service. The
minor offices were filled with Frenchmen. All the land titles
granted under the French regime were confirmed and a French
surveyor, Martin Duralde, was appointed to define the bounds of
the various estates. Conciliation was the watchword. Governor
Piernas himself married a French woman, and the Spanish force
of six officers and twenty men was soon lost in the spirit of the
village. St. Louis continued in the even tenor of its way to develop
and prosper. Governor Piernas was superseded in May, 1775,
by Don Francisco Cruzat, whose nature was not less kindly and
whose political discretion was not less conspicuous than that of
Piernas. But the political content of the people was rudely upset
in 1 778 by the harshness and rapacity of Cruzat's successor, Fer-

40 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
nando de Leybe. During De Leybe's administration two events of
importance occurred. The first of these was the death of Pierre
Laclede, the father of the settlement, in 1778. In the four
teen years since Laclede laid out the town of St. Louis, he had
not been idle. While his name occupies little space in the politi
cal history of the region, his services in building up her trade
and commerce were incalculable. He was almost constantly on
the road, establishing new trading posts, making alliances with
Indian tribes, and opening up new relations with New Orleans
and Europe. It was while returning from New Orleans that he
was smitten with a fatal illness and carried to a military post at
the mouth of the Arkansas, where he died at the age of fifty-four.
He was buried in the wilderness on the south bank of the Arkan
sas, but when, in later years, a grateful people desired to erect
a monument to his memory it was found that the insiduous cur
rent of the river had washed his remains into the Mississippi to
join those of its great discoverer.
The other event was an attack of the Indians which might
easily have proved tragic. While the heroic struggle was going
on between Great Britain and the embattled farmers of the At
lantic slope, the echogs of battle scarcely caused a thrill in the
placid calm of the wilderness center. In 1778 Colonel George
Rogers Clark had captured Kaskaskia and Cahokia without shed
ding a drop of blood, but the Spanish city rested secure. Gov
ernor Cruzat had matured a plan of defense for St. Louis, but
had been removed before putting it into execution. The city
was defenseless in the hands of the incompetent de Leybe, when
in 1780 the Indians, inspired by the British to the north, de
scended the Mississippi in search of scalps. They feared to at
tack Cahokia and a predatory band crossed the river. The plan
was to capture the unarmed men in the fields and then attack the
city; but so few men happened to be at their labors the day of
the attack that they made only a half-hearted attack on the fort
and decided to rest content with a half dozen scalps and a few

St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana. 41
prisoners, most of whom were released after the peace of 1783.*
Governor De Leybe ended his dissipations with death in
1780, and the popular Cruzat was recalled. Cruzat was suc-
seeded by Don Manuel Perez in 1787. It was during his rule
that the system of inducing immigration by the offer of large
tracts of land was begun. His successor, Trudeau, extended the
policy, and some of the grants reached as high as thirty thousand
acres. Dreams of opulence began to attract settlers to the hither
to sluggish village, and frenzy of speculation disturbed its wonted
repose. New settlements were springing up along the rivers.
With the arrival of Charles Delassus as Governor in 1799 (he had
been promoted from the post commandership at New Madrid) a
census of Upper Louisiana was taken. It was found that the
population of the whole region was 6,028. Of these 883 were
slaves and 197 were freedmen. The population. of St. Louis was
925. Delassus remained in control of Upper Louisiana until its
transfer to the United States in 1803.
While St. Louis and Upper Louisiana were growing apace,
New Orleans and Lower Louisiana were making a similar de
velopment. Spanish regulation, or rather restriction, of com
merce threatened at first to stifle prosperity, but when O'Reilly
gave place as governor to Don Luis de Unzago in August, 1772,
the evils were somewhat mitigated. Ulloa had, through the
French Governor, Aubry, restricted trade to a half-dozen Spanish
seaports, and required that all imports and exports should be car
ried in Spanish vessels. Since these ports could not supply the
traffic most needed in the colony, the only resource that enabled
the colonists to subsist was a clandestine trade with the English.
The treaty of 1763 had reserved to the English the free naviga
tions of the Mississippi, and large numbers of English immigrants
had located at Bayou Manchac, Baton Rouge and Natchez Their
vessels ploughed up and down the river and the thrifty traders

?There is a historical controversy regarding the extent and complicity
of the British in this famous Indian attack on St. Louis. Not having been
able as yet to ascertain the truth from documentary sources, the most
reasonable account has been accepted.

42 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
had established floating warehouses fitted up as stores which sup
plied at the water's edge the goods and slaves needed by the
planters, in return for the produce of their farms. This smug
gling trade was wisely winked at by Unzago, and the Chinese
like regulations, instead of working to the advantage of Spain,
gave a monopoly of the coveted trade to the English.
One of the most serious disturbances of the colony was of a
religious nature. This difficulty had sprung up at an early day
between the Jesuits and the Capuchins. In 1717 the Capuchins
had secured from the East India Company the exclusive ecclesi
astical jurisdiction over New Orleans and a large part of Louis
iana. But in 1726 the Jesuits obtained permission to settle in
the colony and had been assigned the Upper settlements. Once
in the colony, they began to intrigue to get control. The first
definite attempt was made in 1755, when their superior obtained
from the Bishop of Quebec, in whose diocese Louisiana was in
cluded, a commission as Grand Vicar of Louisiana. This brought
on an open conflict with the Capuchins, which soon assumed large
proportions; and, like most religious quarrels, was very acrimon
ious. The Superior Council finally decided in favor of the Capu
chins, but the Jesuits continued to exercise many ecclesiastical
functions. In 1764 came the order for the expulsion of the
Jesuits and their property, worth $180,000, was confiscated and
sold. But the nine-lived Jesuits refused to die, and when some
half dozen years later a similar struggle arose between the French
and Spanish Capuchins, they were ready to fan the embers of dis
cord into a flame. Father Dagobert was the venerable and much
beloved superior of the Capuchin monastery. He had shown
much sweetness of temper, great liberality, and rare power of
adapting his ministrations to the spirit of the people, so that
when the Spanish assumed control of the province and Louis
iana became the ecclesiastical fief of the Bishop of Cuba, he was
still left in charge. In 1772 the Bishop sent over Father Cirilo
to investigate the affairs of the Church. When the report was
made, the lenience of the French Father Dagobert was con-

St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana. 43
demned; but the governor stoutly defended him, and a contro
versy sprang up between the Bishop of Cuba and Governor
Unzago. The matter was appealed to Spain, where a compro
mise was effected, through which peace again entered the reverend
fraternity. The administration of Governor Unzago lasted from 1772 to
February, 1777. He was a mild and beneficent ruler, and by a
policy of such exceeding liberality that it failed to meet the com
plete approval of the authorities at Madrid, he had increased the
prosperity of the colony and done much to reconcile the French
men to Spanish control. The inhabitants were thriving on the
illicit trade he allowed, and it was with universal regret that he
announced his intention to leave. His successor was Don Ber
nardo de Galvez, then colonel of the regiment in Louisiana.
Galvez was only twenty-one years old, but he was a young
man of great ability and unbounded energy. His father was
viceroy of Mexico, and his uncle the most powerful man in the
| service of the Spanish King. His administration was no less
liberal than that of his predecessor, and lasted to the close of the
American Revolution. It was very important in the development
of Louisiana, and for the aid rendered to the patriot cause.
The opening months of his rule were signalized by the de
struction of the English monopoly of the carrying trade of Louis
iana, and its transfer to the French. In 1776 the courts of
France and Spain had agreed to open trade between Louisiana
and the French West Indes. A short time after the accession of
Galvez two French commissioners, Villars and dAunoy, arrived
at New Orleans to control this traffic. The West India trade
proved profitable, and various steps were taken to encourage agri
culture, particularly the raising of tobacco. Imports came in
from Cuba and other places, specie became more plentiful, ne
groes were introduced in larger numbers, industry began to thrive.
Plans to attract immigration were not forgotten. Large numbers,
499 in one body for example, came over from the Canary Islands
at the King's expense. They were provided with lands and

44 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
houses and "cattle and farming utensils ; a church was erected for
them in each village they established, and provisions out of the
general commissary were supplied until they could become self-
sustaining. The policy of making extensive land grants, which
proved so successful in Upper Louisiana, was inauguarted by
Galvez and extended by his successor, Miro. Munificent grants
lured many English settlers to cross over into Louisiana and take
the oath of allegiance to the Spanish monarch. In 1788 Colonel
George Morgan was given an immense tract of land about seventy
miles below the mouth of the Ohio and led a large party to the
site of New Madrid, Missouri. Other settlements grew up in
like manner and thus, by a general infiltration of English blood
was Louisiana prepared for its future transfer.
The aid to the American cause supplied through Louisiana
during the Revolution should not be forgotten. One of the first
official acts of the spirited young Galvez was to seize and con
fiscate eleven richly laden English ships engaged in the smuggling
trade about New Orleans. The order of the Spanish court to
render secret assistance to the Americans was seized with alacrity.
Oliver Pollock and Captain Willing came down the Ohio and
Mississippi from Fort Pitt and were aided in the purchase of
powder and military stores for the American army. Gayarre, in
his History of Louisiana, states that this secret aid amounted to
seventy thousand dollars. Galvez was instructed to hold in trust
any British settlement on the Mississippi, which the Americans
might take and turn over to him — a peculiar bit of responsibility
the Americans were pretty sure not to ask him to assume. But it
was in 1779 when the Spaniards unsheathed the sword and joined
hands with the United States and France against England that
Galvez took the field, and, with great dash and courage, drove the
English out of Florida and the Louisiana forts of Natchez, Baton
Rouge, and Bayou Manchac. This capture of the Floridas was
of peculiar importance to the United States since it left them at
the conclusion of the war in possession of the decrepit monarchy
from whose nerveless fingers they were certain at some future
date to drop into the open arms of the young republic.

St. Louis and Spanish Louisiana. 45
The administration of Galvez ended with the year 1784. He
was succeeded by Don Estevan Miro, who remained in control
seven years. He possessed none of the brilliance of Galvez, but
was a man of good education, sound intelligence, a high sense of
honor, and an abundance of energy. At the opening of his ad
ministration a census was taken which showed that the total popu
lation of Louisiana had increased from 13,538 in 1769 to 31,433
in 1785. By virtue of the arrival of a large number of Acadians
and a liberal policy, this number was increased by more than
10,000 in three years. By the time of the transfer in 1803 the
number had reached about 50,000. The population of New Or
leans grew from 3,000 in 1769, to 5,000 in 1785, and to more than
3,000 in 1803.
Miro was succeeded in 1792 by Francois Louis Hector,
Baron de Carondelet, who became governor and intendant of the
provinces of Louisiana and West Florida. Carondelet was a
native of Flanders who had risen by great zeal and ability to a
responsible position in the service of Spain. The five years of his
governorship were filled with stirring and significant events.
The French Revolution was sending out its thrills of hope and
horror to the uttermost parts of the earth, and Louisiana, still
largely a French province, reaped a rich harvest of its excite
ment. First came a number of royalist emigres who were re
ceived with joy and given large tracts of land upon which to
found settlements. Then came the agents of the French Jacobins
who published an inflammatory address from "The Freemen of
France to their Brothers in Louisiana."
"The hour has struck, Frenchmen of Louisiana," it said.
"The moment has arrived when despotism must disappear from
the earth. . . . Now is the time to cease being slaves of a
government, to which you were shamefully sold; and no longer
to be led on like a herd of cattle, by men who with one word
can strip you of what you hold most dear — liberty and property.
Compare with your situation that of your friends — the free Amer
icans. Look at the province of Kentucky, deprived of outlets

46 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
for its products, and yet, notwithstanding these obstacles, and
merely through the genial influence of a free government, rap
idly increasing its population and wealth, and already presaging
a prosperity which causes the Spanish government to tremble."
So active were the Jacobin agents that an expedition was
planned to wrest Louisiana from Spain by the aid of Kentucky
riflemen and set up there the standard of a free French republic.
But the energy and address of Carondelet, together with the firm
ness and prudence of Washington, prevented such a rash enter
prise. The net result of this disturbance, however, accrued to the
interest of the United States. Her citizens in the Southwest were
determined to have the free navigation of the Mississippi, and
various intrigues and incipient buccaneering expeditions had
threatened direful calamities. The accumulated dangers were
made known to the Spanish court where the shrewd and unscrupu
lous Don Manuel Godoy reigned supreme. The treaty between
the United States and Spain which had long been pending was
signed at Madrid, October 20, 1795, — thus registering the first
real diplomatic triumph of the young Republic. The magnani
mous Godoy gave the United States all she asked, — a settlement
of the boundary of the Floridas, free navigation of the Missis
sippi, and a port of deposit at New Orleans free of duty for
three years. The term of three years was to be extended by
subsequent negotiation; or, in lieu of this, another point on the
island of New Orleans was to be assigned as a place of deposit
for American trade.
The time limit set to the privilege of deposit was a subter
fuge on the part of the astute Godoy to relieve the danger of
an immediate descent of the determined Westerners upon New
Orleans, and to give time to mature some other scheme to avoid
extension. Little did he realize that within this time the enjoy
ment of the privilege would become so common as to be felt to be
a natural right, and that its removal would arouse such towering
wrath that it would force the hand of the distant government
at Washington. But such was the case and the manifest destiny

St. Lotus and Spanish Louisiana. 47
of Louisiana was wrought out of the diplomatic muddle within
five years of the time limit set by Godoy in the Treaty of Madrid
to the unobstructed navigation of the Mississippi.

CHAPTER IV.
A DIPLOMATIC DRAMA; THE GREAT PURCHASE.
ON the fourth day of March, 1801, Thomas Jefferson was
inaugurated President of the United States. He did not
ride up to the capitol alone, dismount, hitch his horse to
a fence post, and then walk into the audience room to
read his fifteen-minute inaugural, as stated by many of the old
school books ; but what was more significant was that he was a true
democrat, mild, pacific, optimistic, trusting implicitly the ultimate
sense of the American people. He was an aristocrat, born and
bred, yet few men ever lived who had a more pious contempt for
the tinsel glitter of royalty, or the noisy exhibition of rank and
supposed social superiority. Of personal magnetism, oratory, dash
and verve, of qualities that compel respect and herald leadership
from afar, Jefferson had almost none; yet few entered his pres
ence without feeling the magic spell of his peculiar power. He
was six feet two-and-a-half inches tall, loosely built, red-headed,
sandy-complexioned. A sunny countenance and a bland smile
covered a political cunning that surprised his friends and discom
fited his foes. He was approachable, friendly, even-tempered, a
brilliant conversationalist, dabbled in science, philosophy, litera
ture, agriculture, and was never at a loss for a plane on which to
meet an individual or a clever expedient to avoid a difficulty. His
manner was rather stiff and awkward as a result of natural timid
ity. He sat in "a lounging manner, on one hip commonly, and with
one of his shoulders elevated much above the other," presenting a
"shackling air." His dress was plain and reckless, and his red-
plush waistcoat, corduroy breeches, yarn stockings and slippers
down at the heels, afforded no end of merriment to his aristocratic
opponents. (48)

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 49
Such was the outward aspect of the man the American people
had elected to deal on equal terms with the crowned heads of
Europe, with Pitt and Godoy, Talleyrand and Napoleon. Be
neath the surface, however, there burned a fiery passion for liberty,
a zeal for the public welfare, a disinterested patriotism, and a
determined continuity of purpose which might swerve from the
direct path but never lost sight of the end in view. His methods
were peaceful and conciliatory but he knew how to hint at the
use of the "mailed fist" in a way that proved far more effective
than any amount of blustering could have done. Jefferson had
a choice lot of theoretical vagaries that came out in his rambling
talk and loose writings which were seized upon by his political
enemies to discredit his intelligence and balance as a political
leader; but his enthusiasm for revolutionary principles and philo
sophic theories were never allowed to interfere with his political
shrewdness and supreme common sense in dealing with practical
issues. They have sufficed, however, to cause his character to be
misunderstood by early historians, all of the Federalist school,
and it is only in the last quarter of a century that a true view of
his administration has been obtained. John W. Foster has pro
nounced him the greatest politician America has yet produced
and Mr. Henry Adams, whose innate hostility is too evident in his
writings, says: "This sandy face, with hazel eyes and sunny
aspect; this loose, shackling person; this rambling and often
brilliant conversation, belonged to the controlling influences of
American history, more necessary to the story than three-fourths
of the official papers, which only hid the truth. Jefferson's per
sonality during these eight years appeared to be the government,
and impressed itself, like that of Bonaparte, although by a dif
ferent process, on the mind of the nation." His cabinet was
strong, but under the complete domination of his will, and until
the days of Abraham Lincoln no man ever had such absolute con
trol of the nation or deserved equal credit for the acts of his ad
ministration. 4

50 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
Across the Atlantic three towering personalities peered
through the murky diplomatic air toward the horizon of the New
World. One was Don Manuel Godoy, dissipated, unscrupulous,
able, the "Prince of Peace," the despised Spaniard before whose
diplomacy Napoleon had to bow. He was the power behind the
throne of Spain, and his enforced retirement alone paved the way
for the ambition of France. Behind the ambitious First Consul
stood Talleyrand, the conspiring, trafficking, ex-Bishop of Auton,
who was sorry that he had ever sympathized with liberty, and
on the famous 18th Brumaire, betrayed the French republic with
as little conscience as he used in his efforts to restore New
France in the Mississippi valley. He knew not the truth, recked
not friend or foe, scrupled at no means to restore the despotism
and ancient glory of the French monarchy. In the breadth and
steadiness of his purposes and in conscienceless political cunning
he was the superior of his chief. Above all towered the match
less, picturesque Napoleon Bonaparte, who, as Henry Adams says,
"like Milton's Satan on his throne of state, — sat unapproachable
on his bad eminence; or, when he moved the dusky air felt an
unusual weight." He had turned his eyes toward America, and
only fate, with the aid of Jefferson's pacific diplomacy, prevented
a river of blood flooding our western wilderness.
France had never become reconciled to the loss of Louisiana
or ceased to hope for its restoration. When Count de Vergennes
planned a treaty of alliance to aid our Revolutionary forefathers,
he had a covetous eye on an American colony. He later made
definite advances to Spain for the purchase of Louisiana, but the
condition of the French treasury made it impossible to pay the
price demanded by Spain. In 1795, at the Peace of Bale, the
French republic made an effort to obtain the retrocession, and in
1797, under the leadership of Carnot and Barthelemy, the French
Directory offered Godoy a munificent sum for Louisiana. Talley
rand had wandered through America in 1794, and correctly in
terpreted the spirit of our nation to rule alone in the United
States. He returned to France, our implacable enemy, and, as

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 51
foreign minister of the French Directory in 1798, he began his
intrigues to shut up the aspiring nation "within the limits which
Nature seems to have traced for them." He sent Citizen Guille-
mardet to Spain to protest against carrying out the provisions of
the treaty of 1795 and offer the aid of France to put "an end to
the ambition of the Americans" who, he said, were "devoured by
pride, ambition, and cupidity" and were ruled by the Cabinet of
St. James. "Let the Court of Madrid cede these districts [the
Floridas and Louisiana] to France, and from that moment the
power of America is bounded by the limit which it may suit the
interests and the tranquillity of France and Spain to assign her."
The advantage to Spain was to accrue from having the French
provinces as an impenetrable barrier to the aggressions of the
United States upon her vast dominions to the west and south.
As a preliminary step to the success of this policy Talley
rand secured the dismissal of Godoy as head of the Spanish coun
cil; but it was destined to failure from the venality of its author.
The infamous X. Y. Z. fiasco drove Talleyrand out of power and
all but provoked an open declaration of war by the United States.
Talleyrand's next move was to ally himself with the for
tunes of the adventurer, Bonaparte, who returned from Egypt in
1799 to execute his coup d'etat and become First Consul. Na
poleon readily accepted Talleyrand's policy and for three, years
assiduously nursed an ambition for a colonial empire in America.
Spain had ceded her share of the Island of St. Domingo to
France in 1795 and had now sunk to such a state of dependence
as to be a mere tail to Napoleon's kite. The plan of the First
Consul was soon matured. He would obtain from the craven
Spanish monarch the retrocession of Louisiana. This should be
secret. Then he would use St. Domingo as an excuse for a mili
tary expedition and as a basis of operations from which he could
suddenly land an army at New Orleans before the United States
could offer any definite resistance. Once in possession of Louis
iana, time and his own star could dictate further conquests. Re
actionary Europe would gladly see democracy throttled in its last
stronghold.

52 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
With an energy never wanting at this period of his career,
Napoleon set about his new task. Peace must be made with the
United States, England, and Austria. Difficulties with the first
two were to be settled by diplomacy; with Austria by blood and
iron. The irascible John Adams had declared after the X. Y. Z.
imbroglio that he would never send another minister to France un
der existing conditions; but with rare self-sacrifice he braved the
war sentiment of his party and in March, 1 800, sent over a non
partisan commission at the request of the suppliant Talleyrand.
Joseph Bonaparte was at the head of the French commissioners
and negotiations made rapid progress; but the interference of
Napoleon, whose successes in the Austrian compaign made him
arrogant, threatened to ruin the peace. At last the Treaty of
Morfontaine was signed, September 30, 1800, and finally ratified
'by the Senate under protest, December 19, 1801.
Meanwhile Austria had been humbled and the Peace of
Luneville had removed her from among Napoleon's obstacles.
England had likewise been pacified in October, and now the way
was clear for the prosecution of his colonial designs. So eager
was Napoleon to get control of his projected colony that within
six weeks after his victory at Marengo, convinced that he was
master of the situation, without waiting for the conclusion of any
of the above treaties, he dispatched a courier to Citizen Alquier,
French minister at Madrid, bearing orders for him to conclude a
treaty for the retrocession of Louisiana to France. The compen
sation was to be an equivalent addition to the domain of the Duke
of Parma, son-in-law of the Spanish King. In August, 1800,
General Berthier was sent over to take charge of the negotiations
on account of their importance and the secrecy demanded. Ber
thier 's instructions were contained in the famous pro jet of a
treaty of retrocession drawn up by Talleyrand. "The French
Republic," it said, "pledges itself to procure for the Duke of
Parma in Italy an aggrandizement of territory to contain at
least one million inhabitants; the Republic charges itself with
procuring the consent of Austria and the other states interested,

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 53
so that the Duke may be put in possession of his new territory
at the coming peace between France and Austria. Spain on her
side pledges herself to retrocede to the French republic the colony
of Louisiana, with the same extent it actually has in the hands of
Spain." She was further to add to this cession that of the two
Floridas and give to France six ships of war. The two powers
were to make common cause against any nation that should oppose
the execution of this engagement. But King Charles refused to
grant the Floridas or the six ships and Berthier was compelled to
conclude the bargain without them. On October 1, Berthier
signed the treaty of retrocession at San Ildefonso. The treaty
of peace with the United States had been signed by Joseph Bona
parte not twenty-four hours before, but, while the one completely
undid the work of the other, in the crooked policy of Talleyrand,
it appeared to be a double diplomatic triumph for Napoleon.
In the midst of success, however, the black figure of Godoy
appeared in the shadow of the Spanish Court to mock at the
Frenchmen's supremacy over Charles IV. As the time for the
actual transfer approached, Lucian Bonaparte, Napoleon's ablest
brother, was sent over to Spain to take charge of affairs and
Godoy was recalled as the only man able to uphold the honor of
Spain. It was now Greek against Greek, for the wily Corsican
was met by a cold-blooded villainy equal to his own. Lucian was
bribed into signing a treaty which thwarted Napoleon's designs
in Portugal, and Godoy began accumulating obstacles to delay
giving possession of Louisiana. A new treaty was signed at
Madrid, March 21, 1801, in which the bounds of the new king
dom for the Prince of Parma were settled. Parma was to be
made King of Etruria (Tuscany) and was invited to Paris where
he was entertained with patronizing hospitality. But when he
reached his new Italian possession he found it garrisoned by
French troops and ruled by French officers. Under such con
ditions he was the mere shadow of a King, and Godoy soon let it
be understood that the delivery of Louisiana would have to wait
on a better fulfillment of the treaty on the part of the First

54 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
Consul. Bonaparte was furious, but Godoy remained firm and
cool. He stood by his guns and Napoleon determined to crush
him; but in doing so he lost valuable time, and every moment was
precious in carrying out his cherished scheme. Delay would be
fatal; and indeed, from this time forth every hour put Napoleon
farther away from the promised land of Louisiana. But Euro
pean complications, skillfully wrought by the magic of the hated
Godoy, stood not alone in the way of Napoleon's ambition; two
obstacles beyond the sea loomed bigger with each passing day,
and it may be well to examine these before proceeding with the
narrative. The first of these was the United States, whose interest, am
bition, and sturdy tenacity of purpose were well known to Talley
rand, if not to Napoleon. "Spain," according to Mr. Henry
Adams, "lay alongside the south and west of the United States
like a whale — huge, helpless, profitable. Her rule stretched from
the Lake of the Woods to the Gulf, including Texas, Mexico, and
California, as well as Louisiana; while still farther down, South
America even to Patagonia was also under her sway. Far more
than half the territory of the United States has been gained from
this vast inert bulk, rarely in ways not open to criticism." The
Americans did not object to the control of this immense region
by the decrepit monarchy of Spain ; it was only when a powerful
and aggressive nation like France began to intrigue to get pos
session that the United States was thoroughly aroused. Spain
was an unloved though not a bad neighbor ; but who could foretell
the future complications if France under the monstrous autocrat,
Napoleon, ruled just beyond our sparsely-settled western border?
Every neighbor in Europe was suffering from French aggression ;
why should the republic of the United States fare better at the
hands of the despoiler ?
Fortunately for the United States, a partisan of France occu
pied the presidential chair. A war with France had narrowly
been averted in 1798 by the patriotism and courage of John
Adams. Any hasty action would have now been fatal. Napoleon

A Diplomatic Drama; the Great Purchase. 55
had set his heart on an American colony and could not be bullied.
Whatever feelings we may have with regard to Jefferson's tem
porizing diplomacy, there can be no doubt that it was wise; for
time ruined Napoleon's scheme and the President's policy was
justified by the event. Jefferson had been hailed by the press in
the United States and in Europe as the Friend of France. In
theory he was a disciple of Rousseau, having seen at close range
the early events of the French Revolution, and sympathized with
the revolutionists; but the Reign of Terror had dampened his
ardor and the coup d'etat of Napoleon had still further shocked
his democracy. Nevertheless he came into office in 1801 feeling
that the late rupture with France had been largely caused by the
Federalist agitators, and determined to pursue, if possible, an
open policy of friendship with France and Spain. He had been
slow to believe the rumors of French designs in America, and in
August, 1801, Chancellor Robert R. Livingston was sent as min
ister to France with very mild instructions. Jefferson's real feel
ings, however, were shown in a letter to C. C. Claiborne, who had
been sent down as governor of the Mississippi Territory shortly
after his accession to the Presidency. With regard to Spanish
control of Louisiana he said: "We consider her possession of
the adj acent country as most favorable to our interests, and should
see with an extreme pain any other nation substituted for them."
Before Livingston sailed rumors of the retrocession of Louis
iana became more definite. Although it had been nearly a year
since Berthier had signed the treaty, such profound secrecy had
been observed that the facts were not known. When Livingston
arrived in November, he confronted Talleyrand with the accusa
tion. The imperturbable ex-bishop flatly denied the treaty. Liv
ingston wrote the result of the interview to Jefferson, but in the
very mail that Jefferson received Talleyrand's explicit denial
he received a copy of the treaty itself, which the Frenchman's
arch-enemy, Godoy, had contrived to let fall into the hands of
Rufus King at London. Jefferson was thus rudely awakened to
Talleyrand's treachery and became alarmed. Before proceeding

56 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
further, however, it is necessary to notice the second trans-Atlan
tic obstacle to Napoleon's success ; and that was the island of St.
Domingo. Before the French Revolution, St. Domingo was largely a
Spanish island; but the French owned the western end which,
under the old regime, was far the most important dependency of
France. In 1789, it is said, that nearly two-thirds of the com
mercial interests of France centered in St. Domingo. In pros
perous years over seven hundred ships, employing eighty thousand
seamen, plied the seas in handling its exports and imports valued
at more than a hundred and forty million dollars. In a* popula
tion of 600,000, five-sixths were full-blooded negroes held in
rigid slavery. Of the remaining hundred thousand half were
free mulattos without political or social privileges and half were
French Creoles. The fifty thousand French Creoles lived off the
labors of the other eleven-twelfths of the inhabitants in a semi-
Parisian ease and luxury and formed an aristocratic and govern
ing caste. Between the mulattos and the Creoles was a natural
feud which burst into open warfare under the electric thrill of
liberty sent out by the French Revolution. During the struggle
of the two dominant classes, a spark touched off the "vast powder
magazine upon which they both rested. One August night in the
year 1791 the whole plain of the north was swept with fire and
drenched with blood. Five hundred thousand negro slaves in
the depths of barbarism revolted, and the horrors of the massacre
made Europe and America shudder."
Three years of convulsions followed and the French National
Assembly proclaimed the freedom of the slaves. The French Revo
lution brought forth its Napoleon Bonaparte; the Haytian Revo
lution brought forth a scarcely less remarkable figure, the most
distinguished negro of all history, Toussaint L'Ouverture. The
burning eloquence of Wendell Phillips so exaggerated the virtues
of this hero that the rugged outlines of his character have gen
erally been obscured in a halo of glittering eulogy. Toussaint
was a full black, the grandson of a native chief on the coast of

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 57
Africa. He was born in 1746, making him forty-five years old
at the opening of the negro insurrection. He was a man of great
sobriety, indefatigable energy, and an audacity and cunning equal
to that of Napoleon. In ordinary affairs he was gentle and
straightforward, but when aroused vehement, treacherous, and
even ferocious. His morbid ambition, his indifference to means
in gratifying his lust for power, his reckless personal courage,
his fatalism, led Mr. Adams to draw a striking parallel between
his character and career and that of Bonaparte. He was indeed
the Napoleon of St. Domingo, and was hated by the greater
Napoleon with a fervor not uncommon between strikingly similar
characters whose aims conflict.
Toussaint in the early period of the war fought on the side
of the Royalist Creoles under Spanish pay, but when the Republic
proclaimed the freedom of the slaves in 1794 he transferred his
allegiance and took over his army of 4,000 men with which he
executed the sudden blow that drove the Spaniards out of the
island. A year later he was made brigadier-general in the ser
vice of the republic and within two years more was general-in-
chief, with military command over the whole colony. In this
position he was practically dictator and began paving the way for
a crown. When France and the United States were on the brink
of war in 1798, Toussaint did not hesitate to favor the United
States. Amicable trade relations were established and American
seamen ran a thriving business with the island. In this way,
Toussaint became independent of French supplies and Edward
Stevens, the able American Consul, wrote home that the negro
chieftain was only waiting for a more auspicious time to publish
a declaration of independence. The French Consul was ban
ished, and in May, 1801, Toussaint executed his Napoleonic
coup d'etat by assuming the dictatorship for life, with power to
appoint his successor.
The problem in hand is now fully stated. Napoleon has set
his heart on the occupation of Louisiana, and has made peace in
Europe in order to free his hand for the work. The treaty of

58 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
retrocession is fixed. Preparations are being rapidly pushed to
fit out the fleet and army for the expedition. Across the Atlantic
is the young republic, weak in preparation, slow to anger, but de
termined in policy. In the presidential chair sits Thomas
Jefferson, peaceful, adroit, concealing beneath his slouchy posture
an unending flow of conversation, his sunny smile and suave
manners, a political cunning never surpassed. Anxious for peace
himself, his finger is on the pulse of the nation and every throb
of its heart is carefully measured. At the threshold of the
United States is the island of St. Domingo, the only center from
which a French colonial system in America can be built up, and
which Bonaparte must control before he can safely occupy
Louisiana. It is now under the dictatorship of Toussaint
L'Ouverture, with 20,000 disciplined troops, able, ambitious, de
fiant. The First Consul must act, act quickly and powerfully;
yet sleepless energy was the basic principle of his greatness and
the lethargy which sometimes hindered his later enterprises was
now wholly absent.
During the month of October, 1801, the French and
Spanish ports where the combined fleet was being prepared, saw
immense activity. A large army was to accompany the fleet
and General Leclerc, Napoleon's brother-in-law and ablest sub
ordinate, was put in charge. The "Napoleon of the Antilles"
was to be crushed, slavery restored at Guadaloupe and St. Do
mingo and the island used as a stepping stone to things higher.
To this end Napoleon did not hesitate to use a bit of the meanest
diplomacy that ever blackened the annals of mankind. Leclerc
was given a proclamation which he was to publish to the blacks.
"If you are told," it said, "that these forces are destined to
ravish your liberty, answer: The Republic has given us liberty,
the Republic will not suffer it to be taken from us !" In order
to disarm Toussaint with flattery he wrote : "We have conceived
esteem for you and we take pleasure in recognizing you and
proclaiming the great services you have rendered the French
people. If the French flag floats over St. Domingo, it is to

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 59
you and the brave blacks that they owe it. Assist the captain-
general with your counsels, your influence, and your talents.
What can you desire ? — the liberty of the blacks ? You know
that in all the countries where we have been, we have given it
to the peoples who had it not." Further assurance was given
in his message to the French Legislature. "At St. Domingo
and Guadaloupe there are no more slaves. All is free there;
all will there remain free." But to Leclerc his instructions were
far different. "The moment you have rid yourself of Toussaint,
Christophe, Dessalines, and the principal brigands, and the
masses of the blacks shall be disarmed, send over to the continent
all the blacks and mulattoes who have played a role in the civil
troubles. Rid us of these gilded Africans, and we shall have
nothing more to wish." Later he wrote: "As regards the return
of the blacks to the old regime, — use the utmost caution. For
some time yet vigilance, order, a discipline at once rural and
military, must take the place of positive and pronounced slavery."
Napoleon's policy of combining force and lying diplomacy
was for the time being all too successful. Leclerc, with his
large fleet and superb army of ten thousand men, arrived at St.
Domingo in January, 1802. A desolating war of three months
duration followed. The magnificent French cavalcade melted
before the attacks of the ferocious guerilla chieftains and ab
ject failure stared Leclerc in the face. But treachery appeared
in the forces of the blacks and Toussaint's ablest lieutenant,
Christophe, surrendered his posts to the French. Betrayed by
his friends, Toussaint, in an evil moment, decided to trust the
word of Bonaparte and on May 1, 1802, put himself in the
hands of Leclerc. It was his fatal misstep and sealed his doom.
On June 10 he was arrested, hurried on board ship, and sent
to Brest. From there he disappeared. The few who knew the
secret kept silent through shame. He was sent to a dungeon
high in the Jura Mountains, where his tropical nature suc
cumbed to the cold and dampness and solitude of a single win
ter. For refinement of cruelty and treachery this was even
Napoleon's masterpiece.

60 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
The betrayal of the leaders, however, did not give Leclerc
possession of the island. It only led to premature action and
the ruin of Napoleon's cause. Within four days of the arrest
of Toussaint orders were given for the restoration of slavery
in Guadaloupe. When news of this order was spread among
the blacks of St. Domingo, their fanaticism became frenzy.
"They laugh at death" wrote General Leclerc. The first
French army of seventeen thousand men was destroyed in fight
ing the blacks. A second was swept away by yellow fever. Be
fore Leclerc had been in St. Domingo nine months he wrote to
his chief that of twenty-eight thousand three hundred men sent
to St. Domingo, only four thousand remained fit for service.
'Add to our losses that of five thousand sailors, and the occupa
tion of St. Domingo has cost us till now twenty-four thousand
men, and we are not yet definitely masters of it. In order to be
master of St. Domingo, you must send me twelve thousand men
without losing a single day." In addition he demanded twelve
hundred thousand dollars in specie and five thousand more men
for the summer campaign, without all of which said he, the
colony "will be forever lost to France." In less than two
months more Leclerc himself followed his army to the grave and
Napoleon's plan had failed. Toussaint L'Ouverture, the fren
zied ex-slaves, and the tropical fevers of St. Domingo had drained
the First Consul's treasury, buried his armies, and saved Louis
iana. Meanwhile the United States had become thoroughly
aroused. When Toussaint and the other black leaders had been
seized, Napoleon, thinking the conquest ended, ordered that the
expedition which was to occupy Louisiana be immediately fitted
out. "My intention is," said he, "to take possession of Louisiana
with the shortest delay, and that this expedition be made in the
utmost secrecy, under the appearance of being directed on St.
Domingo." We have seen this expedition sink into the yawning
abyss on the island which was to be only its pretended destination.
The secret of its intent, however, was soon out. Before Living-

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 61
ston had been in Paris a second month he wrote : "I know that the
armament, destined in the first instance for Hispaniola, is to pro
ceed to Louisiana provided Toussaint makes no opposition." By
the spring of 1802 the designs of France became well known in
the United States. Livingston was coldly received and soon ig
nored; American agents and merchants were maltreated in St.
Domingo ; the pacific Madison became irritable and Jefferson, the
friend of France, became pugnacious. The President had in
structed Livingston in September, 1801, to suggest to France that
she secure the cession of West Florida to the United States, which
"would contribute to reconcile" us to the French occupation of
New Orleans; but his attitude was now changed. Dupont de
Nemours was a French gentleman of influence who was at the
time on a visit to the United States. Being on excellent terms
with Dupont, Jefferson decided to send through him an unofficial
message to Bonaparte. This method of communication was for
cible by reason of the fact that Jefferson was known to be a
friend of France and he could thus analyze the situation more
coldly. He enclosed to Dupont a letter to Livingston which he
desired him to read and then seal. In regard to the cession of
Louisiana to France Jefferson wrote to Dupont: "The cession of
New Orleans and the Floridas to us would be a palliation, yet I
believe it would be no more, and that this measure will cost
France, and perhaps not very long hence, a war which will anni
hilate her on the ocean, and place that element under the despot
ism of two nations — which I am not reconciled to the more be
cause my own would be one of them." The enclosure to Liv
ingston which Dupont was to read and report to Napoleon was
couched in still stronger terms.
"The day that France takes possession of New Orleans fixes
the sentence which is to restrain her forever within her low-water
mark. It seals the union of two nations, who in conjunction can
maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From that moment
we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and nation."
This was no flourish of the "mailed fist" or blustering threat

62 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
of immediate war; it was simply an acute and forcible statement
of facts which would readily appeal to statesmen. Talleyrand
and Napoleon knew how narrowly a war had been averted only
three years before and that the Federalists were still actively hos
tile to France. Moreover the south and west which had furnished
the majority that had elected Jefferson were ready at any time
to fight for Louisiana. For Jefferson to desert the south and
west would have been political suicide and this Jefferson was the
last man to commit. His language and attitude have been misin
terpreted by Mr. Henry Adams, whose ideas of Jefferson coin
cide too nearly with those of his bellicose grandfather who had,
with such bad grace surrendered the executive mansion to Jeffer
son, and whose opinion has been too generally accepted by later
historians. Jefferson's keen message of warning to France was followed
by an event which complicated the situation and forced his hand.
That event was the suspension of the right of deposit at New
Orleans by the Spanish intendant, Don Juan Ventura Morales.
The treaty of 1795 had stipulated that if the right of deposit at
New Orleans was denied after three years another entrepot should
be provided. This Morales refused to grant and every one recog
nized his action as a result of the retrocession. Tennessee and
Kentucky clamored loudly for war. The Federalists echoed the
cry and, in those days of violent partisanship, rejoiced at Jef
ferson's dilemma. He must now adopt their policy and declare
war or lose his western supporters. All watched eagerly for the
result. Jefferson's political insight never met a severer test and his
astute party manipulation never won a greater success. Congress
met and waited for the President to declare himself; but in his
message he made no allusion to the closure of the Mississippi. Re
garding the matter uppermost in everyone's mind he simply said:
"The cession of the Spanish province of Louisiana to France,
which took place in the course of the late war, will, if carried into
effect, make a change in the aspect of our foreign relations which

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 63
will doubtless have a just weight in any deliberations of the Leg
islature connected with the subject." The war party was ig
nored. Jefferson had no mind to be forced into war nor to lose
his western adherents. Beneath a nonchalant appearance of in
difference he concealed the utmost diplomatic activity. Yrujo,
the minister of Spain, was urged to protest against the action of
the Spanish intendant's closure of the Mississippi. Yrujo wrote
"a veritable diatribe" to Morales and succeeded in getting a re
nunciation of his action by the Spanish governor, Salcedo, and
later a restoration of the right of deposit by the Spanish govern
ment. The French charge, Pichon, was deluged with as wily a
series of threats as were ever concocted. Gallatin, Madison, and
Jefferson all tried their hands. Pichon was thoroughly fright
ened, and sent home repeated cries of distress. "It is impossi
ble," said he, "to be more bitter than this government is at the
present posture of affairs and at the humiliating attitude in which
our silence about Louisiana places them. Mr. Jefferson will be
forced to yield to necessity his pretensions and scruples against
a British alliance. I noticed at his table that he redoubled his
civilities and attentions to the British charge. I should also say
that he treats me with much consideration and politeness, in spite
of the actual state of affairs.'' To the British minister the Pres
ident reiterated "with additional force the resolution of the coun
try never to abandon the claim of the free navigation" of the
Mississippi, and declared that if "they should be obliged" to draw
the sword "they would throw away the scabbard."
All this feminine but surprisingly successful finesse was pri
vate and secret; Congress and the West demanded something pub
lic, something open and tangible. The administration therefore
decided to ask for the appropriation of two million dollars to de
fray the expenses of negotiation and send a minister extraordi
nary to support Livingston in buying New Orleans and the Flor
idas. James Monroe, who was specially popular in the south
west, was nominated for this mission. To Monroe, Jefferson
wrote: "If we cannot, by a purchase of the country, insure to

64 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
ourselves a course of perpetual peace and friendship with all
nations, then, as war cannot be distant, it behooves us immediately
to be preparing for that course, without, however, hastening it;
and it may be necessary, on your failure on the Continent, to
cross the Channel." When Monroe arrived in Washington the
efforts of the administration were redoubled. Madison had sent
for Pichon and put before him every argument the United States
had to offer and later refused to transact business on the ground
that Talleyrand was not recognizing Livingston. The action of
the States of New York, Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania
in declaring for hostilities was unostentatiously paraded in diplo
matic circules; Gallatin talked of war; General Smith, the ad
ministration leader of Congress, at a public dinner to Monroe of
fered the toast, "Peace, if peace is honorable ; war, if war is nec
essary !" Before starting Monroe had a shrewd and inflamma
tory talk with Pichon concerning which the charge wrote: "He
did not conceal from me that if his negotiation failed, the admin
istration had made up its mind to act with the utmost vigor, and
to receive the overtures which England was incessantly making."
Jefferson wrote to Dupont de Nemours: "Our circumstances are
so imperious as to admit of no delay as to our course, and the
use of the Mississippi so indispensable that we can not hesitate
one moment to hazard our existence for its maintenance. If we
fail in this effort to put it beyond the reach of accident, we see
the destinies we have to run, and prepare at once for them."
All this excited talk had been prepared for by Jefferson's
unofficial message through Dupont to Bonaparte; much of it was
for political effect and part of it was insincere. Jefferson did
not mean to have war. Peace was his passion and in the pur
suit of it he was "steady as the magnet itself." He had not hes
itated to declare war on the Barbary pirates but he did not want
to become entangled in European affairs. His war talk was sim
ply a shield for his diplomacy in which he had a sublime confi
dence which would have been ridiculous had it not been justified
by the result. Monroe was sent to France with instructions to

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 65
join Livingston in offering any sum within ten million dollars for
New Orleans and West Florida.
Meanwhile the time gained by Jefferson in allaying the war
excitement in Congress and the West had wrought profound
changes in Europe. The King of Spain, under the domination
of the imperious Godoy, had held back the actual transfer of his
American colony. The First Consul fretted and fumed but
Godoy was tenacious. Gouvion St. Cyr was sent over to the
Spanish court but not until October 15, 1802, did his bluster ob
tain tho final signature of Charles IV., and then under the most
exacting and definite conditions. Spain demanded, first, that the
new kingdom of Etruria should be recognized by England, Aus
tria, and the Duke of Tuscany, who had been dethroned to make
room for Parma ; second, that France should give a written pledge
that she would never alienate Louisiana and that she would re
store it to Spain in case the King of Etruria should lose his power.
Both these things St. Cyr pledged in the name of the First Con
sul. Before anything definite could now be done, however, Na
poleon was fast caught in the toils of European politics.
"What Bonaparte," says Mr. Schouler, "regarded as indis'
pensable in military science, Jefferson had applied to politics — ¦
an accurate calculation of all contingencies in the first place and
then giving to accident its due allowance. The accident for
which Jefferson had allowed was, in truth, the speedy renewal of
hostilities between France and England." This expectation was
to be realized sooner than he had hoped. Early in February,
1803, came warnings that the peace of Amiens was to be broken.
France charged England with perfidy in not surrendering Malta ;
England preferred counter charges of bad faith against Napo
leon; war was in the air. The tense situation was ended on
March 12th, when at a reception in the drawing room of Jose
phine, the First Consul abruptly confronted the British ambassa
dor, Lord Whitworth, before the assembled ambassadors of Eu
rope, with the remark: "I find your nation wants war again."
5

66 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
"You have just finished a war of fifteen years. You want an
other war of fifteen years." "I must either have Malta or war !"
In England preparations for the inevitable conflict already busied
the ministry and enlivened the nation. Two months before Naj
poleon's mind had been made up. He was tired of peace. The
fifty thousand men and vast amounts of money he had sunk in St.
Domingo without any effect except to make the island worthless
for a generation, aroused infinite disgust in his impatient soul.
The news of the death of Leclerc which reached him in the first
week of January, 1803, was the last straw. Yet he kept his own
councils for two months. The orders for the assembling of the
thirty-five thousand men for which General Rochambeau in St.
Domingo had called were allowed to stand. Napoleon was no
stranger to defeat and could abandon his dearest enterprise with
equanimity when pursuit became hopeless; but abandonment of
St. Domingo would be a public confession of failure for which
he was not ready until he could create a diversion in Europe.
Early in April he was ready for the startling announcement. He
had made up his mind to part with Louisiana ; and while Monroe
was hastening to the French coast his plan was announced to
Talleyrand. The building up of the French colonial empire in
America had been Talleyrand's highest ambition and he opposed
the renunciation. But Napoleon was not to be balked by a sub
ordinate. On April 10, 1803, he summoned two of his ministers,
of whom his Finance Minister, Barbe Marbois, was one, and an
nounced that he feared that England would seize Louisiana.
"The conquest of Louisiana," said he, "will be easy if they will
only descend upon it. I have not a moment to lose in putting it
out of their power. . . . If I were in their place, I certainly
would not have waited. ... I contemplate turning it over
to the United States. I should hardly be able to say that I cede
it to them, for we are not yet in possession of it. But even a
short delay may leave me nothing but a vain title to transmit to
these republicans, whose friendship I seek. They are asking me
for but a single city of Louisiana, but I already regard the whole

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 67
colony as lost, and it seems to me that in the hands of this rising
power it will be more useful to the policy and even to the com
merce of France than if I should attempt to keep it." The next
day he summoned Barbe Marbois and delivered to him one of his
short, sententious orations of command:
"Irresolution and deliberation are no longer in season; I re
nounce Louisiana. It is not New Orleans that I cede; it is the
whole colony, without reserve. I know the price of what I aban
don. I have proved the importance I attach to this province,
since my first diplomatic act with Spain had the object of recov
ering it. I renounce it with the greatest regret; to attempt ob
stinately to retain it would be folly. I direct you to negotiate
the affair. Have an interview this very day with Mr. Living
ston." Talleyrand, however, had seen the determination of Bona
parte and determined to keep a hand in the negotiations. For
months Livingston had applied himself with a sublime pertinacity
to the end to which Napoleon was now advancing. He had plied
Talleyrand with arguments and memorials. Finding him obdu
rate and supercilious he had directed his efforts toward the First
Consul himself to whom he presented a memorial which Joseph
Bonaparte assured him the First Consul had read and considered
with care. So meager had been his success that the only encour
agement he could send Jefferson was the disconsolate note: "Do
not absolutely despair." But within a few hours of the above
orders to Marbois imagine his surprise when the imperturbed
Talleyrand asked him what the United States would give for the
whole of Louisiana ! Livingston was disconcerted, and to gain
time for reflection, stated that the aims of the United States
extended only to New Orleans and the Floridas and announced
that Monroe was speedily expected with fuller instructions.
Monroe arrived in Paris the next day, April 12, but Livingston,
recovered from his surprise, hung about Talleyrand all the fore
noon hoping to reap alone the fruit of his assiduous labors. The
next afternoon the French ministers were entertained by Living-

68 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
ston in order that Monroe might be introduced. Livingston con
fided to Barbe Marbois, Talleyrand's "extraordinary conduct"
and after the party had broken up went home with him and those
two men, in a midnight conversation, practically sealed the bar
gain. Bonaparte had mentioned fifty million francs as the price
to be demanded ; but Marbois set the price at one hundred million
francs, leaving the American government to pay to their own
citizens the spoliation claims demanded from France. The Amer
ican claims amounted to twenty-five millions — making the price
one hundred and twenty-five million francs or twenty-five million
dollars for the whole western bank of the Mississippi, extending
from New Orleans to the Lake of the Woods, and indefinitely
westward. This was not an exorbitant price, but Livingston had
the effrontery to offer twenty million francs or about four million
dollars, professing not to want the western bank, but only New
Orleans and the Floridas. Livingston, overjoyed at the pros
pect, went home and sat up until three o'clock to write Jefferson
of the opening of the negotiations without Monroe's help. "We
shall do all we can," he wrote, "to cheapen the purchase; but my
present sentiment is that we shall buy."
Livingston was right. Two weeks of dangerous haggling
over the price followed during which a violent quarrel took place
in the Bonaparte family over the intended transfer. Both Lucian
and Joseph Bonaparte vigorously opposed the sale of Louisiana
and the picturesque scenes between the three brothers are por
trayed in dramatic chapters in Hosmer's "History of the Louis
iana Purchase." On April 29 the price was agreed upon at sixty
million francs in money plus twenty million francs in spoliation
claims to be assumed by the American government — in all eighty
million francs, or fifteen million dollars. The treaty of- cession
was dated April 30, 1803, and closed the negotiations.
The purchase of Louisiana was the grandest diplomatic
achievement in American history. When Livingston signed his
name to the treaty, he arose excitedly and shook hands with Mar-
bois and Monroe. "We have lived long," lie exclaimed, "but this

A Diplomatic Drama: the Great Purchase. 69
is the noblest work of our lives." And indeed it was, though
Livingston had signed the Declaration of Independence and Mon
roe was to be, next to Washington, the most popular President of
the United States. Monroe deserved little credit for the negotia
tions and claimed little; it was a triumph for Livingston, backed
by the administration at Washington. If Livingston is not our
greatest diplomat he was, at least, the most fortunate; for next
to the Declaration of Independence and the adoption of the Con
stitution, the annexation of Louisiana was the most important
event in American history. It opened the portals of the United
States to an illustrious career beyond the Mississippi. Hitherto
our national ambition had halted at the Father of Waters and our
government had trembled at the prospect of this outlet to our
western commerce being closed at the nod of a foreign potentate.
A storm of western ^wrath, » few sly presidential innuendoes, a
holocaust of barbarian frenzy and tropical pestilence, a tenacious
diplomatic siege, a rumble of European war, and a few strokes
of the destiny-laden pen changed all. The barrier to our west
ward expansion vanished like a dream; a vast, seemingly illim
itable empire stretched away toward the setting sun. The United
States was now assured of a dominating influence on the Amer
ican continent; the danger of undesirable neighbors pointing can
non at our western frontier was forever removed, and the advanc
ing tide of our civilization could only be checked on the shores
of the broad Pacific. This was the conquest of peace and of
peaceful methods; the annals of war present few greater tri
umphs and no results of greater significance to the nations in
volved.

CHAPTER V.
LOUISIANA TERRITORY UNDER THE UNITED STATES.
THE news of the purchase of Louisiana arrived in America
the latter part of June, 1803. Its importance was im
mediately felt and the consequences of the purchase be
came the all-absorbing topic of the day. At bottom
the whole country was filled with serene joy; but on the surface
ripples of discontent foreboded the lashing waves of partisan
conflict soon to roughen the political sea. The Republicans were
pleased but perplexed. The loyalty of the southwest had been
retained; they had lowered the taxes and at the same time paid
off huge shares of the national debt; their policy had been pop
ular at home and their diplomacy had been brilliantly successful
abroad; the Federalists had first been put on the defensive and
then routed. They were therefore happy; but this feeling of
content was clouded by the fact that new responsibilities were
upon them. They had preached strict construction and a limited
executive, put forth the Kentucky and Virginia resolutions, and
stormed at the monarchism of the Federalists ; and now Jefferson,
democrat of democrats, the extreme advocate of State Rights,
had assumed an authority exercised by no previous president and
had arbitrarily bought a foreign empire to be incorporated into
the territory of the United States. New constitutional problems
had to be faced, the new territory to be governed, and the Re
publican supremacy to be maintained.
Jefferson set about the new task with his usual energy and
adroitness. He was too true to his political theories not to have
constitutional scruples, and without delay drew up an amendment
embodying his ideas of the proper way to dispose of the newly
acquired territory without doing violence to the constitution.
(70)

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 71
This he submitted to the cabinet. The cabinet, however, were
not so tenacious in upholding the theories they had advanced
while in opposition and received the proposed amendment coldly.
Jefferson then appealed to party leaders outside the cabinet. His
proposition met with so little encouragement that he drew up an
other amendment which he hoped would meet with greater ap
proval; but before it could be thoroughly, canvassed, circum
stances intervened to force his hand. Rumors were spread
abroad that Napoleon was about to change his mind. Living
ston's letters became alarming and the Spanish minister Yrujo,
who had been such a friend to the administration at Washington,
sent to Madison protest after protest against the sale of Louis
iana. He quoted the engagement entered into by St. Cyr which
bound Napoleon not to alienate the province and declared that
since France had not carried out the conditions of her contract
for Louisiana, she could not rightfully dispose of it as her own.
It was necessary then to act quickly and to present a united front
to the enemy. Spain was, in fact, still in possession and who
knew what attitude Napoleon would take in the end.
Such considerations led Jefferson to defer to the wishes of
his party and to trust the future to right the constitutional error.
In the presence of a threatened war with Spain a mistake would
be serious and he decided that Congress should share the respon
sibility with the president. A special session was called to meet
October 17, 1803. In his message to this Congress, Jefferson
said not' a word about his proposed amendment or the unconsti
tutionality of the purchase. He had decided that the all-impor
tant thing was to get possession of Louisiana and declared that
"with the wisdom of Congress it will rest to take those ulterior
measures which may be necessary for the immediate occupation
and temporary government of the country, for its incorporation
into our Union, for rendering the change of government a bless
ing to our newly adopted brethren, for securing to them the
rights of conscience and of property, for confirming to the In
dian inhabitants their occupancy and self-government."

72 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
The treaty signed by Livingston and Monroe for the pur
chase of Louisiana consisted of three parts, the treaty of cession
and two conventions. The first stipulated that France should
turn over to the United States the province as obtained from
Spain by the treaty of San Ildefonso; that the inhabitants were
to be, as soon as possible, incorporated into the Union as citizens ;
that in the meantiine they should be protected in their liberty,
property and religion; and that for twelve years French and
Spanish ships should trade in Louisiana on the same basis as
American ships. The second part stipulated that the eleven
million two hundred and fifty thousand dollars was to bear six
per cent interest for fifteen years and then to be paid in yearly
installments of not less than three million dollars each. The third
document related to the payment of the spoliation claims which
were not to exceed three million seven hundred and fifty thousand
dollars. These documents were put before Congress and the results
of the action of the political parties at this time are of two-fold
constitutional importance. It marks the extent of the degrada
tion of the Federalists and sounds the death-knell of their party;
and it begins an epoch of constitutional expansion by committing
the Republicans to a liberal interpretation of the written Con
stitution. Regarding the first Mr. McMaster says : "Nothing so finely
illustrates the low state to which the once prosperous Federalists
were fallen as the turbulent and factious opposition they now
made to the acquisition of Louisiana. But a remnant of the
great party remained. Tens of thousands of independent
thinkers, to whom good government was better than political
strife . . . now gave a warm support to the> Republican
cause. . . . They had seen promised reforms become actual
reforms. They had seen the Federalists add eight millions to
the public debt in five years. They had seen the Republicans
reduce the debt by five millions in two years. They had seen
the Federalists go to the' very limit of constitutional taxation in
the laying of a direct tax. They had seen the Republicans dry

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 73
every source of internal revenue and still have money to spare.
Never had the government been so smoothly, so savingly, carried
on." By way of contrast to these independents he continues:
"To the narrow partisans who remained in the Federal ranks the
good which Jefferson accomplished went for nothing.
They received the news of the best and wisest act of Jefferson's
whole administration with a roar of execration they ought to have
been ashamed to send up. Some were worried lest the East
should become depopulated. Some feared the mere extent of ter
ritory would rend the Republic apart. Some affected the
language of patriots and lamented the enormous increase the
purchase would make in the national debt. . . . Soon
Federal writers and printers all over the land were vieing
with each other in attempts to show the people what an exceed
ingly great sum of money fifteen millions of dollars was. Weigh
it, and there will be four hundred and thirty-three tons of solid
silver. Load it in wagons and there will be eight hundred and
sixty-six of them. Stack it up dollar upon dollar, and the pile
will be more than three miles high. It would load twenty-five
sloops; it would pay an army of twenty-five thousand men forty
shillings a week each for twenty-five years; it would, divided
among the population of the country, give three dollars for each
man, woman, and child. All the gold and all the silver coin in
the Union would, if collected, fall vastly short of such a sum.
We must for fifteen years to come pay two thousand four hun
dred and sixty-five dollars interest each day. . . . For whose
interest is this purchase made ? The South and West. Will they
pay a share of the debt? No, for the tax on whiskey has been
removed." Such was the attitude of Federalist agitators; but happily
their rantings were of no avail. The mass of the people consid
ered the purchase a bargain and the Senate ratified the treaty
on the second day of the session by a vote of twenty-four to
seven. Napoleon's ratification was already in the hands of the
French charge and on October 21, ratifications were exchanged
and Louisiana was ours.

74 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
The President had now done his part, and it became the duty
of Congress to provide for the immediate occupation and tem
porary government of the new territory. Congress acted
promptly, and a bill with that end in view was introduced into
the House. The discussion of this bill brought forth one of those pe
culiar paradoxes that occasionally appear in political life. The
Republicans who had so strenuously objected to the Presidential
prerogative and loose construction in 1798, now advocated the
widest extension of the treaty-making power and the placing of
autocratic authority over the new territory in the hands of the
President. The New England Federalists, led by the Griswolds
and Timothy Pickering, took the extremest . ground in favor of
strict construction and state rights. The bill for a provisional
government passed both houses by large majorities and became
a law on October 31. The victory of the Republicans left the
Federalists and New England full of discontent and nearly
ready for secession; but the victory had been at the ex
pense of their old Republican theory of constitutional interpre
tation. The Constitution had become enlarged, elastic, adapt
able, and henceforth was to be interpreted according to the spirit
and not the letter. The Federalist idea of nationality had gained
ground while Republican common sense had triumphed over her
earlier theoretical pedantry and ushered in a new era of wiser
and broader constitutional development.
No sooner was the purchase of Louisiana complete than
people began to inquire what this new province was — what were
its boundaries, its extent, its nature, and its value. As a matter
of fact no one knew. Not a boundary was fixed. Its north
eastern limit was muffled in the ignorance that hid the source of
the Mississippi; its southeastern boundary was concealed in the
sinuous diplomacy that enveloped the mouth of that river. The
southern boundary was the Gulf of Mexico but just how much
of the coast was included no one could say. The Western limit
sank away into the unknown prairies toward the Pacific while

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 75
its northward projection remained to be outlined by a convention
with England. When Barbe Marbois had been pressed to make
definite boundaries, he had gone to Napoleon only to be told that
if an obscurity did not exist it would be well to make one.
The first difficulty arose with Spain over the boundary be
tween Louisiana and the Floridas. Livingston and Monroe
claimed the purchase included West Florida, as far east as the
river Perdido, and had been encouraged by Napoleon in this
claim. But Spain obstinately refused to admit the claim to any
territory east of the Mississippi, and it remained to be settled by
the purchase of Florida. The westward extension along the
Gulf should have included part of Texas, but was finally fixed at
the Sabine river; while the western boundary followed that river
northward, thence along the 94th parallel of longitude to the
Red river, followed that river to the 100th parallel, thence north
to the Arkansas, trailed that river to the Rockies, thence along
the crest of the mountains to the British border. The boundary
line along the north was determined by a treaty with England in
1818 fixing it along the 49th parallel from the Rockies t-o the
Lake of the Woods.
This vast extent of territory embraced nearly 900,000 square
miles of the richest land the earth affords. Its area was greater
than that of the whole thirteen original states or than Great
Britain, Germany, France, Spain, Portugal and Italy combined.
Tales of its wonderful resources that fell far short of the truth
were regarded as absurdly extravagant by the incredulous inhabi
tants along the Atlantic slope. Federalist cynicism was encour
aged by the report of the country sent in to Congress by Jeffer
son who collected the tales and traditions of hunters and trappers
along the upper Mississippi and the Missouri, and transmitted
them to Congress in a message. This wonderful message told of
Indians of gigantic stature; tall bluffs faced with stone and
carved by the hand of nature into a multitude of antique towers ;
and reached a climax of myth in describing a huge mountain of
pure rock-salt towering above the earth, one hundred and eighty

76 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
miles long, and forty-five miles broad, all glittering white, with
streams of saline water flowing in fissures down its barren slopes.
The Federalists bubbled over with ridicule, but specimens of the
salt were shown and bushels of it were reported on exhibition at
St. Louis and Marietta. If such things were not true, others not
less remarkable were, and an expedition sent out by Jefferson
was already far away in the western wilds exploring the vast
plains and tortuous defiles of the Rockies.
It is now time to turn to New Orleans and see what was hap
pening at the capital of Louisiana during these months big with
the fate of empire. When Napoleon had planned to seize Louis
iana, he had sent out Pierre Clement Laussat as civil agent to
prepare the way for the arrival of General Victor with the mil
itary force and to co-operate with him in effecting the 'transfer.
Laussat had arrived in New Orleans March 26, 1803, and
promptly set about preparing the people for the French occupa
tion. He issued a proclamation filled with honied words, in which
he stated the benevolent intentions of France, and wearily waited
for the arrival of General Victor and his army. The French
Creoles were filled with a delirium of joy at the prospect of res
tored French citizenship, and presented an address of congratu
lation to the "Citizen Prefect." But replying to his denuncia
tion of the Spanish regime, they declared: "We should be un
worthy of what is to us a source of much pride if we did not
acknowledge that we have no cause of complaint against the
Spanish Government. We have never groaned under the yoke
of an oppressive despotism." In fact a majority of the people
had become thoroughly reconciled to Spanish control. They had
taken little part in the government, and desired little. Hence
they looked upon a change of rulers with a surprising indiffer
ence and self-abnegation.
On April 10, Marquis de Caso Calvo arrived from Havana
to act as joint commissioner with Governor Salcedo in delivering
the province to France. A proclamation was then issued by the
Spanish authorities assuring to the inhabitants the protection and

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 77
favor under French control which they had enjoyed under Spain.
While these things were occupying the attention of the public
about New Orleans, a rumor was spread abroad that France was
about to transfer her title to the United States. Laussat en
deavored to silence this rumor, but it persisted. In the latter
part of July he wrote to his government concerning it, but hardly
was his letter started when he received a dispatch announcing his
appointment as the commissioner of France to receive the prov
ince of Louisiana and deliver it to the United States. Following
his instructions, a day was set for the first transfer. On No
vember 30, 1803, Calvo, Salcedo, and Laussat, accompanied by
all the French and Spanish officers of the province, and a large
retinue of clergy and leading citizens, assembled in the old Ca
bildo, a building that probably surpassed in picturesque and im
posing dignity any other civic structure in America at the time,
and there went through the ceremonial of transferring the control
of Louisiana from Spain to France. The subjects of his Cath
olic Majesty were absolved from their allegiance and turned over
to the authority of the French republic, while the Spanish flag
was lowered from the pole in front of the city hall, and the
French tri-color hoisted to take its place. A temporary French
government was organized, and on the same day Laussat pro
ceeded with his disagreeable task by announcing in a proclama
tion that the French control was only a preliminary step to its
transfer to the commissioners of the United States who were soon
to arrive. The commissioners appointed by Jefferson to receive the
territory on the part of the United States were William C. C.
Claiborne and Gen. James Wilkinson. The selection of these
two men was one of expediency rather than wisdom since neither
was particularly fitted for the position. In the face of a threat
ened war with Spain Jefferson was anxious to get possession at
the earliest possible moment, and these men were in the neigh
borhood at the time. Claiborne was in his twenty-eighth • year.
He was descended from an old Virginia family, had long been in

78 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
the government service, and had been a member of the Supreme
Court of Tennessee, as well as a Congressman from that State
while yet under the age limit of twenty-five years. In 1802 he
was sent to govern the Mississippi Territory, and was from there
transferred to the governorship of the new possession. He was
a man of fair ability and agreeable personal qualities, but knew
nothing of the French Or Spanish language, or of the Spanish
law which he was called upon arbitrarily to administer. Wilkin
son was a wayward, blustering, drunken, intriguing, yet able and
shrewd general, who was selected because he had control of the
army in the West, which Jefferson made ready to use if the Span
iards should oppose the transfer with violence. A part of the
militia of Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee was ordered to be ready
to march at a moment's warning and troops were collected at Ft.
Adams and Natchez.
December 20 was the day set for the final transfer. The
Crescent City was to witness for the last time the ceremonial
which had during the life time of some of the inhabitants, six
times transferred their allegiance from one master to another.
By nine o'clock of the appointed day the provincial militia began
to gather on the Place d'Armes in front of the Cabildo. Just
three weeks had passed since they had manoeuvered in the same
place and saluted as the French tri-color mounted the flagstaff
to replace the lowering Spanish ensign. It was the heart of
their little city and the proud Creoles assembled with mingled
sadness and curiosity. How soon, some conjectured, would the
restless energy of the American destroy the sentiment, the gaiety,
the idyllic ease and festive life, which they so much enjoyed?
At noon the signal guns announced the approach of the
Americans and a salute of twenty-four guns greeted the caval
cade at the gate of the city. At the head rode Wilkinson and
Claiborne, followed by the dragoons in red uniform, the artillery,
the infantry, and the French escort. The American troops drew
up opposite the French and Spanish on the Place d'Arms and the
ceremonies took place from the facing balcony of the Cabildo.

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 79
Laussat opened the ceremonies from the chair of state. The
treaty of cession was read in both English and French. Laussat
read his credentials for alienating the Territory and Claiborne
read Jefferson's command to receive it. Laussat then made the
formal announcement of the alienation and presented the keys
of the city to Claiborne, at the same time absolving the inhabi
tants of Louisiana from their oath of allegiance to the French
republic. Claiborne then took the chair of state and congratu
lated the people that their political existence was no longer "open
to the caprices of chance" and bade them welcome as citizens of
the United States. He assured them that their liberty, their
property and their religion were safe ; that their commerce would
be favored, their agriculture encouraged and that they should
never again be transferred.
While these things were taking place men of no less than
six nationalities crowded the vacant spaces below eager to witness
the closing ceremony. For twenty days the symbol of French
supremacy had fluttered from the top of its tall staff overlooking
the city. It was with sinking hearts that the loyal Creoles now
saw it slowly descend as the stars and stripes started upward.
They met midway of the staff and were saluted. Then, flutter-
tering in the breeze, the stars and stripes climbed to the top,
amid the ringing cheers of the few Americans present, there to
remain. The French flag descended, trembling to the ground
never more to wave above the continent of North America. The
dream of the high-souled Champlain as he braved death in the
wilds of Canada; the hope that had sustained the chivalric La
Salle when treachery and calamity hung like a pall over his
soul; the gallantry of Montcalm whose blood helped to sanctify
the Plains of Abraham; the iron resolution of Napoleon Bona
parte aided by fifty thousand martyred men in the island of St.
Domingo ; — all these came to naught and registered failure when
the French flag touched the earth on that bright December day
in 1803. The United States was now in possession ; the next thing nee-

80 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
essary was to provide for the government of the new Territory.
Congress had passed a law November 30, giving to the President
full power to take possession of the purchased territory and
govern it until a new act could be passed. Claiborne as governor,
aided by Wilkinson, had in his control for the time being, the
whole authority and responsibility of the government. The con
ditions were peculiar and the situation difficult and if Claiborne
frequently erred in the exercise of his autocratic powers it was
no more than others would have done. He was honest, sincere,
and generous in his aims and succeeded in avoiding any serious
complication. In the succeeding March Congress passed an act for the or
ganization and government of the acquired territory for one year.
So much of Louisiana as lay south of the 33rd parallel was cut
off and named the Territory of Orleans. The remainder was to
be called the District of Louisiana and was placed under the
jurisdiction of the Governor and judges of the Indiana Territory.
Orleans was organized into a separate province with a regular
territorial government. The administrative authority was to be
placed in the hands of a governor, a secretary, and a council of
thirteen members, all appointed- by the President. One superior
court and such inferior courts as the council should see fit to
create were to be established. Slave importation was limited to
those brought in by American immigrants, and jury trial was
limited to criminal prosecutions and civil suits in which the sum
involved was not less than one hundred dollars. This plan met
severe opposition in Congress, on account of the lack of a share
in the government by the governed, but was held to be necessary
by reason of the heterogeneous character of the population, their
disaffection to the transfer, and their lack of political training in
self-government. They were to receive liberty only as they
proved themselves worthy of it and be introduced gradually to the
beneficent effects of free institutions.
As the one year limit of the above government neared its end
new acts were passed. An independent government was granted

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 81
to the District of Louisiana which was now organized as the Ter
ritory of Louisiana, with a governor, a secretary and three judges
of its own. Orleans was given a General Assembly of twenty-
five delegates, to be elected by the people and was promised that
when her free inhabitants numbered sixty thousand, she should
be made a State and admitted into the Union.
Turning now to the internal history of the purchase terri
tory, it may be observed that the international diplomatic struggle
and the political ferment at Washington affected the inhabitants
of Louisiana but little. They were used to a transfer of their
allegiance and had become hardened to changes of government.
Never having had a share in the management of affairs, a ma-
j ority of the people looked with indifference at the changes going
on. The French and Spanish population hated the Americans,
but at the same time envied their freedom and liberty and were
partially reconciled to the supremacy of their government by the
prospect of the inheritance of its blessings. Their attitude as
well as that of many prominent foreigners may be gleaned from
the dispatch of the French commissioner Laussat. "The Amer
icans," said he, "have given $15,000,000 for Louisiana; they
would have given $50,000,000 rather than not possess it.
In a few years the country as far as the Rio Brazos will be in a
state of cultivation. New Orleans will then have a population
of from 30,000 to 50,000 souls, and the country will produce
enough sugar to supply America and part of Europe. . . .
What a magnificent New France have we lost ! The people are
naturally gentle though touchy, proud, and brave. They have
seen themselves rejected for a second time from the bosom of
their mother-country. . . . Their interpretation of the ces
sion, and their comments on it, show too clearly the extreme bit
terness of their discontent. Nevertheless, they have become tol
erably well disposed toward passing under the new government.
There are advantages in the Constitution of the United
States of which it will be impossible to prevent them from ex
periencing the benefit. And being once freed from colonial fet-
6

82 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
ters, it would be unnatural to suppose that Louisiana would ever
willingly resume them."
At the time of the transfer the population of the whole ter
ritory was about 50,000. Of these the French and Spanish Cre
oles (people of French and Spanish descent born in Louisiana)
formed the aristocracy and the ruling caste. In smaller numbers
were Americans, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Spaniards, Irish, in
deed stragglers from many nations. Immigrants from Acadia,
Germany, the Canaries, and the West Indies had formed settle
ments. A goodly proportion of the inhabitants were negroes,
slaves and freedmen, while the mulattoes, quadroons, and octo
roons, played a part in creole society not found elsewhere in the
United States. Their strain of white blood raised them above
the negroes and their strain of negro blood dragged them below
the whites. Law and custom forbade social equality with the
one, while pride and intelligence kept them from free admixture
with the other. A peculiar set of regulations and customs grew
up, galling but not altogether dishonorable, giving them a recog
nized place in the social scale.
Under the Spanish regime the province was divided into
upper and lower Louisiana — New Madrid at the southern ex
tremity of Missouri, being the dividing point. Below New Mad
rid were three-fourths of the population and seven-eighths of the
wealth of the province. The most considerable places were
Point Coupe, Baton Rouge, Opelousas, Natchitoches, Tchoupi-
toulas, and New Orleans. New Orleans was the capital and one
of the most interesting cities in America. "Travelers," says Mc-
Masters, "filled their letters with accounts of the wide, yellow,
tortuous river rushing along for hundred of miles without a trib
utary of any kind ; of the levees that shut in the waters and kept
their surface high above all the neighboring country; of the
bayous where the alligators basked in the sunshine ; of the strange
vegetation of the cypress swamps and the palmettos ; of the hang
ing moss, of the sloughs swarming with reptiles, of the pelicans,
of the buzzards, of the herons, of the fiddler crabs, of houses

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 83
without cellars, and of cemeteries where there was no such thing
as a grave which had been dug." The town had been laid out
with all the regularity of a military camp. The Place d' Amies
formed the center of the city and was overlooked by the Cabildo
and many aristocratic residences. The streets were narrow, un-
paved, forming a pond of mud and water after each rainstorm,
and were named after the dukes of France — Chartres, Orleans,
Maine, Bourbon, Toulouse. The rude fortifications surmount
ing the city were composed of a rampart of earth, and a wooden
palisade, skirted by a slimy ditch, surrounding the city. At each
of the four corners was a huge bastion mounting some rusty can
non, with another to the rear of the city — all able to frown upon
but scarcely to injure an intruder.
The buildings which fronted the filthy streets were the ad
miration of all spectators. The architecture presented endless
variety and color. Adobe structures with tiled roofs, brick
houses adorned with yellow stucco, stone cathedrals, public build
ings crowned by the magnificent Cabildo, elegent residences with
arcades and inner courts, open galleries and porte-cocheres, ver
andas, lattices, dormer windows, and gateways, transoms, and
balconies of the finest wrought-iron work to be found in America.
Social life centered in the coffee-houses, billiard-rooms, dance
halls, the theater, and the levee. At twilight the levee swarmed
with people, walking about in the fresh evening breeze, sitting
under the orange trees that lined the river bank, or joining in
the dancing, drinking, and singing on the decks of the vessels
moored to the wharf. The high-spirited young Creoles quarreled
over their sweethearts, or their mistresses, or their games, and
repaired at sunrise to The Oaks, which was the famous duelling-
ground, where many a quarrel was composed at the ring of steel
or the sight, of blood, and many a life ruined by the conscious
ness of having killed a friend. The laws were cruel and irreg
ularly administered. Religion was not wanting but it did not
take firm hold of the people. No finer church than the St. Louis
cathedral existed on the continent. Education was neglected.

84 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
The brilliant, facile, gay Creole led a life of semi-ease and luxury,
indulged in a round of social pleasures and dissipations, and
found little time to devote to the profounder problems of life.
Agriculture and commerce formed the staple industries of
the people. Plantations, cotton-fields, and sugar fields lined the
river banks above New Orleans, while down its tortuous channel
floated the broadhorns steered by the picturesque Mississippi
river boatmen. The once sleepy levee now thronged with scores
of river and ocean-going craft. The year before the transfer
two hundred and sixty-five vessels sailed from the Mississippi,
nearly two-thirds of them being American. The exports were
valued at two millions of dollars while the imports reached half
a million more. The exports were chiefly flour, salt beef and
pork, tobacco, cotton, sugar, peltries, and lumber.
To the creole Upper Louisiana was a distant, rather hazy
and indefinite settlement, far away on the barbarian frontier.
They knew of it from the boatmen who steered their flat-bot
tomed craft to the river bank near the warehouses at New Or
leans and told weird tales of the vast continent to .the northward.
The principal villages of the upper country were New Madrid,
Ste. Genevieve, New Bourbon, Cape Girardeau, St. Louis, and
St. Charles, all hard by the banks of the Mississippi and the
Missouri. Of this territory St. Louis, a thriving village of one
thousand inhabitants, was the capital, where resided the lieuten
ant-governor in control of Upper Louisiana, and the other lead
ing officers of administration. The fur trade was the chief
industry of the region, although lead mining and grain raising
were likewise pursued. The settlers were rather primitive and
unsophisticated but hardy, energetic, and adventurous. It was
nearly three months after the transfer of New Orleans to the
United States that a similar ceremony took place in St. Louis
from the old government building near the corner of Main and
Walnut streets. Not until March 10, 1804, did Captain Amos
Stoddard receive the territory of Upper Louisiana in the name of
the United States and unfurl the stars and stripes to wave above
the Upper Mississippi.

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 85
For some months Stoddard kept charge without making any
serious changes in the official staff or the regulations of the former
Spanish governor, Delassus. The people in general were apa
thetic regarding their rulers and did not seriously object to the
transfer as did the loyal Creoles of Orleans. According to the
Act of Congress of March 26, 1804, the District of Louisiana
passed for one year under the jurisdiction of the Territory of
Indiana, governed by General William Henry Harrison and his
council of judges, whose headquarters were alternately at Vin
cennes, Cahokia, and Kaskaskia. In July 1805, the District was
organized into Louisiana Territory, with an appointed governor,
and a council of three judges. General James Wilkinson was
chosen governor by President Jefferson and Frederic Bates sec
retary. Wilkinson was succeeded in 1807 by Captain Meri
wether Lewis who was in turn succeeded by General Benjamin
Howard in 1809.
During the early years following the transfer, two events
of importance occurred in the purchased territory. The first
was the unearthing of the notorious Aaron Burr conspiracy.
Burr was a grandson of the saintly Jonathan Edwards and had
been conspicuous from his early years for brilliance, audacity,
cunning, and ambition. He had been read out of the Republican
party for trying to beat Jefferson out of the presidency and had
ruined his hopes of a legitimate political career by murdering
Alexander Hamilton in a duel. While yet Vice-President of the
United States and presiding over the Senate with a dignity and
grace never surpassed, he harbored treason in his soul and formed
a gigantic conspiracy, at once alluring and bold but impossible,
and set about its accomplishment with a skill and hardihood
worthy of a nobler cause. His designs were shadowy but his
central aim was to use the adventurers along the frontier and
the discontented in Louisiana to cut off as much of the West from
the Union as appeared possible and with all the territory he
could slice off the Spanish domain establish an empire where
Aaron Burr would be supreme. From New York he brought a

86 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
number of his Tammany friends and in the West Blennerhassett
and Wilkinson lent their aid. Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay and
Governor Claiborne were unsuccessfully approached. But his
tools were not perfectly selected. Wilkinson had been engaged
in too many conspiracies on his own account to be caught in one
where he was not chief and when failure threatened the expedi
tion he turned traitor to Burr. Contemptible and guilty as he
was his energy and ability in putting down the conspiracy, aided
as they were by his knowledge of Burr's plans, coupled with
careful political manipulation, saved him from punishment. Burr
was captured, tried, and set free, for want of convicting evidence ;
but he remained ever afterward a political and social outcast.
The other event of importance was the magnificent expedi
tion of Lewis and Clark. An expedition to the Pacific had been
suggested by Jefferson fifteen years before and had been urged
upon the American Philosophical Society with such force that a
subscription was opened for such an enterprise in 1792. In 1801
Captain Meriwether Lewis and a French botanist started out but
the Frenchman was recalled and the enterprise abandoned. When
in 1803 a good opportunity arose, Jefferson urged Congress tq
provide for the expedition which it did. Lewis was again se
lected and chose for his associate Captain William Clark, of the
United States army. Lewis was a young Virginian of excellent
family, possessed of a good education, sound intelligence, and a
courage and tenacity of purpose which nothing could shake. He
had seen military service under Anthony Wayne and was for
three years President Jefferson's private secretary. His asso
ciate, William Clark, was a brother of George Rogers Clark, who
had also served under Wayne, and who was a trained frontiers
man of great ability and courage. He was thoroughly familiar
with Indian nature and to his skill in dealing with them much of
the credit of the expedition was due. It was an excellent com
bination for they seemed to lack no quality or accomplishment
which could add to the success of such an exploration.
They started up the Missouri with about twenty-five com-

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 87
panions in the spring of 1804. They toiled painfully forward
against the muddy and tempestuous current and were compelled
to spend the first winter among the Mandan Indians in a fort
near the present site of Bismarck. In the spring they continued
their voyage into Montana, left the headwaters of the Missouri,
plunged into the wild canons of the Rockies, crossed the divide,
and ferreted out the headwaters of the Snake river. Down this
stream they floated into the Columbia, thence to its mouth where
on November 15, 1805, they beheld "the waves like small moun
tains rolling out in the sea." They wintered on the Pacific and
in the spring set out to retrace their journey and in September,
1806 were again in St. Louis.
This gigantic wilderness journey has scarce a parallel in the
annals of history. For over two years had they wandered in an
unknown world. Nearly eight thousand miles had they traveled,
scarcely a league of which did not bristle with peril. They had
gone without harm through the most dangerous Indian tribes
showing a management of the savages which was a marvel of
adroitness and humanity. They lost only one man by death and
not one of their subordinates faltered. One Indian was shot by
Captain Lewis when the lives of the party seemed to depend on
a sudden show of vigor but as a whole the expedition forms the
pleasantest and most creditable record in American frontier life.
They opened a pathway of light through the great West and
paved the way for the future settlement and control of the Ore
gon country. While Lewis and Clark were opening a pathway to the
Upper Missouri and the distant Pacific an equally heroic spirit
was gaining accurate knowledge of the sources of the Mississippi.
General Zebulon M. Pike set out from St. Louis in August, 1805
to explore Minnesota, and the region about the headwaters of
the Mississippi. The next year he made another expedition from
St. Louis, crossing Missouri, thence into the present Indian Ter
ritory, northward across Kansas into Nebraska and then south
west to the Rockies. Pushing up the Arkansas he gazed upon

88 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
the lordly peak that bears his name and measured its height.
From there he went southward in the dead of winter, suffering
unspeakable agonies of hunger and cold, and finally reached the
Rio Grande only to be captured by the Spaniards. He was re
leased after a short time and reached the American fort at
Natchitoches in July, 1807. Through the journals of these ex
plorations added to the expedition of Lewis and Clark the Amer
ican public first realized what a glorious achievement the Louis
iana Purchase had been.
As Laussat had predicted to his government the Territory
of Orleans developed rapidly. A majority of the people were
soon reconciled to the new government, although a number of
the Spanish soldiers and leaders remained, intriguing and hoping
for a retrocession until actually driven out. By 1810 there were
twenty-five thousand people in New Orleans and the immediate
vicinity and the population of the whole of Orleans amounted to
more than seventy-five thousand. An enabling act was therefore
passed by Congress to provide for erecting the Territory into a
state. A convention was called which proclaimed a Constitution.
The Territory then applied formally for admission into the
Union under the name of Louisiana and was admitted on April
30, 1812, being the ninth anniversary of the treaty of cession.
Thus by the admission of the first state carved from that
vast domain beyond the Mississippi the final disposition of the
whole of it was determined. The remnant of the old Federalists
had taken up the narrow constitutional view advanced by Jeffer
son when he first received the treaty of cession and denied the
right of Congress to admit states except from the territory within
the limits of the Union at the adoption of the Constitution. Af
ter dwelling upon this constitutional objection Josiah Quincy in
a speech before the House continued passionately: "To me it
appears that this measure [for the admission of Louisiana] would
justify a revolution in this country. I am compelled to declare
it as my deliberate opinion that, if this bill passes, the bonds of
this Union are virtually dissolved; that the States which compose

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 89
it are free from their moral obligations ; and that, as it will be the
right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely
for a separation — amicably if they can, violently if they must."
He was interrupted by cries of "Order ! Order !" but was later al
lowed to continue his remarks in which he outlined the fears of
New England and some other parts of the East that the scepter
of power would soon slip from their grasp to be wielded by deni
zens of the wilds beyond the Alleghanies and even beyond the
Mississippi. This violent outburst accomplished nothing as the
precedent set by the passage of the bill was final.
One more event and' the new State must drop from our
record. Scarcely two years had passed when a foreign foe was
again at New Orleans. While Napoleon was languishing at Elba
England determined to seize the territory he had sold to keep
out of her power. For two years our feeble nation, rent with
political selfishness and strife, had been waging a forlorn struggle
with England, attended with astounding success on the sea and
indifferent success on the northern frontier. When England for
a time had her hands free she sent out a magnificent armament
of twenty thousand veterans, perfectly equipped and well offi
cered. Sir Edward Pakenham had charge and the landing at the
mouth of the Mississippi was effected in the latter part of 1814.
The Louisiana Purchase was to become a British empire in spite
of Napoleon and the young republic.
But Andrew Jackson was in the way. With all his faults
Jackson was the archtype of imperious energy and natural born
leadership. Men obeyed him by instinct and trusted him by
compulsion. Out of as heterogeneous a mob as general ever com
manded he wrought in a few short days an army that performed
miracles. Behind hastily improvised breastworks of the rudest
sort a droll confusion of men, arms, and equipment awaited the
attack of 10,000 of Wellington's veterans. Behind the main line
were only 3,200 men, — lank Tennessee and Kentucky frontiers
men, clad in 'brown homespun and armed with the long and deadly
rifles with which they had been accustomed to pick squirrels out

90 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
of the tallest trees; Louisiana Creoles, in gay and varied uniforms,
singing the Marseillaise but loyal to the Union ; unwashed pirates
from'the swamps of Barataria; troops of negroes, sailors, mulat
toes, and a few regulars from the American army. Every move of
Pakenham was checkmated by the decision and resourcefulness
of Jackson and nothing apparently remained but to storm the in
trenchments. At the head of thei advancing column Pakenham
fell mortally wounded. The second in command soon followed.
The lines wavered, fell back, were reformed and again charged
into the rain of lead and death. Again they halted, sickened,
gave way. One short hour ended the carnage and Lambert, the
fourth in command, led off the broken columns, put them on board
ship and since that day no foreign foe has encamped upon the
free soil of the United States. Two .thousand British soldiers
had that day perished while within the American breastworks
only six men were killed and seven wounded. Jackson had won
the presidency and the West had exemplified its patriotism and
military prowess.
The State of Louisiana was soon followed into the Union by
others. In 1812 the country north of Louisiana was organized
as the Missouri Territory with a governor, appointed by the Presi
dent, a directly elected House of Representatives, and an indi
rectly elected council of nine members. The intrepid William
Clark became governor and retained the office until Missouri was
admitted as a State in 1821. The admission of Missouri caused
the bitterest struggle of the era which ended in the famous Mis
souri Compromise. The new State contained the most favored
portion of the territory, comprising within her borders the varied
resources of a self-sustaining empire, and speedily took rank as
one of the large States, steadily advancing until it reached fifth
place in population and wealth. St. Louis soon outstripped her
elder sister, New Orleans, and has remained the leading city west
of the Mississippi.
Missouri was followed in steady succession by ten other
States. The tide of emigration rolled steadily westward, wave

Louisiana Territory Under the United States. 91
upon wave, flooding the rich alluvial valleys, and gradually rising
to the more sterile hilltops beyond. The Indians and the buffalo
melted away and the wilderness crumbled before the onslaught
of civilization. Arkansas was organized into a separate Terri
tory in 1819 and admitted into the Union as a State in 1836.
Iowa Territory was organized in 1838 and admitted into the
Union in 1845. Minnesota was made a. Territory in 1849 and
erected into a State in 1858. The bitter Kansas-Nebraska strug
gle culminated in 1854 and Kansas became a State in 1861. Ne
braska followed in 1867. Colorado was erected into a Territory
in 1861 and admitted to statehood 1876. Dakota Territory, or
ganized in 1861, was split into North and South Dakota and the
two States admitted at the beginning of Harrison's administration
in 1889- Montana, made a Territory in 1864, was admitted
1889- Wyoming followed these States the next year. Thus
twelve States have already been carved from the huge domain and
it only remains for Oklahoma Territory and Indian Territory
to be united into the thirteenth. Each State will then represent
only a little more than one million of the original fifteen million
dollars purchase money.
The riches of this stupendous acquisition are incalculable.
It is now inhabited by fifteen million people (three times the
population of the whole United States at the time of the pur
chase) and would support with ease twenty-five times its present
number. It is "the granary of the world, the inexhaustible store
house of the base and precious metals, rich in every element of
present prosperity and far richer in every element of future
opulence." Its teeming millions will some day bring the center
of population across the Mississippi, and its energy, intelligence,
and ambition will make it a center of culture as well as of wealth.
As it is to be the host of the world in the coming months, so will
it continue to rivet the attention of the nations, when its hills
and its valleys, its mines and its manufactures, its fields and its
pastures, its farms and its vineyards, give forth their storehouses
to feed and clothe and warm and vitalize a needy world. The

92 Brief History of the Louisiana Territory.
Anglo-Saxon race began its career, of progress on the banks of
the Thames ; it will end that progress in the valley of the Missis
sippi. The history of the Mississippi valley is unique; its pres
ent wealth and prosperity is marvelous ; its, hope for the future
is lost in boundless sublimity. Truly does the Louisiana Pur
chase rank third in the events of importance in United States
history.
THE END.

INDEX.

Acadia, 4. Acadians arrive in Louisiana, 45.
Adams, Henry. On Jefferson, 49, 62. On Spanish America, 54. Parallel
between Toussaint and Napoleon, 57.
Adams, John, 52, 54.
Agriculture. In Upper Louisiana, 23. Lower Louisiana, 84.
Algonquin Indians. Allies of Champlain, 5.
Alquier, Citizen, 52.
Arkansas. Indians, 10. Admitted to Union, 91.
Aubrey, Spanish governor of Louisiana, 31, 33, 39, 41.
Austria, 52, 53.
Bale, Peace of, 50.
Bates, Frederick, 85.
Baton Rouge, 41, 44, 82.
Bayou Manchac, 41.
Bellerive, St. Ange de, 34, 36, 38.
Berthier, General. Signs treaty of San Ildefonso, 53.
Bienville, Explores Lower Mississippi, 17. Founds New Orleans, 20. Leaves
Louisiana, 27. Character and work, 27, 28. Visits Choiseul, 31.
Biloxi. Founded, 18.
Boisbriant, Pierre. Founds Ft. Chartres, 23.
Bonaparte, Joseph, 52, 67, 68.
Bonaparte, Lucian, 53, 68.
Bonaparte, Napoleon, 50. Plan to take Louisiana, 51, 52, 53. Breaks peace
of Amiens, 65, 66. Decides to give up Louisiana, 66, 67.
Bonhomme. Founded, 36.
Bourgmont. Builds Fort Orleans, 21. Crosses Kansas, 21.
Burr, Aaron. Conspiracy, 85, 86.
Cabildo. Replaces Superior Council, 33. Building the scene of transfers,
77. 78.
Cahokia. Founded, 22, 36. Captured by George Rogers Clark, 40, 85.
Calvo, Marquis de Caso, 76, 77.
Canary Islands. Immigrants from, 43.
Cape Girardeau, 84.
Capuchins, 27. Quarrel with Jesuits, 42.
(93)

94 Index. \
Carmelites, 27.
Carondelet. Founded, 36.
Carondelet, Baron de, Governor of Louisiana, 45, 46.
Cartier, Jacques. Explores St. Lawrence, 4.
Charles III, King of Spain, 31. Charles IV, 53, 65.
Chouteau, Madame, 36. Auguste Chouteau, 36. Pierre Chouteau, 36.
Champlain, Samuel de. Founds Quebec, 4.
Choiseul. Spanish minister, 31.
Claiborne, C. C, 55. Governor of Louisiana, 77-80.
Clark, George Rogers. Captures Kaskaskia and Cahokia, 40.
Clark, William. Expedition, 86, 87. Governor of Missouri, 90.
Coligny. Attempt to plant a French colony in Florida, 4.
Colorado. Admitted to Union, 91.
Coureur-de-bois. Forerunners of progress, 37.
Creole. Definition, 82. Life, 82-84.
Creve-Coeur, Fort, 12.
Crozat, Anthony. Assumes control of Louisiana, 18. Surrenders Louisi
ana, 19.
Cruzat, Don Francisco. Governor of Upper Louisiana, 39, 40, 41.
D'Abbadie, Director-general of Louisiana, 30, 35.
Dagobert, Father, 42.
Dakota. Territory divided and admitted to Union, 91.
Dauphin Island. Settlement on, 18.
De Monts. Obtains permission to plant a colony in Acadia, 4.
De Soto. Discovers the Mississippi, 3.
Duralde, Martin. French surveyor at St. Louis, 39.
Du Tisne. Explores Missouri, 21.
Federalists, 55, 72, 73, 74, 76, 88.
Florissant. Founded, 36.
Fontainebleau, Treaty of, 29.
Fort Bourbon. Founded, 21.
Fort Chartres. Founded, 23. Reached by Laclede, 35. French garrison-
Leaves, 36.
Fort Dauphin. Founded, 21.
Fort Frontenac, n.
Fort La Reine. Founded, 21.
Fort Pierre. Founded, 21.
Fort St. Charles. Founded, 21.
Foucault. Leader in Creole revolution, 32.
Francis I. Decides to send expedition to America, 4.
Franciscans, 5.
French and Indian War, 28, 29.

Index. 95
French Revolution, 26. Excitement in New Orleans, 45. Jacobin procla
mation, 45.
Frontenac. Governor of Canada, 11.
Galvez, Don Bernardo de. Spanish governor at New Orleans, 43. Aids
Americans in Revolution, 44. Leaves Louisiana, 45.
Godoy, Don Manuel. Spanish minister, 46, 47, 50, 53, 54, 55, 65.
Government. Of Canada, 6. Of Louisiana under the French, 25, 26, 27.
Of Louisiana under the Spanish, 33, 34. Of Louisiana under the United
States, 80, 81. Of Missouri Territory, 90.
Green Bay. Mission Station, 6, 9, 10.
Guillemardet, Citizen. French diplomat, 51.
Harrison, William Henry, 85.
Hennepin, Louis, n.
Howard, Benjamin, 85.
Huguenots, 5. Petition to Louis XIV, 17.
Iberville, Le Moyne de. Continues La Salle's plan, 16. Reaches mouth of
Mississippi, 17. Builds Fort Biloxi, 17. Other settlements, 18.
Indian Territory, 91.
Iowa. Admitted to Union, 91.
Iroquois, 4, 6.
Jackson, Andrew. Approached by Burr, 86. At New Orleans, 89, 90.
Jefferson, Thomas. Inaugurated, 48. Character, 48, 49. Friendship for
France, 55. Instructions to Livingston, 61. Political manipulation, 62.
Threats to Pichon, 63. Letter to Monroe, 64. Mr. Schouler on Jeffer
son's diplomacy, 65. Proposes amendment to the Constitution, 70, 71.
Message regarding Louisiana, 75. Responsible for Louis and Clark ex
pedition, 86.
Jesuits, 4, 22, 23, 27. Quarrel with Capuchins, 42.
Joliet, Louis. Explores Mississippi, 9, 10.
Kansas. Admitted to Union, 91.
Kaskaskia. Founded, 22, 34, 36. Captured by George Rogers Clark, 40, 85.
Kerleric, Governor of Louisiana, 28, 30.
La Boulaye. Fort, 17.
Labusciere, Joseph, 38.
Laclede, Pierre. Lands in New Orleans, 35. Founds St. Louis, 36. Death
40.
La Harpe, Benard. Visits the Nassonite Indians, 20, 21.
La Mothe Cadillac. Governor of Louisiana, 19.
Lafreniere. Leader in Creole revolution, 32.
La Salle. Education and arrival in Canada, 7. Exploration of the Ohio and
the Illinois, 8, 9. Plans French Empire in Mississippi Valley, 10, n.
In France, 11, 13. Sets out for Mississippi, 12. Wilderness journey, 12,

96 Index.
13. Reaches mouth of the Mississippi, 13. In Texas, 14. Death, 14.
Character and work, 15.
Laussat, Pierre Clement, 76, 77, 79. Letter regarding Louisiana, 81.
Law, John. Organized Mississippi Company, 19.
Leclerc, General. In St. Domingo, 58.
Lefebre, Judge, 38.
Le Sueuer. Explores Minnesota, 20.
Lewis, Meriwether. Governor of Missouri Territory, 85. Expedition,
86, 87.
Leybe, Fernando de. Governor of Upper Louisiana, 40, 41.
Livingston, Robert R. Sent to France, 55. Negotiations, 61, 67, 68. Joy
over treaty, 69. Fears Napoleon will change his mind, 71.
Loftus, Major. Attacked by Indians, 34.
Louis XIV. Becomes interested in New France, 6. Surrenders Louisiana to
Crozat, 18. To the Miss. Co., 19.
Louis XV. Orders Louisiana to be turned over to Spanish, 30, 36.
Louisiana Fur Company, 35.
Louisiana Territory. Boundaries, 74, 75. Area, 75. Jefferson's message
concerning, 75. Transferred to France, 77. To United States, 78, 79.
Government, 80. Life in, 82-85. Louisiana admitted to Union, 88.
Louisiana Treaty, The, 68, 69, 72, 73.
L'Ouverture, Toussaint, 56-59.
Luneville, Peace of, 52.
McMaster, John B. On the Federalists, 72, 73. On New Orleans, 82, 83.
Madison, James. Threatens Pichon, 63. Refuses to treat with him, 64.
Mallet Brothers. Explore Platte River and visit Santa Fe, 21.
Marbois, Barbe, 66, 67, 68, 75.
Marquette, Jacques. Explores Mississippi, 9, 10.
Milhet, Jean. Sent to France, 31.
Mines. At Galena, 23. Potosi, 23. Mine Lamotte, 23.
Minnesota. Explored, 20. Admitted to Union, 91.
Miro, Don Estevan, 44. Governor of Louisiana, 45.
Mississippi Company. Organized, 19. Rule, 20, 22, 23, 26.
Mississippi River. Discovery, 3. Indian references to, 7. Mouth reached
by La Salle, 13.
Missouri. First settlement, 23. Territory organized, 90. Admitted to Un
ion, 90.
Monroe, James. Sent to France, 63. Conversation with Pichon, 64. Ar
rives in Paris, 67. Signs treaty, 68, 69.
Montana. Admitted to Union, 91.
Mobile Bay. Settlement on, 18.
Montaigne. On French quarrelsomeness, 5.

Index. 97
Morales, Don Juan Ventura. Suspends the right of deposit at New Orleans,
62, 63.
Morgan, Col. George. Founds New Madrid, 44.
Natchez. Trading station, 19, 41. Captured by Galvez, 44.
Natchitoches, 21, 82.
Nebraska. Admitted to Union, 91.
Nemours, Dupont de, 61, 64.
New Madrid. Founded, 44, 82, 84.
New Orleans. Founded, 20. Arrival of immigrants, 22. Progress, 24.
Population, 45. Scene of transfers, 33, 77, 78, 79. Description, 81-85.
Niagara, Fort, 12.
Nicollet, Jean. Explorations, 6, 7.
Oklahoma Territory, 91.
Opelausas, 82.
O'Reilly, Alexander. Governor of Louisiana, 32, 33, 39.
Orleans, Territory of, Organized, 80, 81. Admitted as Louisiana, 88.
Pakenham, Sir Edward, 89.
Paris, Treaty of, 29.
Parkman, Francis, 4, 25.
Parma, Duke of, 52.
Pichon, French charge approached by Gallatin and Madison, 63. Threat
ened by Monroe, 65. At Washington, 73.
Pickering, Timothy, 74.
Piernas, Don Pedro. Takes possession of Upper Louisiana, 39.
Pike, Zebulon M., 87, 88.
Point Coupe, 82.
Port of Deposit at New Orleans, 46, 62, 63.
Population. Louisiana in 1745, 24. Upper Louisiana in 1799, 41. Louisi
ana in 1803, 45. Of New Orleans, 45. Of Louisiana, 82.
Portage des Sioux, 37.
Purchase oH.ouisiana, 67-69. Importance, 92.
Quebec. Founded, 4, 5.
Quincy, Josiah. Threat of secession, 88, 89.
Renault, Philip. Opens lead mines at Galena, Illinois, 23.
Republicans, 72, 73, 74.
Richelieu. Government of Canada, 6.
Roberval. Attempt to plant colony in America, 4.
Rocky Mountains. Discovery, 22. Passed by Lewis and Clark, 87.
St. Charles, Missouri, 36.
St. Cyr, Gouvion, 65, 71.
Saint-Denis, Juchereau de. Establishes Natchitoches, 19.
St. Domingo. A basis of operation against Louisiana, 51. Condition in
7

98 Index.
1802, 56. Revolution, 57-60.
St. Joseph River. Fort built at mouth in 1678, 12.
St. Lawrence. Explored, 4.
St. Louis, Missouri. Founded, 34, 35. Growth, 36. Government, 38. Oc
cupied by Spaniards, 39. Attacked by Indians, 40. Population, 41, 84.
- Taken by Stoddard, 84. Growth, 90.
St. Louis, of the Illinois, 13.
St. Louis, of Texas, 14.
Ste. Genevieve. Founded, 23. Reached by Laclede, 35.
Salcedo, Governor, 76, 77.
Sault St. Marie. Mission point, 6.
Schouler, James. On Jefferson's diplomacy, 65.
Ship Island. Settled, 18.
Slavery. Slaves brought to New Orleans, 22. Black Code enacted, 27.
Number in Upper Louisiana, 41.
Sterling, Captain. Takes possession of Illinois, 34.
Stevens, Edward, 57.
Stoddard, Amos, 84, 85.
Superior Council, 26, 30, 31, 32, 33, 42.
Talleyrand. French diplomat, 50. X. Y. Z. affair, 51, 52. Diplomacy, 55,
67, 68.
Tchoupitoulas, 82.
Tonty, Henry de, 11, 13, 14, 16.
Treaty of Madrid, 46, 47.
Treaty of Morfontaine,«i52.
Treaty of Paris, 29, 41.
Treaty of San Ildefonso, 53, 72.
Ulloa, Antonio de. Spanish governor of Louisiana, 31, 41. Driven out, 32.
Unzaga, Don Luis de. Governor of Louisiana, 41, 42, 43.
Vaudreuil, Marquis de. Governor of Louisiana, 28.
Verendrye, Chevalier de la. Discovers upper Rocky Mountains, 21, 22.
Verendrye, Pierre la. Explores the Northwest, 21.
Vergennes, Count de, 50.
Verrazano. Explores east coast of United States, 4.
Victor, General. Prepares army to take possession of Louisiana, 76.
Vincennes, 85.
Washington, George, 24, 25.
Wealth of Mississippi Valley, 91, 92.
Whitworth, Lord, 65, 66.
Wilkinson, General James. Commissioner to receive Louisiana, 77, 78, 80,
Governor of District of Louisiana, 85. Engaged in Burr conspiracy, 86.
Willing, Captain. Obtains aid from New Orleans during revolution, 44.
Wyoming. Admitted to Union, 91.
Yrujo. Spanish minister, 63, 71.

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