‘Nearly miraculous’: Even two centuries later, the Louisiana Purchase remains a truly remarkable event that opened many doors of opportunity
When American representative Robert Livingston heard the offer being made
by French leaders for the sale of Louisiana, he dropped his teeth – literally.
When American representative Robert Livingston heard the offer being made
by French leaders for the sale of Louisiana, he dropped his teeth – literally.
“By his own account, Livingston, who was an elderly man and who wore,
as was common at the time, false teeth made of wood, was so astonished (at the
offer) that his mouth flew open and his lower plate came out and fell on the
carpet in front of the president of France,” explains Thomas Howell, chair
of the history department at Louisiana College.
“Livingston literally had to pick up his teeth off the rug.”
The reaction was not a surprising one.
The American effort to buy the city of New Orleans and some of the immediate
surrounding area had just taken an amazing turn – and the young country
was about to make one tremendous deal that still defies explanation in ways.
Looking back, the Louisiana Purchase represents “a nearly miraculous combination
of circumstances … that included political skill, international intrigue and
so much good luck that even the sometimes skeptical (U.S. President Thomas)
Jefferson wondered if the direct intervention of God was not involved,”
Howell says of the events.
The Louisiana College professor spoke of the Louisiana Purchase and its significance
during a recent presentation at Beulah Baptist Church in Cheneyville. The presentation
was the first of three programs planned by the church to commemorate the 200th
anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase.
Two of the events have been held – and the third is set for Nov. 16 at
2 p.m. It features a musical celebration of Christian freedom and the religious
liberties enjoyed in Louisiana.
The setting for the programs is fitting – Beulah Baptist Church is the
second-oldest Baptist church established anywhere west of the Mississippi.
Recently, almost 200 years after Beulahs founding, Howell visited the
church to talk about the improbable land deal that made its launch even possible.
“It still stands today as the largest peaceful transfer of land in history,”
Howell notes of the 1803 purchase of the Louisiana territory from the French
government of Napoleon.
Besides that, it was a “tremendous bargain,” he adds.
In the early years of the United States, the Louisiana territory was in the
hands of Spain. France originally had controlled the area but had given it to
Spain.
Under the control of both countries, colonization was open only to Catholics.
Indeed, Louisiana attracted perhaps the most well-known group of Catholic refugees
– the Acadians.
The few Protestant settlers merely were tolerated.
There even was an unsuccessful effort to launch an Inquisition in New Orleans
to discover heretics. And by law, anyone caught teaching or preaching non-Catholic
doctrine could be subject to flogging or prison, Howell notes.
“There was not a hint of religious liberty in Louisiana.”
Meanwhile, events were unfolding overseas.
The French Revolution began in 1789 – and one year later, Napoleon Bonaparte
came to power.
“He was incredibly ambitious,” Howell notes. “He seriously intended
to impose a worldwide empire.”
Part of his plan involved the French-controlled colony of Haiti, where he sought
to restore slavery and focus on growing a very-profitable sugar cane crop, Howell
explains.
But he needed Louisiana as a means of supplying food and firewood to Haiti.
Thus, he pressured Spain to return the Louisiana territory to French control.
For Napoleon, it was so far, so good, Howell notes.
However, Haiti residents resisted the return to slavery – and settlers
sent to control them began to die of fever.
Napoleon began to have second thoughts, Howell says.
Meanwhile, control in the United States was shifting, he continues. Republicans
came into power with the election of Thomas Jefferson, ending the control of
the Federalists.
That was key, Howell explains.
“No Federalist president ever would have bought Louisiana. No Federalist
Congress would have approved it.”
Even Jefferson did not intend to do so – but he was worried about the
French control of the area and what it could mean for the future of trade on
the Mississippi River.
Thus, in 1802 he made an offer – $6 million to $10 million for New Orleans
and the Florida parishes.
“This would have given America at least one bank of the river and a guarantee
of navigation,” Howell explains.
In France, Livingston made the offer – but there was no response from
French representatives.
Jefferson decided to send reinforcements. He dispatched James Monroe to France
to “somehow, someway reach a deal for New Orleans,” Howell recounts.
However, even as Monroe was arriving, Livingston was summoned to meet with
Napoleon, who had decided his Haiti dreams were dead. Now, he was focused on
Europe.
Louisiana no longer mattered to him.
Napoleon greeted the American representative with an unexpected proposal –
“Mr. Livingston, what if we offered you all the Louisiana territory, all
900,000 square miles of it for $15 million? What would you say to that?”
That is when Livingstons teeth hit the floor.
“The offer was utterly unexpected,” Howell explains.
But there was a problem.
Livingston and Monroe were not authorized to make such a deal for such a sum.
However, they also knew that waiting could spoil it, since Napoleon was notorious
for changing his mind. Checking with Jefferson was out of the question. That
could takes months in the days before instant communication.
“You can almost see Livingston and Monroe twitching,” Howell comments,
noting their political reputations were on the line. But they agreed –
$15 million for the whole thing, and they hoped Jefferson would back them up,”
he says.
When he received the news, Jefferson was “delighted and appalled,”
Howell notes.
He was delighted at the possibility – all the Louisiana territory for
just a few cents per acre. “This went far beyond his expansion dreams,”
Howell explains. “Jefferson dreamed big, but even he hadnt dreamed
that big.”
However, the president was appalled because his own politics told him he did
not have the constitutional authority to make such a deal. He could change the
constitution, which would take years – or he could go against his own political
understanding and ask the U.S. Senate to back the deal.
He spent sleepless nights wrestling with the issue before deciding to send
it to the Senate for approval, Howell says.
It passed.
“This deal was simply too great an opportunity for the American nation
to waste,” Howell notes.
But there was a surprise yet to come.
As feared, back in France to seal the deal, Monroe found that Napoleon had
reconsidered. He demanded an immediate partial payment of $11 million –
in gold.
That was a problem – where to get the money?
Ironically, Monroe went to England, Howell notes.
Imagine the scene, he says.
“(Monroe says) Hi, Im a representative of the United States,
the country that just chased you out, who just rebelled against you. Wed
like to make a deal with your enemies for $11 million so we can double our territory.
How about it?”
Despite the unlikelihood, England agreed.
Napoleon got his gold.
The United States got Louisiana – and on Dec. 20, 1803, America officially
took possession of the territory.
“Tremendous opportunity loomed for the United States, still in its infancy,”
Howell explains. “No other country has ever pulled off such a deal, achieved
without the firing of a single shot or the loss of a single drop of blood.”
The deal was detrimental to some, Howell acknowledges. It marked the political
end of the Federalists. The former Spanish and French residents of the territory
were not pleased at all and formerly petitioned for a return from their newfound
American citizenship. And for the Indians, the deal eventually spelled doom
– pure and simple.
“The Indian tribes do not celebrate, as a general rule, the Louisiana
Purchase,” Howell says.
“But for most Americans, it was the road to greatness.”
For Baptists, the purchase represented the opening of a door of opportunity
– literally.
“Louisiana was, religiously, a closed shop before December 1803,”
Howell says. “Only Catholics were permitted to seek converts, speak out
or hold public services of worship. By law, children of non-Catholics were supposed
to be instructed in the Catholic faith. Protestants of whatever stripe were,
at best, granted very, very grudging religious toleration so long as, and only
so long as, they kept their religion private.”
The Louisiana Purchase changed that, Howell says.
“There was really no opportunity for a Baptist church or any Protestant
church to be built before 1803. (But) The takeover of Louisiana by the United
States ripped down the closed shop sign and opened the … area as a land of
not only social and economic opportunity but also religious opportunity for
all, guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.”
Of course, religious freedom was a young concept in a young nation, Howell
explains. There were growing pains.
“The American takeover of Louisiana did not end the problems for Protestants,
Baptists in particular, …” Howell says. “Baptist leaders were frequently
met with hostility from local Catholics. They were targets of threats, even
violence. … Such actions were no longer sanctioned by the authorities, but
as you can well imagine, the governments ability to protect religious
freedom in the backwoods was … limited.
“For the most part, these men were on their own,” Howell says of
those early Baptists who entered the Louisiana territory. “But opportunity
was there, opportunity as never before, as could not have been before.
“(These) Fearless ministers … refused to be deterred.”
Churches began to be established.
West of the Mississippi, the first was Calvary Baptist Church in Bayou Chicot,
established in 1812 and still operating today. It was followed by Beulah Baptist
Church in Cheneyville, founded with eight people on March 25, 1816.
“(Beulah) still stands today as an example of the power of the gospel
in Louisiana,” Howell says. “So, as we celebrate 200 years since the
Louisiana Purchase, as we enjoy these stories that history gives us, we can
marvel at the … events that made the Louisiana Purchase possible, (and) we
can take justifiable pride in the nation that the United States has become,
at least partially because of the Louisiana Purchase.
“But most of all, we can give thanks to God for the opportunity he gave
us through it to live and worship as we please in freedom … in Cheneyville
… and throughout Louisiana and throughout America.”