NAPOLEON FORMALLY RATIFIES THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. MONROE, JAMES. 1758-1831. ROBERT R. LIVINGSTO...

NAPOLEON FORMALLY RATIFIES THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE. MONROE, JAMES. 1758-1831. ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON. 1746-1813. And FRANÇOIS BARBÉ-MARBOIS. 1745-1837. Document Signed ('James Monroe,' 'Robt. R. Livingston' and 'Barbé-Marbois') being a receipt for the fully ratified agreement for the Louisiana Purchase, 1 p, folio (350 x 227 mm), Paris, Prairial 3, An 11 (May 23, 1803), fold creases, some browning. Provenance: Anonymous owner, sold Sothebys, New York, October 29, 1986, lot 94; Mrs. Charles Engelhard, sold Christies, New York, January 26, 1996, lot 172. 'With the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, [the Louisiana Purchase] is one of the three things that created the modern United States....' David Brinkley, historian. THE NEGOTIATORS FORMALLY ACKNOWLEDGE AMERICAN RECEIPT OF THE FULLY EXECUTED FRENCH COMPONENT OF THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE TREATY AND ITS CONVENTIONS. The three ambassadors responsible for negotiating the terms of the treaty, Monroe, Livingston and Barbé-Marbois, note here: 'meeting in one of the rooms of the Hôtel du Trésor Public in Paris, Citizen Barbé-Marbois handed over to us ... The treaty drawn up and signed by us on 10 Floreal an 11 (30 April 1803) and the 2 conventions drawn up and signed by us on the same date... signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ch. Mau. Talleyrand, and countersigned by the Secretary of State Hugues D. Maret ... to be sent by us to the President of the United States without delay and for him to take the necessary steps....' One month earlier, Monroe had arrived in Paris to meet Livingston to negotiate for lands eastward of the Mississippi, and most importantly for the port of New Orleans. But the day before his arrival, the French minister brought forth from Napoleon an entirely different proposal: the sale of the whole of the Louisiana Territory. Even though, Monroe and Livingston did not have Presidential authority, they seized 'the fugitive occurrence,' as Jefferson would later call it, and negotiated the Louisiana Purchase, doubling the size of the United States with the addition of 828,000 square miles at a price of $15 million, or 4 cents per acre. Jefferson, having already dispatched Lewis and Clark to explore the territory, would remark that the new lands would 'promise in due season important aids to our treasury, an ample provision for our posterity, and a wide-spread field for the blessings of freedom.' The acquisition jump started a century of westward expansion, and sparked Jefferson's vision of an 'extensive empire.' Just a year before in 1802, America's view of the Louisiana territory was vastly different. With news of the French reacquisition of Louisiana, and the subsequent closing of the port of New Orleans to American trade, Jefferson had legitimate concerns over renewed French ambitions on the North American continent. However, simultaneous with the closure of New Orleans, the French Army in Saint Dominque (Haiti) was being decimated by Yellow Fever, and the prospects for French possession were fading. By early 1803, as Jefferson prepared Monroe to negotiate for New Orleans, Napoleon was once again confronted with the prospect of an extended war with Britain, which would require additional funds. Without Saint-Domingue, French possession of New Orleans and Louisiana did not look as valuable to Napoleon. Thus, by the time Monroe arrived in Paris in April 1803, Napoleon had already made the decision to offer the Americans not only New Orleans, but all of territory of Louisiana, and all that was left was to determine the price. On May 2, backdated to April 30, the treaty of the Louisiana Purchase was signed by Monroe, Livingston and Barbé-Marbois, handing to America an enormous territory, including land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces: Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, portions of North and South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado east of the Continental Divide, as well as some portions of Minnesota and New Mexico, and small areas in what are now Alberta and Saskatchewan. The treaty, and the two additional pacts that would provide the financial mechanism for America to pay for it, were then agreed to by the First Consul, and signed by his ministers, before being returned to Monroe and Livingston to be carried to America for Jefferson's final approval, as attested to by this manuscript, signed by the principal negotiators. This rare manuscript emanates directly from the heart of the negotiations which made possible American expansion in North America, from 'sea to shining sea.' For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing