|
Chapter V
By the cession to Spain in 1762 of that portion of
Louisiana lying west of the Mississippi River the French, who had
slowly extended their settlements into that region, were, against
their will, made subjects of an alien government. When Spain
undertook to extend its dominion over its newly acquired
possessions, the Acadians and Creoles resisted and drove the Spanish
officials from the country.
In 1768 Governor Don O'Reilly, the new Spanish
ruler, landed at New Orleans with a strong force, suppressed the
insurrection, and inaugurated Spanish rule. The population of
Louisiana, at this time, was about 13,500, although more than
seventy years had elapsed since the first French colony had been
established. But few settlements had been made west of the
Mississippi, the most important of which were at St. Genevieve and
St. Louis.
The use of Spanish courts, laws and language was
decreed in the province to the intense disgust of its French
population. Spain at this time claimed the region on both sides of
the Mississippi River for the first three hundred miles above its
mouth, and west to the Pacific Ocean. Spain was endeavoring to
strengthen her grasp on American territory along the Gulf of Mexico
and throughout the country lying north and west. The free
navigation of the river to its mouth became of vital importance to
the United States, as it was the only commercial outlet for its
possessions in that valley.
As the great prairies were yearly attracting
settlers from the eastern States, Spain realized that before long
she would be compelled to yield the free navigation of the lower
river unless the inhabitants of the upper valley could be alienated
from their allegiance to the United States. To permit the free
navigation of the river appeared to Spain like laying the foundation
for the ultimate loss of her American possessions.
The settlements in the valley were separated by wide
stretches of wilderness, with no prospect of markets or access to
the commerce of the world, save through the Spanish dominions.
These settlements were surrounded by hostile Indians and remote
from protection of the home government. Their navigable rivers all
led to the Mississippi. Spain saw the necessity and used all of
these arguments to persuade settlers to unite with the Spanish
possessions and separate themselves from the United States. The
pressure was increased by levying heavy duties upon all imports the
settlers received by way of the lower Mississippi. These duties
were arbitrary. Every boat passing up or down the lower river was
required to land and submit to these exactions under penalty of
seizure, Confiscation and imprisonment of the crew. The Spanish
officers enriched themselves from these exorbitant taxes.
The pioneers of the valley were poor, and endured
all the hardships and privations inseparable from settlement in a
wild country. They were wholly dependent upon their own ingenuity
and toil for the common necessaries of life and they felt keenly the
merciless taxation that was levied upon a traffic which brought them
a scanty supply of groceries and hardware in exchange for their
products. Spain insolently refused to even grant them the free
navigation of the river, unless they would unite their fortunes with
Spanish Louisiana and separate from their own kindred and country.
In 1786 John Jay, the American minister to Spain,
having failed to procure concessions from the government on this
point, in compliance with instructions from Washington, almost
consented to waive the right of free navigation for twenty years,
provided Spain would concede that right at the expiration of that
period.
A knowledge of this timid policy aroused intense
indignation among the settlers in the upper valley, who determined
to assert their rights by force if abandoned by their own
government. They proposed to organize an army and seize the Spanish
posts, capture New Orleans and compel the recognition of their
claims.
The Spanish governor, Muro, realized that some
concessions must be made or his province might be invaded by an army
of backwoodsmen whose fame as expert riflemen was a terror to the
Spanish authorities. He therefore granted the privilege of free
trade to James Wilkinson and certain other Americans in tobacco,
flour and other products. Spanish emissaries were sent into the
settlements with promises of great commercial advantages if the
people would declare their independence of the Federal Government.
Spain in this event proposed to forever guarantee the free
navigation of the Mississippi. Many citizens who had waited long
years for relief through their own government were disposed to enter
into the scheme that promised such great and immediate benefits.
They would establish an independent government. But a large
majority of the settlers were loyal to their country.
In 1788, after years of fruitless negotiations with
Spain, Congress declared "that the free navigation of the
Mississippi River is a clear and essential right of the United
States and that it ought to be enforced." The western people
rejoiced greatly over this declaration and became convinced that the
government would protect their interests. Spain finally realized
its danger. A war would almost certainly result in the loss of
Louisiana and probably Florida.
General Washington, who was President, began to
prepare for a conflict which seemed likely to come. Spain still
delayed making any concessions, hoping the western people might be
won over to separation from the Union. Untiring efforts were made,
through secret emissaries traveling among the settlements, to bring
on a movement for independence. In order to embarrass the
Government of the United States and alienate the western people,
Spanish emissaries were sent among the Indian tribes in the south
and British emissaries, co-operating in the northwest, endeavored to
bring on a general Indian war. The "Whisky Rebellion" in
Pennsylvania and an Indian war in the west conspired to encourage
Spain to postpone any substantial concession.
About this time it was proposed by the American
minister at Madrid that if Spain would cede to the United States her
possessions east of the Mississippi, including the island and city
of New Orleans, that the United States would make no claim to the
vast territory west of the river, as her real interest would then
require that Spain should retain her possessions west of it. Since
the free navigation of the river was of such absolute necessity to
the United States, it must sooner or later be conceded. The
minister said:
"This is the decree of Providence
written on every map of the continent and it cannot be prevented by
any human agency. Would it not be the part of wisdom to anticipate
an irresistible event peaceably and cement a lasting friendship with
the United States on this basis of mutual interests and benefits?"
But Spain still procrastinated. She seemed to
realize that the only security she had in her American possessions
was in holding her vantage ground and checking the onward tide of
emigration that was menacing Louisiana.
And thus for more than twelve years were the
American settlers in the Mississippi Valley kept in suspense and
subjection to Spanish cupidity. General Carondelet of Louisiana now
made a final effort to detach the western territory from the
American Union. He sent Lieutenant-Governor Gayoso of Natchez as a
special agent to the mouth of the Ohio River to meet four of the
most prominent of the American conspirators - Sebastian, Innis,
Murray and Nicholas - to arrange the terms of an alliance between
Kentucky, Tennessee and adjacent territory, and Louisiana under the
Spanish government. But General Wayne had defeated the hostile
Indians; the rebellion in Pennsylvania had been suppressed, and the
American army was now free to attend to this incipient revolution.
The conspirators became timid and Judge Sebastian of Kentucky was
the only one who ventured to meet the Spanish commissioner. The
United States officers were on the alert, and Judge Sabastian,
fearing arrest, fled to New Orleans. Spain was now becoming deeply
involved in European wars, and fearing an invasion of Louisiana by
the long suffering pioneers, finally proposed a settlement of the
controversy.
A treaty was concluded on the 20th of October, 1795,
by which the middle of the Mississippi River was made the western
boundary of the United States from the thirty-first degree of
latitude to its source, and navigation made free to its mouth.
Spanish rule in Louisiana was drawing to a close. The French
nation had never become reconciled to the loss of its possessions in
America, which had been surrendered by a weak king. Under the
brilliant young first consul, Napoleon, France had become the most
powerful nation of Europe. Spain had been compelled to how to his
iron will. Napoleon resolved to restore to France her former
possessions in the Valley of the Mississippi. On the first of
October, 1801, a treaty was made with Spain by which she ceded to
France all of the province of Louisiana; but before Napoleon could
take possession of the newly acquired American province, England and
her allies were pressing the French armies so hard that Napoleon
feared the powerful British navy would seize and blockade the ports
of Louisiana, thus cutting France off from her new acquisitions.
The French and Americans were traditional friends and, in order to
save Louisiana from England, Napoleon determined to transfer it to a
friendly power able to defend and hold it. This acquisition by the
American Republic would greatly strengthen that rising nation, make
it a formidable rival of Great Britain and enable it to check the
rapacious policy of British power in American.
Confidential negotiations were opened with the
American minister to France and the scheme was at once communicated
to President Jefferson. He was rejoiced at the prospect of being
able to secure, by peaceable means, such a vast and important
addition to the territory of the new Republic. On the 30th of
April, 1803, this treaty was concluded by which Louisiana was ceded
to the United States for $15,000,000.
When this treaty negotiated by Jefferson's
administration came before the Senate for ratification,
constitutional objections were made; but in view of the national,
commercial and financial benefits to be derived, opposition soon
disappeared. All came to see the wisdom and broad statesmanship of
the great author of the immortal Declaration of Independence. This
act extended our dominion form the Mississippi River to the Pacific
Ocean and gave to the growing young nation the vast empire out of
which the Indian and Oklahoma territories and the States of
Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Minnesota, North and South Dakota,
Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Montana, Washington, Oregon and Iowa
have been organized. Louisiana embraced an area greater than all of
our possessions at that time lying east of the Mississippi River.
A secret clause had been inserted in the treaty of
1801, between France and Spain, which provided that if France should
ever permit Louisiana to pass out of her possession, Spain should
have the exclusive right to re-purchase it. But so great had become
the power and influence of Napoleon through his invincible armies in
Spain, that he now readily coerced that kingdom to waive all right
under this secret provision and permit the sale to the United
States.
The extent of the territory, then known as
Louisiana, had never been realized by any of its possessors. Louis
XIV of France had at one time actually granted that unexplored
region to a private citizen, M. Crosat, who, in consideration of the
grant, was to pay to the king one-fifth of the gold and silver
annually which it should yield. This was by far the most munificent
grant of public domain ever made by a sovereign to a subject; but
after a few years search for the precious metals Crosat, discouraged
by failure, regarded the possessions worthless and relinquished them
to the crown. A few years later the same tract was granted to the
famous John Law, who used it to inaugurate one of the most gigantic
real estate speculations ever devised. After its collapse, the
grant was again relinquished.
This treaty, which had been negotiated on the part
of the United States by Robert R. Livingston, minister
plenipotentiary, and James Monroe, envoy extraordinary, was ratified
by the Senate on the 19th of October, 1803, and, by act of the 31st
of October, President Jefferson was authorized by Congress to take
possession of and occupy the country. On the 20th of December
possession was taken by the Government at New Orleans through
Governor William C. C. Claiborne, who had been appointed by the
President.
Our new possessions proved to be of greater value
than all the territory conquered and held by Napoleon during his
brilliant and unscrupulous wars of conquest in Europe and Africa.
No such acquisition of valuable territory was ever before made
peaceably by any nation in the world's history. The industrial,
commercial, political and geographical importance of this region
were colossal and inestimable. It rounded out our territorial
possessions, opened up the inland water route to the sea and at one
step lifted the young Republic into rank and power with the first
nations of the earth.
The accompanying map shows on the extreme east the
territory embraced in the thirteen original States which in 1776
declared their independence from British rule and in the war of the
Revolution won the right to self-government. The area of the
thirteen original colonies embraced 420,892 square miles, and the
region lying between these States and the Mississippi River claimed
and held by the Republic embraced an area of 406,952 square miles,
making the entire area of the United States after the close of the
Revolution 827,844 square miles.
The Louisiana Purchase secured by treaty with France
contained an area of 1,171,931 square miles, exceeding in size by
344,087 square miles all of the former territory of the United
States.
Florida, which was acquired from Spain in 1819,
contained 59,268 square miles; and the territory acquired from
Mexico, including Texas, covered an area of 967,451 square miles.
But this last acquisition was only won by an aggressive war upon a
neighbor greatly inferior in strength and reflected no credit upon
the powerful Republic which was founded upon the right of people to
self-government.
The almost unexplored province of Louisiana had been
discovered by Spanish adventurers in 1542, but abandoned by them for
one hundred and thirty years before French explorers took possession
if it in the name of their king. It was held by France for
eighty-two years, from 1681 to 1763, when it was ceded to Spain.
During this period of more than two and a half centuries the entire
white population of this immense fertile territory had only reached
about fifty thousand, while the exports amounted to but $2,158,000,
and the imports to $2,500,000.
Up to the close of the Revolutionary War Virginia
claimed all of the tract lying north and west of Ohio River in the
United States, as well as Kentucky. In 1784 Virginia ceded to the
United States all of its claim to the region north of the Ohio River
and west to the Mississippi. In the same year a treaty was made
with the Sioux Indians, who claimed a large portion of this
territory, by which they relinquished their claim to all west of the
State of New York. By another treaty made with other western
tribes, a large portion of Ohio was relinquished and opened to
settlement by whites.
On the 20th of May, 1785, Congress passed an act
providing for the survey of public lands. These lands were divided
into townships six miles square, the ranges of townships to be
numbered from the Pennsylvania boundary west, and the townships
themselves to be numbered north from a point on the Ohio River due
north of the western termination of the southern boundary of
Pennsylvania. The townships were divided into thirty-six sections
each one mile square. This was the origin of our excellent system
of surveying, dividing and describing of public lands. Some changes
have been made by subsequent legislation, but the system remains
substantially as it was originated at that time.*
Colonel James Mansfield, then
Surveyor-General of the Northwestern Territory, was the author of
this system.
After the surveys were made and recorded, the lands
within certain limits were offered for sale at not less than one
dollar and a quarter per acre. It was a part of the plan of
Congress at th e session of 1`784 to have the Northwest Territory
divided by parallels of latitude and meridian lines into ten States.
They were to be named, beginning at the northwest corner and going
south: Sylvania, Michigania, Chersonisus, Assenispia, Metropotamia,
Illinoia, Saratoga, Washington, Plypotamia and Pelisipia.*
Fortunately the people of the future great States of that region
were spared the infliction of such inappropriate names as were some
of these.
*Sparks' "Life of Washington."
On the 7th of July, 1786, the subject was again
considered by Congress, and a joint resolution adopted providing
that not less than three, nor more than five States, should be
organized out of the territory. On the 13th day of July, 1787,
Congress passed an act known as the "Ordinance of 1787," by which
all of the country lying north and west of the Ohio River and east
of the Mississippi, was organized into the Northwest Territory.
This embraced what has since become the States of Ohio, Indiana,
Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin. Seventeen million acres of land
had been acquired by treaties with the various tribes of Indians.
The ordinance providing for its organization had forever prohibited
the introduction of slavery within its limits.*
*This prohibition was proposed and
introduced by Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of
Independence and afterwards President of the United States.
Within a year from the time of its organization,
more than 20,000 men, women and children had settled in the new
territory. One thirty-sixth of all the public lands was reserved
and the proceeds of the sales appropriated to the support of public
schools. These two acts of Congress, viz." the prohibition of
slavery, and the grant of lands for public schools, were measures of
the broadest statesmanship, which were destined to eventually work
out the emancipation of our great republic from the crime and curse
of human slavery and provide a comprehensive free public school
system. Thus we see how from our eastern neighbors we inherited our
simple system of land surveying, our method of providing a common
school education and our exemption from African slavery.
|
