The Louisiana Purchase - Research Paper Example

? The Louisiana Purchase Inserts His/Her Inserts Grade Inserts 8 April The political and social events significantly influence the Louisiana Purchase. The research centers on the reasons for the French decision to sell the Louisiana property. The research includes the United States’ reason for purchasing the Louisiana property. The Louisiana Purchase benefitted all parties to the Louisiana Purchase. Michael Burgan (2002) emphasized the United States tried to use other sea ports for the export of goods outside the original United States territory and import products from countries in Europe and other international ports. However, the financial revenues generated from the other Mississippi river ports. However, the other sea ports did not fare profitably well or better when compared to the financial security of the New Orleans sea port. The American merchants experimented trading with products passing through the New Orleans ports. The American companies traded in products such as pork, flour, feathers, bacon, lard cider, cheese, and butter. With the Louisiana property under the hands of Spain during 1798, Spain refused the American people the right to using the Mississippi river. The refusal angered the United States. With Spain’s blockade of American trade in the New Orleans area, the United States president was forced to buy the Louisiana Property. Consequently, United States president Thomas Jefferson sent feelers to France for the purchase of the Louisiana property. Prior to Spain’s blocking the American boats from plying the Mississippi river, the Pinckney’s Treaty was approved during 1795. The treaty allowed the American ships to travel to New Orleans port to deliver their imported goods to the American community under the right of deposit program (Burgan 2002). Thomas Fleming (2003) insists when the Mississippi river was elevated to be the main trading route for goods imported into the original American territories and goods going outside the same American territories, the American political leaders decided to buy New Orleans location. The location is an important boat docking or pier site where the port city is strategically located at the Mississippi River’s mouth. President Thomas Jefferson, perseverance included many parties sent to France to buy the New Orleans area. Initially, France owned huge land areas dotted along the Mississippi’s western area. The area is called Louisiana. France owned and managed the Louisiana from 1699 until 1762. In 1762, France gave the Louisiana land area to its Friendly neighbor, Spain. However, the French Conqueror, General Napoleon Bonaparte, retrieved the Louisiana property from Spain. Thinking of dominating the large Louisiana expanse filled Bonaparte’s initial penchant. As time went on, Bonaparte realized some troubling reasons that holding to the Louisiana land area were not viable. One bothering reason was a French Commander’s lost in a battle held in Saint Dominque (current Haiti nation). The Haiti war took lots of French soldier deaths. With the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte’s French army in Haiti, under Bonaparte’s brother in law, Bonaparte was thinking of selling lands to pay for Bonaparte’s continuing European war activities (Fleming 2003). Magdalena Alagna (2004) mentions many of the Haiti –based French troops were dying from Yellow fever during the Haiti war campaign. The same Haiti war drained the French coffers significantly. Continuing to pay for the expenses of the Haiti war would eliminate the connection to the ports of North America’s southern shipping lines. Another bothering reason is the increasing American population. Further, France was forced to sell the Louisiana property. With the population growth trend, France felt that it would be impossible to stop the encroaching American population from overflowing into the French territory of Louisiana. Bonaparte decided to transfer the funds allocated to maintaining Louisiana to pay for the cost of invading England. Consequently, Bonaparte decided to sell the Louisiana property. Both parties agreed to implement the Louisiana Purchase. The amount collected from the Louisiana sale was used to raise the required troops and materials needed to launch an all out offensive to capture England. However, Bonaparte refused to sell only the New Orleans area. Bonaparte insisted that America buy the entire Louisiana property where the New Orleans port area was strategically stationed. The American government, under the leadership of United States Secretary of State James Madison approved the contract to buy the entire Louisiana property as proxy for the United States President. Next, the Louisiana sale was approved by the United States Congress approved the treaty to buy the Louisiana property (Alagna 2004). Furthermore, Magdalena Alagna (2004) mentions Napoleon Bonaparte could not avoid selling the Louisiana property. Bonaparte feared that the United States or even Great Britain may forcibly take the Louisiana property without paying a single cent. The fear persuaded Bonaparte to sell the Louisiana property in order to have a profitable outcome from their possession of the vast Louisiana land areas. Thomas Jefferson also felt that an increasing French presence beside the American territories may cause frictions between the two nations. The American President preferred that the Louisiana property belong to the United States in order to prevent the landing of French nationals in French owned Louisiana. With Napoleon Bonaparte at the height of his domino effects European war successes, the United States would be better off with Louisiana within the hands of American residents (Alagna 2004). On April 30, 1803, the actual Louisiana Purchase cropped up. France and the United States finally agreed to finish the sale of the Louisiana area, which spanned an estimated 830,000 square miles of land along the Mississippi river. The treaty was called the “Louisiana Purchase”. The Louisiana Purchase came at the right time. The vast expanse was needed to cater to the growing food, shelter, and other basic needs of the growing American population. With the Louisiana Purchase, the United States’ land area grew by an estimated 100 percent. The Louisiana Purchase involved an estimated $15,000,000. The new American owners discovered that the Louisiana property included vast areas of fertile agriculture land stretches and many other natural wonders such as water falls and high magnificent mountains like the Rockies. The Louisiana Purchase had reached from Mississippi river to the very high Rocky Mountains. Presently, the Louisiana property covered the states of Montana, Kansas, Arkansas, New Mexico, Colorado, Iowa, Missouri, North Dakota, Nebraska, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Wyoming, and Texas (Burgan 2002). Consequently, the initial exploration team of Lewis and Clark mapped the entire Louisiana territory. The mapping operations started in 1804. The two persons left Missouri in 2004 and arrived in the same Missouri spot two year later, in 1806. The two discovered that the Louisiana area included magnificent landscapes, diverse animal species, and various plant types. The two discoverers also recorded the presence of Native Americans or simply Indians. In terms of animals, the Lewis and Clark discovered and recorded the presence of diverse animals. There were grizzly bears. Likewise, there were antelopes and sheep. Lewis and Clark discovered many types of birds, including the woodpecker and the nutcracker (Burgan 2002). Based on the above discussion, the political and social activities influentially affected the Louisiana Purchase. French reasons for selling the Louisiana property included to generate funds to preempt American invasion of the Louisiana property. The American reasons for the Louisiana Purchase include relocating its growing population and maximizing the trading profits of the Mississippi River. Indeed, the Louisiana Purchase benefitted both the United States and France. REFERENCES: Alagna, M. (2004). The Louisiana Purchase: Expanding America's Boundaries. New York: Rosen Classroom Press. Burgan, M. (2002). The Louisiana Purchase. New York: Compass Press. Fleming, T. (2003). The Louisiana Purchase. 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