The Retrocession Of Louisiana To France
Many of the causes of
the situation which developed in Louisiana during its detention by Spain
lay far back in the history of the country. The Floridas (East Florida and
West Florida) were established by Great Britain in the Proclamation of
October 7, 1763, defining the British colonies in America. West Florida
embraced the country between the Mississippi and Chattahoochee rivers
south of the thirty-first parallel. The west boundary of the United States
as fixed by the treaty concluding the Revolution was the Mississippi, down
to the thirty-first parallel. Thence it ran east along that parallel to
the Chattahoochee. Spain declared war against Great Britain in May, 1779.
Before the close of that year the Spaniards had captured Manchac, Baton
Rouge, and Natchez. On March 14, 1780, they captured Mobile. In May, 1781,
they captured Pensacola. By these conquests the Spaniards had extended the
north boundary of West Florida from the thirty-first parallel to the mouth
of the Yazoo. The territory between these boundaries, from the Mississippi
to Chattahoochee, remained a matter of contention between Spain and the
United States to 1795. By the treaty ratified in May, 1784, both Great
Britain and the United States were granted the right of free navigation of
the Mississippi from its source to its mouth. Spain had little intention
of standing by her stipulations in that matter. Benevolence had no place
in the relations between nations. Interest alone dictates their actions.
The old monarchies of Europe were none too well pleased with the erection
of a republic in North America. The attitude of the British Government
toward the United States was always reprehensible down to the close of the
Civil War. Spain saw in the denial of the right to freely navigate the
Mississippi an opportunity to great dissatisfaction and friction between
the different sections of the United States. Of this condition she took
every advantage, hoping to bring about the dismemberment of the young
republic.
At the close of the war for Independence the Americans poured over the
Alleghenies in ever increasing numbers. Boone, Kenton, Robertson. Sevier
and other explorers and settlers had blazed the way. The new settlers came
principally from the Carolinas, from Virginia, and from Pennsylvania. Many
of them had served in the patriot armies of the Revolution. These who had
preceded them had battled with the Indians for possession of the soil.
These men seeking to establish homes in the wilderness were bold,
fearless, independent Americans. Seated on the rich lands of the West,
they soon produced a surplus of food and other commodities which they
found it necessary to carry to some market. These could not be transported
eastward across the Alleghenies. Facilities for this were entirely
wanting. The natural outlet for this trade was by the great water-way—down
the Mississippi.
It is somewhat remarkable that the Atlantic States never have come to
realize the importance of the West. It is strange that Americanism does
not begin even in the United States until the crest of the Alleghenies had
been attained. The Atlantic seaboard states always viewed the West with
indifference, and have to this hour made no effort to understand or
comprehend its requirements. Virginia ignored the just claims of George
Rogers Clark, though his heroism and sacrifices gave her an empire. And
when the people of Kentucky petitioned both Virginia and Congress for
statehood she was treated with neglect, if not contempt. A like condition
to the south caused the people on the Tennessee to set up the State of
Franklin. It was apparent to the Western people that the Mississippi
Valley was an entity—that while it extended thousands of miles in all
directions and might in time have local conditions to deal with in many
parts, it had in the end a common interest and a common destiny. La Salle
had been the first to realize this, and on that idea he founded Louisiana.
A century later the settlers on the Ohio, the Tennessee, the Holston, the
Kanawha, the Kentucky and the Cumberland saw the vision first beheld by La
Salle. They had helped to free the land from the British yoke. If the
government they had set up and sealed with their blood would not hear them
and give attention to their needs, they would do what Englishmen have ever
deemed it their right to do—secure their interests, devise their own
government, choose their own course, shape their own destiny.
Spain fostered this discontent. She restricted the navigation of the
Mississippi. The commerce coming down its mighty flood was burdened with
imposts amounting to confiscation. Corn, wheat, tobacco, tallow, hides,
furs, beeswax, flour, cured meats and many other commodities found
unprofitable markets at New Orleans. And the right to deposit these
products against more favorable times or for reshipment was denied. At the
same time there was the suggestion that if the country could all come
under Spanish rule times and conditions would mend and all causes of
complaint disappear. In the hope of attaining complete sovereignty of the
Louisiana of La Salle Spain entered upon a course of intrigue with the
Western settlers. It is not to be believed that the Americans could have
ever been brought to accept permanently the rule of Spain. But many of the
leading men of the West were willing to form a compact or some sort of
alliance with that decadent power in order that commerce might be fostered
and the country developed along natural lines.
These were the conditions when European politics interfered and changed
the sovereignty of Louisiana. France decided to again take over this
wilderness province, and Spain was in no condition to resist. By the
treaty of San Ildefonso, concluded October 1, 1800, Spain retroceded
Louisiana to France.
