history and stands on record as the greatest acquisition of territory
ever made by peaceful methods. An American historian of great prominence
says: "The annexation of Louisiana was an event so portentous as to defy
measurement; it gave a new face to politics and ranked in historical
importance next to the Declaration of Independence and the adoption of
the Constitution."

The territory was ceded to France by Spain by the secret treaty of San
Ildefonso in 1800. This aroused to intense excitement the people of the
West, who were inclined to give credit to the rumor that the army of
forty thousand men sent by Napoleon (who was responsible for the
negotiation of that treaty) were in reality to take military possession
of Louisiana and the Floridas instead of to suppress the insurrection in
San Domingo, the ostensible object. France and England had been
struggling for many years for supremacy in the Western Continent, and in
the possession of this vast territory Napoleon foresaw a prosperous New
France. But there were many complications arising at home. Important
political questions demanded attention, and the great Napoleon soon
realized that he could not hope to cope successfully with the two great
problems lying at such a great distance apart.


NEGOTIATIONS FOR TRANSFER OF TERRITORY

At that time our country was interested in procuring possession of the
site of New Orleans and the free passage of the Mississippi river
forever for all American citizens, and negotiations were opened for
their purchase by Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of
Independence, and at that time third President of the United States.