APPENDIX B

NAPOLEON'S ORDER FOR THE SALE OF LOUISIANA

TRANSLATION

*

PARIS, 3 Floréal, an 11 (April 23d, 1803).

Minute for a Secret Agreement with the United States of America

THE First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, and the President of the United States of America, desiring to prevent all possible misunderstanding relating to the topics mentioned in Articles II and V of the Agreement of the 8th Vendémiaire, year 9 (October 1st, 1802), and wishing to promote as far as possible the close and friendly relations which at the time of the said Agreement were fortunately established between the two states, have named as Ministers Plenipotentiary Citizen Barbé Marbois, Minister of the Public Treasury [the American names are omitted], who, after having exchanged their credentials, have agreed on the following articles:

ART. 1. The French Republic yields and transmits to the United States of America all the rights which it has acquired over Louisiana through the treaty made with His Catholic Majesty, the King of Spain, the 8th Vendémiaire, year 9 of the French Republic; and in consequence of said cession, Louisiana, its territory, and the dependencies

*Correspondance de Napoleon Premier, J. Dumaine, Paris, 1861. Henri Plon, éditeur, tome viii, pp. 289, etc.

appertaining thereto, shall become part of the American Union, and shall constitute in due course one or several States according to the terms of the Constitution of the United States.

ART. 2. The United States undertake to favor in a special way the commerce and navigation of French citizens and of the subjects of His Catholic Majesty, in the towns, harbors, roads, seas, rivers, etc., of Louisiana, and to especially secure to them by a privilege not in future to bę granted to any other nation, the perpetual right of deposit and navigation which was conceded to the Americans by the Treaty of October 27th, 1795, between Spain and the United States.

Moreover, it is agreed that in the ports and towns of Louisiana, French and Spanish commerce shall enjoy perfect freedom to import goods. French and Spanish vessels and merchandise shall never be subjected to any of the customs or dues which may be imposed upon the commerce of other nations. They shall, in the ports of Louisiana, be treated in all respects like French-American merchandise coming from some other American port.

ART. 3. Three other places of commercial deposit shall be accorded to France and Spain, on the right bank of the Mississippi, toward the mouth of the Red River and the mouths of the Arkansas and Missouri, and two points on the left bank of the Illinois River and toward the mouth of the Ohio. French merchants shall enjoy in these places all the advantages accorded to Americans by the King of Spain, on the 27th of October, 1795. It is also agreed that France may appoint in these places, as well as at New Orleans, commercial agents, who, according to Article X of the Agreement of the 8th Vendémiaire, year 9, shall enjoy the usual rights and prerogatives of such officials.

ART. 4. It is agreed that the obligations assumed by the Government of the French Republic as respects the debt due

to American citizens, specified in Article V of the Agreement of the 8th Vendémiaire, shall be held to be cancelled, and that the obligation shall be regarded as transferred by the present treaty, to the Government of the United States, which undertakes to satisfy every claim which has been or may be addressed on that score to the Government of the Republic-it being well understood that the obligations contracted toward French citizens by the Government of the United States, by virtue of the said article, remain untouched, as well as the rights of French citizens to the payment of debts due them.

ART. 5. Aside from the satisfaction of the claims specified in the preceding article, the Government of the United States agrees to pay to France the sum of one hundred million francs, in twelve equal instalments, the term for each instalment to be twelve months, and the payment of the first instalment to be made a month after the present date.

The present convention shall be ratified in good and due form, and the ratifications shall be exchanged within six months of the date of the signatures of the Ministers Plenipotentiary, or sooner if it is possible.

Archives de Finance.

By order of the First Consul.

APPENDIX C

Treaty of Purchase between the United States and the French Republic *

THE President of the United States of America, and the First Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people, desiring to remove all sources of misunderstanding relative to objects of discussion mentioned in the second and fifth articles of the Convention of (the 8th Vendémiaire, an 9,) September 30, 1800, relative to the rights claimed by the United States, in virtue of the Treaty concluded at Madrid, the 27th October, 1795, between His Catholic Majesty and the said United States, and willing to strengthen the union and friendship, which at the time of the said Convention was happily re-established between the two nations, have respectively named their Plenipotentiaries, to wit: The President of the United States of America, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the said States, Robert R. Livingston, Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States, and James Monroe, Minister Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary of the said States, near the Government of the French Republic; and the First Consul, in the name of the French people, the French citizen Barbé Marbois, Minister of the Public Treasury, who, after having respectively exchanged their full powers, have agreed to the following articles:

* Annals of Congress, 1802-1803, pp. 1006–1008.

ART. 1. Whereas, by the article the third of the Treaty concluded at St. Ildefonso, (the 9th Vendémiaire, an 9,) October 1, 1800, between the First Consul of the French Republic and His Catholic Majesty, it was agreed as follows: His Catholic Majesty promises and engages on his part to cede to the French Republic, six months after the full and entire execution of the conditions and stipulations herein, relative to his Royal Highness the Duke of Parma, the Colony or Province of Louisiana, with the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it; and such as it should be after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other States: And whereas, in pursuance of the Treaty, particularly of the third article, the French Republic has an incontestable title to the domain and to the possession of the said territory, the First Consul of the French Republic, desiring to give to the United States a strong proof of friendship, doth hereby cede to the said United States, in the name of the French Republic, for ever and in full sovereignty, the said territory, with all its rights and appurtenances, as fully and in the same manner as they might have been acquired by the French Republic, in value of the above-mentioned treaty, concluded with His Catholic Majesty.

ART. 2. In the cession made by the preceding article, are included the adjacent islands belonging to Louisiana, all public lots and squares, vacant lands, and all public build. ings, fortifications, barracks, and other edifices, which are not private property. The archives, papers, and documents, relative to the domain and sovereignty of Louisiana and its dependencies, will be left in the possession of the Commissaries of the United States, and copies will be afterwards given in due form to the magistrates and municipal officers, of such of the said papers and documents as may be necessary to them.

ART. 3. The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be