Day-by-Day / February 3, 1803

February 3, 1803

Livingston's update

From Washington City, President Thomas Jefferson writes Robert Livingston, U.S. envoy in Paris, regarding the threats to open the port of Louisiana by force. He tells Livingston that ministers will be sent to Madrid and Paris to negotiate a peaceful solution—an effort that would result in the Louisiana Purchase.

Robert R. Livingston

Attributed to Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828)

Gentlemanly portrait of Robert R. Livingston

This image is in the public domain.

Washington Feb. 3. 1803.

Dear Sir [Robert Livingston]

A late suspension by the Intendant of N. Orleans of our right of deposit there, without which the right of navigation is impracticable has thrown this country into such a flame of hostile disposition as can scarcely be described.

they raised the cry of war, were intriguing in all quarters to exasperate the Western inhabitants to arm & go down on their own authority & possess themselves of New Orleans, and in the mean time were daily reiterating, in new shapes, inflammatory resolutions for the adoption of the House.

as a remedy to all this we determined to name a minister extraordinary to go immediately to Paris & Madrid to settle this matter. this measure being a visible one, and the person named peculiarly popular with the Western country, crushed at once & put an end to all further attempts on the legislature. from that moment all has become quiet;

the future destinies of our country hang on the event of this negotiation, and I am sure they could not be placed in more able or more zealous hands. on our parts we shall be satisfied that what you do not effect cannot be effected. Accept therefore assurances of my sincere & constant affection and high respect.

Th: Jefferson[1]Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 3 February 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0382. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas … Continue reading

The ministers extraordinary would be James Monroe, France, and Thomas Pinckney, Spain. Regarding opening the port of New Orleans to American trade, Jefferson had not seen the last threats of militants taking matters into their own hands. See February 5, 1803 and February 14, 1803. The negotiations led to Louisiana’s Purchase.

 

Notes

Notes
↑1 Thomas Jefferson to Robert R. Livingston, 3 February 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0382. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, pp. 444–446.] accessed 15 May 2022. This letter would take at least a month to arrive in Paris.

Discover More

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition: Day by Day by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2018). The story in prose, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals: An American Epic of Discovery (abridged) by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 2003). Selected journal excerpts, 14 May 1804–23 September 1806.
  • The Lewis and Clark Journals. by Gary E. Moulton (University of Nebraska Press, 1983–2001). The complete story in 13 volumes.

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Unless otherwise noted, journal excerpts are from The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, edited by Gary E. Moulton, 13 vols. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1983-2001).