American Naval History, 1607-1865: Overcoming the Colonial Legacy

4 A Precarious Neutrality Ends in a SecondWar against Britain, 1805–1815

i While almost the entire American navy was engaged in a war against Tripoli, the United States undertook crucial negotiations with France. In spite of their recent defeats in the war against Britain, France and its ally Spain still were the world’s second and third largest naval powers. The United States was fortunate that it escaped a confrontation with one or both of them. Immediately upon signing a truce with Britain on 1 October 1801, Napoleon Bonaparte, the first consul of the French republic, began outfitting a fleet to reestablish French control over St. Domingue and reintroduce slavery. He soon also began assembling a fleet to convoy 3,000 troops to Louisiana , which secretly had been promised to France by the king of Spain in exchange for territory in Italy for his son-in-law, Prince Louis of Parma. This exchange would leave France with the expense of administering Louisiana, previously valuable to Spain mostly as a buffer to protect Mexico from the United States. Louisiana was seen by Napoleon as a source of provisions for St. Domingue. President Jefferson was warned by diplomats in Europe of A Precarious Neutrality Ends in a Second War against Britain, 1805–1815 four 50 a precarious neutrality ends in a second war the impending French acquisition of Louisiana. This altered his policy toward France. He had led Napoleon to think that he would assist France in recovering St. Domingue, which Toussaint Louverture (with some assistance from John Adams) had made virtually independent. In spite of his hatred of a country ruled by former slaves, Jefferson now pulled back from providing provisions to the French army in St. Domingue. He also sent warnings to France that the United States would make an alliance with Britain should the French occupy Louisiana. His warnings were at first ignored as Napoleon realized that Britain was reluctant to contemplate a new war with France. The United States had no naval forces to prevent the French from sending troops to Louisiana. Meanwhile a huge French and Spanish fleet was involved in supporting the French army in St. Domingue.1 The crisis fortunately did not lead to renewed hostilities with France. The Senate narrowly defeated a series of resolutions that would have led to a preemptive American occupation of Louisiana, but Jefferson was ready to take action if negotiations with France failed. Luckily, Napoleon decided in April 1803 to sell Louisiana to the United States. The threat of war doubtless played a part, but several other factors also were important. His fleet and troops for Louisiana had not left Europe yet, partly due to Spanish slowness in providing France with the necessary authorization and partly due to logistical factors. Meanwhile the attempted French occupation of St. Domingue was foiled by disease and by the courageous resistance of Toussaint Louverture’s army, even though its leader was captured. The massive loss of French lives convinced Napoleon that the war was hopeless. Without St. Domingue there was much less of a reason for keeping Louisiana. Perhaps 51 a precarious neutrality ends in a second war most crucial were indications that the brief peace with Britain would soon end. The British feared French expansion in Europe and refused to evacuate the strategically important island of Malta as was called for in the recent Franco-British final peace treaty; Napoleon considered this a cause for war. In desperate need of money to fight a new war and realizing that Britain could easily occupy Louisiana, he decided to sell it to the United States while France was still at peace. He signed a treaty with the diplomats Robert Livingston and James Monroe on 2 May 1803, only sixteen days before Britain declared war on France. The greatest threat of a war with the United States came from Spain rather than France. Charles IV of Spain was outraged at Napoleon’s breaking his promise not to transfer Louisiana to another country. To prevent America from acquiring Louisiana, the Spanish government alerted its fleet in Havana to prepare to blockade American ports. The American representative in Spain in turn threatened to use the tiny fleet in the Mediterranean against the Spaniards and their huge navy. Fortunately, the impending crisis in Europe caused the Spaniards to reconsider.2 In spite of the lack of American naval power, Louisiana was transferred to the United States a few weeks after Spanish officials transferred it to...