From Washington City, President Thomas Jefferson writes a letter to James Monroe asking him to become Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary with the authority to negotiate a solution to the Spanish closure of the port of New Orleans to American commercial traffic.
In a separate letter, Attorney General Levi Lincoln gives Jefferson advice on the legality of acquiring the Mississippi River channel from France.
Port of New-Orleans SHUT.
Natchez Herald, 28 October 1802
6.8 x 11.2 in. (17.5 x 28.5 cm.) AGI, Cuba 95, 523a, fol.1084—”Port of New-Orleans SHUT.” España. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Archivo General de Indias. Courtesy of the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain.
So important was this news that the Natchez Herald published a special flyer. This preserved copy is signed by Captain José Vidal, secretary to Manuel Gayoso de Lemos, Spanish Mississippi Territory Governor. See note for Cybèle T. Gontar.
Partial transcript:
By an Express arrived this evening from New-Orleans, we have received the following important intelligence, which we hasten to give to our readers.—
“Yesterday the Intendant issued orders, not only for shutting the port of New-Orleans against American vessels coming with cargoes to sell, which was expected; but even totally to prevent the deposit—a step that must produce infinite embarrassment, as well as much loss to many of the citizens of the United States. Two boats that arrived from above yesterday, with flour, were not allowed to land it; consequently cotton, &c. coming from Natchez will be in the same predicament.”
Extraordinary Envoys
Intendant of Louisiana Juan Ventura Morales originally published a decree 16 October 1802 that reversed the 1795 Treaty of San Lorenzo in which Thomas Pinckney won the United States’ “right of deposit”—essentially free navigation of the Mississippi and duty-free exports through the port of New Orleans.[1]Cybèle T. Gontar, “‘Port of New-Orleans SHUT.’: A Natchez Broadside at Archivo General de Indias,” Commonplace: the Journal of Early American Life, … Continue reading
On 10 January 1802, the Republicans and Federalists had very different plans to solve the problem—negotiations and military invasion, respectively. Thomas Jefferson initiates his administration’s plan by writing this letter to James Monroe:
Washington Jan. 10. 1803.
Dear Sir
I have but a moment to inform you that the fever into which the Western mind is thrown by the affair at N. Orleans stimulated by the mercantile, & generally the federal interest, threatens to overbear our peace. in this situation we are obliged to call on you for a temporary sacrifice of yourself, to prevent this greatest of evils in the present prosperous tide of our affairs. I shall tomorrow nominate you to the Senate for an extraordinary mission to France, & the circumstances are such as to render it impossible to decline; because the whole public hope will be rested on you.
. . . arrange your affairs for a temporary absence; perhaps for a long one. accept affectionate salutations.
Th: Jefferson[2]Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 10 January 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0262. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas … Continue reading
Constitutional Questions
In 1803, the young nation did not know if acquiring new territory through executive treaties would be constitutional. Here, Attorney General Levi Lincoln suggests expanding the boundaries of existing states and territories instead of creating new ones:
Washington Jany. 10. 1803—
Sir
I ought to dismiss all scruples, and apprehensions respecting the constitutionality of the proposed bargain with France, when Gentlemen much more capable of viewing the transaction in all its various bearings have satisfied themselves on the subject. The importance of New Orleans and the Floridas, with the unimpeded navigation of the Mississippi to the U.S., to their peace and prosperity, is, in my opinion so great, as to justify, almost any risque for their attainment.—
The idea is,—that . . . France agrees to extend the boundaries of the Mississippi Territory, and of the State of Georgia, respectively, so that the former shall be bounded on the middle of the channel or bed of the river Mississippi . . . .
By this indirect mode, if it is feasible, would not the general Govt. avoid some constitutional, and some political embarrassments, which a direct acquisition of a foreign territory by the Govt. of the United States might occasion?—
I am Sir most respectfully your obedient Sert
Levi Lincoln[3]Levi Lincoln to Thomas Jefferson, 10 January 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0261. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | Cybèle T. Gontar, “‘Port of New-Orleans SHUT.’: A Natchez Broadside at Archivo General de Indias,” Commonplace: the Journal of Early American Life, commonplace.online/article/port-of-new-orleans-shut/ accessed 20 May 2020. |
|---|---|
| ↑2 | Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 10 January 1803,” Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0262. [Original source: The Papers of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 39, 13 November 1802–3 March 1803, ed. Barbara B. Oberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012, p. 306.] accessed 15 May 2022. |
| ↑3 | Levi Lincoln to Thomas Jefferson, 10 January 1803, Founders Online, National Archives, founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/01-39-02-0261. [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. 302–305.] accessed 21 May 2022. |
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