In New Orleans, Pierre-Clément de Laussat leads a procession of 60 Creoles through the rain to the Cabildo—the city’s seat of government—and signs papers that officially cede the Louisiana Province from Spain to France. In Illinois, Lewis and Clark work at Fort Kaskaskia.
The Cabildo on Jackson Square
By WikiCommons user Infrogmation. Permission is granted via the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Above: Built between 1795 and 1799, the Cabildo has Spanish arches and a French mansard roof.[1]“The Cabildo,” Wikipedia, accessed 17 August 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cabildo. For the same view in 1803, see December 20, 1803.
Spain Cedes Louisiana to France
In his proclamation to the citizens, Laussat says the following:
France has ceded Louisiana to the United States of America. You, Louisianians, will thus become a living monument to that friendship between the two Republics, which cannot but increase from day to day and which must strengthen so powerfully their common peace . . . . Louisianians, you are raised at once from the status of colonials to that of metropolitan citizens with a constitution and a free government.[2]“Proclamation issued by Pierre Clement de Laussat to the people of Louisiana [incomplete],” Library of Congress, accessed 12 August 2022, … Continue reading
Notes
| ↑1 | “The Cabildo,” Wikipedia, accessed 17 August 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cabildo. |
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| ↑2 | “Proclamation issued by Pierre Clement de Laussat to the people of Louisiana [incomplete],” Library of Congress, accessed 12 August 2022, https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane%3A88072, translated by Jason Berry, City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300 (Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press, 2018), 77. |
Experience the Lewis and Clark Trail
The Lewis and Clark Trail Experience—our sister site at lewisandclark.travel—connects the world to people and places on the Lewis and Clark Trail.
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.
This page was funded in part by the Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail, U.S. National Park Service.
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Lewis and Clark Trail Alliance
with cooperation and funding from the following organizations:
- Lewis and Clark National Historic Trail
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- Yellowstone Public Radio
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).