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TREATY BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 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 Source of misunderstanding relative to objects of
discussion mentioned
in the Second and fifth articles of the Convention of the 8th Vendémiaire
on
9/30 September 1800 relative
to the rights claimed by the United States in virtue of the Treaty
concluded at Madrid the
27 of October 1795, between His Catholic Majesty & the Said United
States, & willing
to Strengthen the union and friendship which at the time of the Said Convention
was
happily reestablished
between the two nations have respectively named their Plenipotentiaries
to wit The
President of the United
States, 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, Citizen Francis Barbé Marbois
Minister of the
public treasury who after
having respectively exchanged their full powers have agreed to the following
Articles.
Article I
Whereas by the Article the third of the Treaty concluded at St Ildefonso
the 9th Vendémiaire
on 1st October 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
hand of Spain, & 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 and particularly of the third article
the French Republic
has an incontestible
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 his friendship doth hereby
cede to the 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 have been
acquired
by the French Republic
in virtue of the above mentioned Treaty concluded with his Catholic Majesty.
Article II
In the cession made by the preceeding article are included the adjacent
Islands belonging to
Louisiana all public
lots and Squares, vacant lands and all public buildings, fortifications,
barracks and
other edifices which
are not private property.--The Archives, papers & documents relative
to the domain
and Sovereignty of Louisiana
and its dependances 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.
Article III
The inhabitants of the ceded territory shall be incorporated in the Union
of the United States and
admitted as soon as possible
according to the principles of the federal Constitution to the enjoyment
of all these rights,
advantages and immunities of citizens of the United States, and in the
mean time they
shall be maintained and
protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty, property and the Religion
which
they profess.
Article IV
There Shall be Sent by the Government of France a Commissary to Louisiana
to the end that he do
every act necessary as
well to receive from the Officers of his Catholic Majesty the Said country
and its
dependances in the name
of the French Republic if it has not been already done as to transmit it
in the
name of the French Republic
to the Commissary or agent of the United States.
Article V
Immediately after the ratification of the present Treaty by the President
of the United States and in
case that of the first
Consul's shall have been previously obtained, the commissary of the French
Republic shall remit
all military posts of New Orleans and other parts of the ceded territory
to the
Commissary or Commissaries
named by the President to take possession--the troops whether of France
or Spain who may be there
shall cease to occupy any military post from the time of taking possession
and shall be embarked
as soon as possible in the course of three months after the ratification
of this
treaty.
Article VI
The United States promise to execute Such treaties and articles as may
have been agreed between
Spain and the tribes
and nations of Indians until by mutual consent of the United States and
the said
tribes or nations other
Suitable articles Shall have been agreed upon.
Article VII
As it is reciprocally advantageous to the commerce of France and the United
States to encourage
the communication of
both nations for a limited time in the country ceded by the present treaty
until
general arrangements
relative to commerce of both nat ions may be agreed on; it has been agreed
between the contracting
parties that the French Ships coming directly from France or any of her
colonies loaded only
with the produce and manufactures of France or her Said Colonies; and the
Ships
of Spain coming directly
from Spain or any of her colonies loaded only with the produce or
manufactures of Spain
or her Colonies shall be admitted during the Space of twelve years in the
Port of
New-Orleans and in all
other legal ports-of-entry within the ceded territory in the Same manner
as the
Ships of the United States
coming directly from France or Spain or any of their Colonies without being
Subject to any other
or greater duty on merchandize or other or greater tonnage than that paid
by the
citizens of the United.
States.
During that Space of time above mentioned no other nation Shall have a
right to the Same
privileges in the Ports
of the ceded territory--the twelve years Shall commence three months after
the
exchange of ratifications
if it Shall take place in France or three months after it Shall have been
notified
at Paris to the French
Government if it Shall take place in the United States; It is however well
understood that the object
of the above article is to favour the manufactures, Commerce, freight and
navigation of France
and of Spain So far as relates to the importations that the French and
Spanish Shall
make into the Said Ports
of the United States without in any Sort affecting the regulations that
the
United States may make
concerning the exportation of t he produce and merchandize of the United
States, or any right
they may have to make Such regulations.
Article VIII
In future and for ever after the expiration of the twelve years, the Ships
of France shall be treated
upon the footing of the
most favoured nations in the ports above mentioned.
Article IX
The particular Convention Signed this day by the respective Ministers,
having for its object to
provide for the payment
of debts due to the Citizens of the United States by the French Republic
prior to
the 30th Sept. 1800 (8th
Vendé miaire an 9) is approved and to have its execution in the
Same manner as
if it had been inserted
in this present treaty, and it Shall be ratified in the same form and in
the Same
time So that the one
Shall not be ratified distinct from the other.
Another particular Convention Signed at the Same date as the present treaty
relative to a definitive
rule between the contracting
parties is in the like manner approved and will be ratified in the Same
form,
and in the Same time
and jointly.
Article X
The present treaty Shall be ratified in good and due form and the ratifications
Shall be exchanged
in the Space of Six months
after the date of the Signature by the Ministers Plenipotentiary or Sooner
if
possible.
In faith whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have Signed these articles
in the French and
English languages; declaring
nevertheless that the present Treaty was originally agreed to in the French
language; and have thereunto
affixed their Seals.
Done at Paris the tenth day of Floreal in the eleventh year of the French
Republic; and the 30th of
April 1803.
Robt R Livingston [seal]
Jas. Monroe [seal]
Barbé Marbois
[seal]
Source: Treaties and Other International
Acts of the United States of America. Edited by Hunter Miller Volume 2
, Washington : Government Printing Office, 1931.
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