alleryStart learning →Why did Napoleon resolve to sell Louisiana to the United States?
ASpain had refused to confirm the earlier cession
BHis colonists there had risen against his rule
CWar with Britain would cost him the territory
DThe port of New Orleans had become worthless
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: C. War with Britain would cost him the territory
1. Spain had held the country west of the Mississippi with the port of New Orleans near its mouth.
2. Napoleon forced a weak Spanish government to cede that tract back to France.
3. Jefferson warned that if France took possession, America must marry itself to the British fleet.
4. Napoleon knew another war with Great Britain was impending after the brief Peace of Amiens.
5. He realized that once it began he would lose Louisiana anyway.
6. So he resolved to fill his treasury and put the territory beyond British reach by selling it.
7. New Orleans was indispensable for shipping American produce, so it was far from worthless.
8. Spain had already made the cession, so a refusal by Spain was not the reason.
_Source: An Outline of American History (U.S. Information Agency, 1990, public domain), section JEFFERSON’S DEMOCRATIC IDEAS_
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