Details
[LOUISIANA PURCHASE]. MONROE, JAMES, ROBERT R. LIVINGSTON and FRANÇOIS BARBÉ-MARBOIS, Minister of Finance. Document signed, Paris, 3 Prairial an 11 [23 May 1803]. 1 page, folio, marginal tear backed with archival tape, affecting paraph in last line and final letters in Livingston and Monroe's signatures, short marginal tears, very slight stains, in French. [With:] F. DE BARBÉ-MARBOIS, Minister of Finance. Letter signed to "Les Ministres des États-Unis" [Livingston and Monroe], Paris, 8 Prairial an 11 [28 May 1803]. 1 page, 4to, engraved letterhead stationery of "Le Ministre du Trésor public," integral blank, slight discoloration, in French.
FRANCE AND NAPOLEON FORMALLY RATIFY THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE TREATY
An important document recording the official delivery to the American ministers of the fully ratified agreement for the purchase of Louisiana, sent the day after Napoleon's ratification of the treaty and two related pacts. This receipt, jointly signed by the two American ministers and by Napoleon's Minister of Finance, certifies that the American ministers have received their copies of the treaty and conventions signed in Paris on 30 April, each document being "written on vellum parchment and stamped with the Great Seal of the French Republic, imprinted on red wax," ratified by the First Consul and signed by Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Périgord, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and by Secretary of State Hugues Maret.
It reads: "We Barbé-Marbois Minister of the Public Treasury... ambassador plenipotentiary of the republic, and Robert R. Livingston...and James Monroe...meeting in one of the rooms of the Hôtel du Trésor Public in Paris, Citizen Barbé-Marbois handed over to us...The treaty drawn up and signed by us on 10 Floreal an 11 (30 April 1803) and the 2 conventions drawn up and signed by us on the same date. Said treaty and conventions in 3 separate documents, written on vellum parchment...signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ch. Mau. Talleyrand, and countersigned by the Secretary of State Hugues D. Maret...to be sent by us to the President of the United States without delay and for him to take the necessary steps. For which we have signed the present document in two copies, one for the French ambassador and one for the American ambassadors."
In the accompanying letter, dated five days later, Barbé-Marbois requests, rather surprisingly, that the American ministers either send him copies of the First Consul's ratifications or else lend their own official copy to his office so that additional record copies may be made from it. He requests further that Peter Augustus Jay (John Jay's grandson), assigned to carry the treaty back to President Jefferson, delay his voyage by a few days, to give time to Talleyrand to prepare official instructions for Louis A. Pichon, the French minister in Washington. Jay's trip was postponed, resulting in additional delays in the crucial ratification process: since war had broken out between Britain and France, his ship was repeatedly stopped by British frigates, and Jefferson did not see the treaty and conventions until the second week of July. Because the treaty stipulated that ratification must be completed by 30 October, Congress was hurriedly called into special session by the President on 17 October. Ratification was voted on 20 October by a margin of 24 to 7.
Provenance: Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby's, 29 October 1986, lot 94). (2)
FRANCE AND NAPOLEON FORMALLY RATIFY THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE TREATY
An important document recording the official delivery to the American ministers of the fully ratified agreement for the purchase of Louisiana, sent the day after Napoleon's ratification of the treaty and two related pacts. This receipt, jointly signed by the two American ministers and by Napoleon's Minister of Finance, certifies that the American ministers have received their copies of the treaty and conventions signed in Paris on 30 April, each document being "written on vellum parchment and stamped with the Great Seal of the French Republic, imprinted on red wax," ratified by the First Consul and signed by Charles Maurice Talleyrand-Périgord, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and by Secretary of State Hugues Maret.
It reads: "We Barbé-Marbois Minister of the Public Treasury... ambassador plenipotentiary of the republic, and Robert R. Livingston...and James Monroe...meeting in one of the rooms of the Hôtel du Trésor Public in Paris, Citizen Barbé-Marbois handed over to us...The treaty drawn up and signed by us on 10 Floreal an 11 (30 April 1803) and the 2 conventions drawn up and signed by us on the same date. Said treaty and conventions in 3 separate documents, written on vellum parchment...signed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ch. Mau. Talleyrand, and countersigned by the Secretary of State Hugues D. Maret...to be sent by us to the President of the United States without delay and for him to take the necessary steps. For which we have signed the present document in two copies, one for the French ambassador and one for the American ambassadors."
In the accompanying letter, dated five days later, Barbé-Marbois requests, rather surprisingly, that the American ministers either send him copies of the First Consul's ratifications or else lend their own official copy to his office so that additional record copies may be made from it. He requests further that Peter Augustus Jay (John Jay's grandson), assigned to carry the treaty back to President Jefferson, delay his voyage by a few days, to give time to Talleyrand to prepare official instructions for Louis A. Pichon, the French minister in Washington. Jay's trip was postponed, resulting in additional delays in the crucial ratification process: since war had broken out between Britain and France, his ship was repeatedly stopped by British frigates, and Jefferson did not see the treaty and conventions until the second week of July. Because the treaty stipulated that ratification must be completed by 30 October, Congress was hurriedly called into special session by the President on 17 October. Ratification was voted on 20 October by a margin of 24 to 7.
Provenance: Anonymous owner (sale, Sotheby's, 29 October 1986, lot 94). (2)