Description
Monroe and Livingston announce the Louisiana Purchase, discussing treaty arrangements following Napoleon's "determination to sell the whole of Louisiana"
Contemporary copy of a letter sent from Paris by James Monroe and R. R. Livingston, their names written in a clerical hand, four pages on two adjoining sheets, 8 x 10, May 28, 1803. The American negotiators announce the conclusion of the Louisiana Purchase, in small part: "We are happy to have it in our power to inform you that your labors on the subject of New Orleans are at an end & that the great object you so zealously pursued has been happily terminated here. On the 8th of April the Consul announced to his council at St. Cloud his determination to sell the whole of Louisiana, as he held it under the treaty with Spain, to the United States. Such subsequent arrangements have taken place, as have terminated by the treaty dated the 30th of April when it was finally agreed tho' signed the 2d of May, in accession of the whole territory in the very words of the treaty of St. Ildefonso. The treaty has been ratified, a commissary appointed to deliver the country." In fine condition, with some old paper residue along the left edge.
