The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso was a secret agreement signed on 1 October 1800 between the
Spanish Empire
The Spanish Empire ( es, link=no, Imperio español), also known as the Hispanic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Hispánica) or the Catholic Monarchy ( es, link=no, Monarquía Católica) was a colonial empire governed by Spain and its prede ...
and the
French Republic by which Spain agreed in principle to exchange its North American colony of
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
for territories in
Tuscany
it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman)
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, population_blank1 =
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, demographics1_title1 = Italian
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. The terms were later confirmed by the March 1801
Treaty of Aranjuez.
Background
For much of the 18th century, France and Spain were allies, but after the execution of
Louis XVI
Louis XVI (''Louis-Auguste''; ; 23 August 175421 January 1793) was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as ''Citizen Louis Capet'' during the four months just before he was ...
in 1793, Spain joined the
War of the First Coalition against the
French Republic but was defeated in the
War of the Pyrenees
The War of the Pyrenees, also known as War of Roussillon or War of the Convention, was the Pyrenean front of the First Coalition's war against the First French Republic. It pitted Revolutionary France against the kingdoms of Spain and Portuga ...
. In August 1795, Spain and France agreed to the
Peace of Basel, with Spain ceding its half of the island of
Hispaniola, the modern
Dominican Republic
The Dominican Republic ( ; es, República Dominicana, ) is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean region. It occupies the eastern five-eighths of the island, which it shares with ...
.
In the 1796
Second Treaty of San Ildefonso, Spain allied with France in the
War of the Second Coalition and declared war on Britain. This resulted in the loss of
Trinidad and, more seriously,
Menorca
Menorca or Minorca (from la, Insula Minor, , smaller island, later ''Minorica'') is one of the Balearic Islands located in the Mediterranean Sea belonging to Spain. Its name derives from its size, contrasting it with nearby Majorca. Its cap ...
, which Britain occupied from 1708 to 1782 and whose recovery was the major achievement of Spain's participation in the 1778–1783
Anglo-French War. Its loss damaged the prestige of the Spanish government, while the British naval blockade severely impacted the economy, which was highly dependent on trade with its colonies in the Americas, particularly the import of silver from
Mexico
Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...
.
The effect was to place the Spanish government under severe political and financial pressure, the national debt increasing eightfold between 1793 and 1798.
Louisiana
Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is bord ...
was only part of Spain's immense empire in the Americas, which it received as a result of the
1763 Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris, also known as the Treaty of 1763, was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, after Great Britain and Prussia's victory over France and Spain during the ...
, when France ceded it as compensation for Spanish concessions to Britain elsewhere. Preventing encroachment by American settlers into the Mississippi Basin was costly and risked conflict with the U.S., whose merchant ships Spain relied on to evade the British blockade.
Colonies were viewed as valuable assets; the loss of the sugar-producing colonies of Haiti (
Saint-Domingue),
Martinique
Martinique ( , ; gcf, label= Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in ...
, and
Guadeloupe between 1791 and 1794 had a huge impact on French business. Restoring them was a priority, and when
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
seized power in the November 1799
Coup of 18 Brumaire, he and his deputy
Charles Talleyrand stressed the need for French expansion overseas.
Their strategy had a number of parts, one being the
1798–1801 Egyptian campaign, intended in part to strengthen French trading interests in the region. In South America, Talleyrand sought to move the border between
French Guiana
French Guiana ( or ; french: link=no, Guyane ; gcr, label= French Guianese Creole, Lagwiyann ) is an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France on the northern Atlantic coast of South America in the Guianas ...
and Portuguese Brazil south to the
Araguari or Amapá River, taking in large parts of Northern Brazil. Terms were contained in the draft 1797 Treaty of Paris which was never approved although similar conditions were imposed on Portugal in the 1801
Treaty of Madrid. A third was the restoration of
New France
New France (french: Nouvelle-France) was the area colonized by France in North America, beginning with the exploration of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence by Jacques Cartier in 1534 and ending with the cession of New France to Great Britain and Spa ...
in North America, lost after the 1756–1763
Seven Years' War
The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (1754 ...
, with Louisiana providing raw materials for French plantations in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean ...
.
The combination of French ambition and Spanish weakness made the return of Louisiana attractive to both, especially as Spain was being drawn into disputes with the U.S. over navigation rights on the
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...
. Talleyrand claimed French possession of Louisiana would allow them to protect Spanish South America from both Britain and the U.S.
Provisions
The Treaty was negotiated by French general
Louis-Alexandre Berthier and the Spanish former Chief Minister
Mariano Luis de Urquijo. In addition to Louisiana, Berthier was instructed to demand the Spanish colonies of
East Florida and
West Florida, plus ten Spanish warships.
Urquijo rejected the request for the Floridas but agreed to Louisiana plus "...six ships of war in good condition built for seventy-four guns, armed and equipped and ready to receive French crews and supplies." In return, Charles IV wanted compensation for his son-in-law
Louis, Infanta Duke of Parma, since France wanted to annex his inheritance of the
Duchy of Parma.
Details were vague, Clause II of the Treaty simply stating "it may consist of
Tuscany
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, population_blank1_title =
, population_blank1 =
, demographics_type1 = Citizenship
, demographics1_footnotes =
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...or the three
Roman legations or of any other continental provinces of Italy which form a rounded state." Urquijo insisted Spain would hand over Louisiana and the ships only once France confirmed which Italian territories it would receive in return. Finally, the terms reaffirmed the alliance between France and Spain agreed upon in the 1796 Second Treaty of San Ildefonso.
Aftermath
On 9 February 1801, France and the Austrian
Emperor Francis II
Francis II (german: Franz II.; 12 February 1768 – 2 March 1835) was the last Holy Roman Emperor (from 1792 to 1806) and the founder and Emperor of the Austrian Empire, from 1804 to 1835. He assumed the title of Emperor of Austria in response ...
signed the
Treaty of Lunéville, clearing the way for the
Treaty of Aranjuez in March 1801. This confirmed the preliminary terms agreed at Ildefonso and created the short-lived
Kingdom of Etruria for Maria Luisa's son-in-law Louis. Spain's Chief Minister
Manuel Godoy
Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó (12 May 17674 October 1851) was First Secretary of State of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He received many ...
was excoriated for the terms, which were seen as excessively benefiting France; he later justified it at length in his Memoirs. Modern historians are less critical, since Spain exercised effective control only over a small part of the territory included in the 1803
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or ap ...
while an attempt to control U.S. expansion into Spanish territories by the 1795
Pinckney's Treaty proved ineffective.
From 1798 to 1800, France and the U.S. waged an undeclared war at sea, the so-called
Quasi-War, which was ended by the
Convention of 1800 or Treaty of Mortefontaine. With an already hostile British Canada to the north, the U.S. wanted to avoid an aggressive and powerful France replacing Spain in the south. For commercial reasons,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
wanted to reestablish France's presence in North America, the November 1801
Saint-Domingue expedition being the first step. The March 1802
Treaty of Amiens ended the War of the Second Coalition and in October, Spain transferred Louisiana to France.
While the presence of 30,000 French troops and sailors in the Caribbean initially caused great concern in the U.S., by October 1802 it was clear the expedition was a catastrophic failure; its leader, General
Charles Leclerc died of
yellow fever, along with an estimated 29,000 men by mid-summer. Without Saint-Domingue, Napoleon concluded Louisiana was irrelevant, and with France and Britain once again on the verge of hostilities, he decided to sell the territory to prevent it from being annexed by British forces garrisoned in nearby Canada. In April 1803, the
U.S. purchased the territory for $15 million, or 80 million francs.
The elaborate shuffling of Italian territories was ultimately futile. Etruria was dissolved and incorporated into France in 1807, while much of pre-Napoleonic Italy was restored by the
Congress of Vienna
The Congress of Vienna (, ) of 1814–1815 was a series of international diplomatic meetings to discuss and agree upon a possible new layout of the European political and constitutional order after the downfall of the French Emperor Napoleon ...
in 1815, including the Grand Duchies of Tuscany and Parma.
Footnotes
References
Sources
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Presidency of John Adams
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