[Louisiana Purchase.]
Acts Passed at the First Session of the Eighth Congress of the United States... on Monday, the seventeenth of October, in the Year 1803.
Washington, D.C., 1803 [1804]. First edition.

THE EARLIEST ACTS RELATING TO THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE.

Octavo (9 ¼” x 6”). Bound in the publisher’s paper wrappers, uncut and partly unopened. Worn, with loss to the extremities. Lightly soiled. Ownership inscription of Thomas Downs at the head of the title-page, and copious notes on the wrappers.

Containing several important acts essential to complete the purchase of Louisiana, and the subsequent act dividing Louisiana into two sections, and providing for temporary government. With the complete texts of the treaty and the two conventions signed in Paris and dated April 30th 1803, in both English and French. “Napoleon had hoped to create a colonial empire in the heart of North America, but by 1803 his plans had gone awry. So when the American envoys, Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe, arrived in Paris, Napoleon had Tallyrand and François Barbé-Marbois open negotiations for the sale of Louisiana, which included nearly a million square miles in the heart of America. The American envoys exceeded their instructions, but the deal they transacted was approved by Congress three days after Jefferson’s October 17 message; needless to say, it was one of the best deals ever struck for the United States” (Jenkins JJ100-054).

The Senate ratified the treaty, originally signed in Paris, on October 21, 1803, and within three weeks Congress passed appropriations bills for the specified funds (a total of $15,000,000). On December 20, 1803, actual title to Louisiana was transferred from France to the United States.

Also reprinting four Indian treaties with the Kaskaskia nation; the Eel River, Wyandot, Pienkashaw, Kaskakia and Kickapoos nations; the Delawares, Shawanoes, Putawatimies, Miamies, Eel River, Kickapoos, Piankashaws and Kaskaskias nations; and the Choctaw nation.