The US took over Louisiana on 20 December 1803
On this day · 20 December 1803
France owned Louisiana for just 20 days before handing it over in New Orleans — and the famous three-flag ceremony never happened in one afternoon.
The Louisiana Purchase was formally handed to the United States on 20 December 1803 in the Cabildo in New Orleans, almost eight months after the purchase treaty was signed in Paris. France transferred a territory it had officially held for just 20 days.
The handover took longer than the deal because Louisiana was still being run by Spain. France had reacquired it on paper in 1800, but Spanish officials stayed in charge until the end:
- 30 April 1803: American envoys sign the treaty that nearly doubled the country’s size in Paris.
- 20 October 1803: The US Senate ratifies it by 24 votes to 7.
- 30 November 1803: Spain, angry about the sale but unable to stop it, formally returns Louisiana to France.
- 20 December 1803: France transfers it to the United States, represented by William C. C. Claiborne and General James Wilkinson.
- March 1804: Upper Louisiana, centred on St. Louis, changes hands at a similar ceremony, delayed by winter travel on the Mississippi.
A popular version of the story has Spain’s flag lowered, France’s raised and lowered, and the Stars and Stripes raised in one afternoon on 20 December. Even a National Archives history tells it that way. But Spain’s part came on 30 November; in New Orleans the two flag changes were three weeks apart.
The date mattered to the Treasury. The US paid $11.25 million in 6 percent stock and took on $3.75 million of American citizens’ claims against France. When Treasury Secretary Albert Gallatin asked when possession of New Orleans had been taken, so the stock certificates could show when interest started, Jefferson answered at the foot of the note: 20 December.
Before the handover, Claiborne had promised the territory’s residents that their rights would survive the change, a pledge he later reissued in English, French and Spanish:
“Under the auspices of the American Government, you may confidently rely upon the security of your liberty, your property, and the religion of your choice.” — William C. C. Claiborne, 1803
Sources & references
3 referencesWell-established. Corroborated by 3 independent sources.
