William 6.b. Claiborne Photographic facsimile from the oil painting in the possession of W. C. C. Claiborne, New Orleans. OF W. C. C. CLAIBORNE 1801-1816 EDITED BY DUNBAR ROWLAND, B. S., LL. B., LL. D. Director Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Secretary VOLUME I STANFORD LIBRARY JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI Printed for the State Department of Archives and History 1917 INTRODUCTORY NOTE The purchase of Louisiana by the United States, under the leadership of Thomas Jefferson, is one of the great turning points in American history. It is the most significant event in the march of the American people from the Atlantic seaboard, across the Mississippi River, to the Pacific. It gave to us a continent as the home of a self-governing people, and made secure our place as the leader among the nations holding Democratic ideals of government. No event in the annals of our country is of more importance than this great epoch of our history. It takes rank with the settlement of Jamestown and Plymouth, the Declaration of Independence, and the adoption of the Constitution. The one-hundredth anniversary of the Purchase was celebrated by the National Government by a great exposition at St. Louis, which rivaled the celebrations commemorative of the discovery of America and the passage of the Declaration of Independence. The publication of historical material in the form of official letters concerning the Louisiana Purchase, from 1803 to 1816, or from the date when William Charles Cole Claiborne received his commission from President Jefferson to go to New Orleans and receive the country from the representative of France, to the failure of England to wrest it from the United States, is a welcome task and a worthy undertaking. When this material consists of the official letter books of Governor Claiborne, who was easily the most important man in the southwest, from 1803 to 1817, it will be seen at once how important and valuable are the letters contained in |