- Treaty of Fontainebleau (1762)
The Treaty of Fontainebleau was a secret agreement signed on
November 13 ,1762 , in whichFrance cededLouisiana (New France) toSpain . The treaty followed the last battle in theFrench and Indian War inNorth America at theBattle of Signal Hill which solidified the British routing of the French in September 1762. However the associated worldSeven Years War continued to rage. Faced with certain prospects of losing its territory inCanada French KingLouis XV proposed to Spanish KingCharles III of Spain onNovember 13 ,1762 to give Spain "the country known as Louisiana, as well as New Orleans and the island in which the city is situated." [Herbermann, Charles. "The Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church". Encyclopedia Press, 1913, p. 380 (Original from Harvard University).] Carlos accepted on November 13, 1762.The territory as proposed would have included the vast Louisiana territory on both sides of the
Mississippi River (including the vastIllinois Country on the east side). The treaty was kept secret even at the signing of theTreaty of Paris (1763) which formally ended the Seven Years War. The specific terms of the 1763 treaty deeded the land west of the Mississippi to the French while keeping the lands east of the Mississippi (includingBaton Rouge, Louisiana and the Illinois Country) to the British. The Treaty of Paris provided a period of 18 months in which the French Canadians could freely emigrate. As a result many of the emigrants, whose descendants are today known asCajuns , moved to Louisiana where they were to discover that France had also ceded Louisiana to Spain.In a letter dated
April 21 ,1764 , Louis sent a letter toLouisiana Governor Charles Philippe Aubry informing him of the transition::"Hoping, moreover, that His Catholic Majesty will be pleased to give his subjects of Louisiana the marks of protection and good will which only the misfortunes of war have prevented from being more effectual."
Settlers did not accept the transition, and even ran off the first Spanish governor.
Alejandro O'Reilly (actually an Irishman) suppressed theRebellion of 1768 and formally raised the Spanish flag in the territory in 1769. Both sides of the Mississippi including Baton Rouge which was ceded to the British and then sent back toWest Florida after theAmerican Revolutionary War were united again in theLouisiana Purchase in 1803 andAdams-Onís Treaty in 1819. The treaty solidified the Spanish empire ofNew Spain , stretching from Florida to the Mississippi River to thePacific Ocean , and north to modern dayCanada . The treaty also maintainedCatholic social and cultural control over the region (as opposed to the prospects ofProtestant control if the British had taken the territory).References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.