On this day in history: Louisiana Purchase Treaty signed, 1803

In 1763, the Treaty of Paris was signed ending the Seven Years War between Great Britain and France. One of the articles required that the French give up all their colonies in North America. As such, Spain took control of the vast territory of Louisiana. Seven years later, the French and Spanish secretly signed the Third Treaty of San Ildefonso returning de jure control of the territory to the French, even though it remained under de facto Spanish control.

When Thomas Jefferson, then President of the United States, received news of this retrocession he sent Robert Livingston and James Monroe to France to negotiate the purchase of the city of New Orleans. Their initial overtures were rejected by the French; however, a year later, with the recently signed Peace of Amiens in tatters making a resumption of war between France and Great Britain more likely, Napoleon Bonaparte decided to offer not only New Orleans, but the whole of the Louisiana territory to the United States. Bonaparte realised that the territory would have been a tempting target for the British, and he could use the profits from the sale to fund the war.

Despite opposition in the U.S. the treaty was signed in Paris on 30th April 1803 by Livingston and Monroe on behalf of the U.S. and by the marquis de Barbé-Marbois for the French. The U.S. government made two payments in return for Louisiana: the first for sixty million francs ($11,250,000) and the second of 20 million francs ($3,750,000) would be paid to U.S. citizens to cover claims made by them against the French nation.

The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on 20th October. The Americans took control of New Orleans on 20th December 1803, and the rest of the territory following a formal ceremony on 10th March the following year.

The Avalon Project at the Yale Law School website includes pages dedicated to the Lousiana Purchase, including the text of the treaty.

On this day in history: Alfred Hitchcock dies, 1980

On 29th April 1980, the 'Master of Suspense', film director Alfred Hitchcock died of renal failure at his home in Bel-Air, Los Angeles. Just a few months earlier, he had been knighted for his services to the film industry.

He was born in relatively humble circumstances in Leytonstone, East London on 13th August 1899. Alfred's schooling finished when he was fourteen having to find work because of the death of his father. Nevertheless, he continued to study at night school while he worked as a draughtsman. In 1920 he started his first job in the film industry, illustrating the titles for silent movies.

His talents did not go un-noticed: following a stint as an assistant director in Germany, Hitchcock returned to Britain to direct for Gainsborough pictures. Success brought him a move to British International Pictures and the chance to direct his first film for which he also wrote the script: The Ring (1927). Hitchcock went on to direct the seminal British films The Thirty-Nine Steps (1935), Young and Innocent (1937), and The Lady Vanishes (1938).

The success of Hitchcock's work attracted the interest of Hollywood studios and in 1937 he sailed to America. During the 1950s and 1960s Hitchcock made movies that would give him recognition as a master of the craft: Dial M for Murder (1953), Rear Window (1955), (1958), VertigoNorth by Northwest (1959), Psycho (1960), The Birds (1963). Hitchcock continued to work in cinema and television until his death.

To find out more about the man and his work see the Alfred Hitchcok Wiki.

On this day in history: French Abolish Slavery for Second Time, 1848

On 26th August 1789, just over a month after the fall of the Bastille, the National Constituent Assembly adopted The Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. The first article of this document declared, "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility." Despite this declaration of principle it was not until 4th February 1794, that the National Convention - then under the control of the Jacobins and at the height of the Revolutionary Terror - decreed that slavery be abolished in all French colonies:

"The National Convention declares the abolition of Negro slavery in all the colonies; in consequence it decrees that all men, without distinction of colour, residing in the colonies are French citizens and will enjoy all the rights assured by the constitution."

Following the fall of Robespierre and the Jacobins, those that took over the reigns of government in France tried to undo what they saw as the excesses of the Revolution. As such, on 20th May 1802 the Consulate - with Napoleon elected as First Consul - reintroduced slavery to France and her colonies. Napoleon went on to become sole ruler of France until he was defeated and the Monarchy was restored.

In February 1848 the government of King Louis-Philippe I collapsed and a liberal provisional government declared the Second Republic. Two months later, the anti-slavery campaigner Victor Schoeler and president of the commission for the abolition of slavery oversaw the passage of the decree to end slavery in French territories for the second time. The first article read:

"Slavery will be completely abolished in all the colonies and the French possessions, two months after the promulgation of the present decree in each of them. From the promulgation of the present decree in colonies, any corporal punishment, any sale of not free persons, will be absolutely forbidden ."

The following primary sources are available online:

Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen (26th August 1789) at the excellent Liberty, Equality, Fraternity pages

Decree of the National Convention of 4 February 1794, Abolishing Slavery in all the Colonies, also at Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Decree of the abolition of the slavery (27th April 1848) at the History of Slavery in Martinique web site.