1801, October – 1802: (Napoleon’s Grand Object and the Peace of Amiens): Following an armistice with England in October 1801, Napoleon was finally free to de…
1801, October – 1802: (Napoleon’s Grand Object and the Peace of Amiens): Following an armistice with England in October 1801, Napoleon was finally free to deal with the “gilded Africans” of Saint-Domingue and pursue his grand object of re-establishing French rule in North America. He viewed the colony as a necessary staging base for the reconquest of Spanish Louisiana, a design he kept hidden from U.S. President Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, unlike John Adams, was willing to see France regain the colony and advised the French minister that they must first make peace with England. Once the British blockade was lifted, the First Consul’s staff distributed orders for a powerful expeditionary force to assemble throughout the dockyards of France and Spain. Within ten weeks of the preliminaries to the Peace of Amiens, the fleet was prepared for movement.