A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana - (Page 15)

JOHN BACHMAN Nouvelle Orleans Vue pris d’Algiers, ca. 1851 Lithograph and watercolor; 22 x 32 in. The Historic New Orleans Collection Quarter. Claiborne had been a member of Congress from 1797 to 1801 and supported Jefferson during his contentious bid for the presidency. For that support, Jefferson appointed Claiborne governor of the Mississippi Territory in 1801. Jefferson first offered the governorship of the new Louisiana Territory to the Marquis de Lafayette and later James Monroe. When both refused, Jefferson settled upon Claiborne. On March 26, 1804, Congress divided Louisiana into the Territory of Orleans (the present state of Louisiana minus the Florida Parishes in southeast Louisiana and an area in the west near Texas and the Sabine River) and the Louisiana Territory, which comprised the rest of the purchased territory to the north. Creation of the Territory of Orleans apparently did not satisfy everyone. Creoles and Anglo Americans complained to Congress that they were being denied the rights of other Americans and that all power was concentrated in the hands of the governor. Free people of color, angry because they were not permitted to attend the meetings to draw up the list of complaints to Congress, decided to hold a meeting of their own. Establishing an American style of government in Louisiana proved difficult and was a foreshadowing of the unique form of civil laws eventually adopted by the state. The legal differences and tensions also paralleled the cultural differences that made Louisiana unique among the states. Aside from the Purchase itself and squabbles over self-rule, several events seriously affected life in the nation’s new territory, including the Aaron Burr conspiracy of 1804-1807 and, to a greater extent, President Jefferson’s Embargo Act of 1807 and Nonintercourse Act of 1809. Former Vice President Aaron Burr, whose political career ended when in 1804 he killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel, allegedly conspired with General James Wilkinson and others to wrest Louisiana and western territories away from the United States or a part of Mexico from Spain to set up his own country. In the summer of 1805 Burr visited New Orleans to meet with Edward Livingston, Daniel Clark, and members of the Mexican Association, a group of traders and adventurers that wanted to invade Mexico. To New Orleans, Burr carried a letter of introduction from General Wilkinson, then governor of the Louisiana Territory, not including the Territory of Orleans. What Burr was really up to, may never be known. Burr had previously told British, French, and Spanish ministers in Washington of his plans to separate the western territories and states from the Union. To others he told of his intentions to invade Mexico. In 1806 and 1807 New Orleans was alive with rumors of Burr’s advancing army and every new arrival from upriver, especially from Kentucky and Tennessee, was suspect. Many New Orleanians believed the Spanish in neighboring West Florida were working with Burr to regain Louisiana. Governor Claiborne interviewed all newcomers in the city from upriver to satisfy himself that they were not vanguards of Burr’s army. The cabal did not take place and Burr later was arrested, tried, and acquitted. While fears of the Burr invasion subsided in 1807, war COLONIAL THROUGH ANTEBELLUM LOUISIANA 15 

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana

A Unique Slant of Light: The Bicentennial History of Art in Louisiana

https://www.nxtbook.com/leh/uniqueslant2012/uniqueslant2012
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com