USA > Louisiana > The province and the states, a history of the province of Louisiana under France and Spain, and of the territories and states of the United States formed therefrom, Vol. III > Part 8
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The election of Henry Johnson to the governorship proved that the Jacksonians had not yet mastered the state ; it also showed that the majority did not want a Creole governor, but rather an American. As a matter of fact, while the Creoles took a deep interest in the affairs of Louisiana, they did not take the same interest in national politics. In order to inculcate in them such an interest, it was suggested in the Courier that Bouligny, a Cre- cle, should be elected to the United States senate. It was noted at this time that with the single exception of Fromentin the con- gressional delegation from Louisiana had always been American. Another disturbing element at this time and a little earlier was the attempt to divide the population into city and country parties. At all elections the designs of the Americans were to split the "ancient inhabitants," who in spite of all efforts to the contrary maintained their distinctive integrity. Both the Americans and the "ancient inhabitants" disliked the "foreign French," against whom the cry of "mad dog" was raised. The cry of the Ameri- cans was that all should be Americans, as all really were in fact now. But it was a difficult task to scold the old population into American views and principles.
At the first session of the seventh general assembly begun at New Orleans November 15, 1824, the following acts were passed: "That the Governor of this State be and he is hereby authorized
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LOUISIANA, FROM 1816 TO '1828.
to draw from the public treasury a sum not exceeding fifteen thousand dollars to give to General Lafayette such a reception in our State as will be worthy of the patriotic warrior whom the American nation delights to honor ;" that congress be requested to build a canal from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi of sufficient size for the passage of gunboats; that the sum of one thousand eight hundred dollars should be appropriated for equip- ping the artillery corps of New Orleans; that the time given Edward Livingston for the preparation of the criminal code be extended, owing to the accidental destruction of his manuscript by fire; that the officials of the Bank of Louisiana be instructed to discontinue all the branches except the one at St. Martinsville; that a company should be incorporated to build a toll bridge across Red river at or near Alexandria ; that the capital of Louisiana should be removed from New Orleans to Donaldsonville; that the New Orleans Library Society should be authorized to make five annual lotteries for the purpose of realizing twenty thousand dollars ; that the College of Louisiana should be incorporated,. a goodly fund being appropriated for its support, the institution to be located at Jackson ; that the city court of New Orleans should be created to take the place of the offices of justice of the peace ; that the removal of the state capital to Donaldsonville should be postponed until 1829; that thirty thousand dollars should be ap- propriated, the same to be used to buy ground and put up build- ings for the new capitol; that the electoral districts for president and vice-president should be as follows: First district, Orleans, Plaquemine and St. Bernard parishes ; Second district, West Feli- ciana, East Feliciana, East Baton Rouge, St. Helena, Washing- ton and St. Tammany parishes; Third district, St. Charles, St. John the Baptist, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne and Lafourche Interior parishes ; Fourth district, Iberville, West Baton Rouge, Lafayette, St. Martin, St. Mary and St. Landry parishes ; Fifth district, Pointe Coupee, Avoyelles, Rapides, Natchitoches, Ouachita, Catahoula and Concordia parishes.
The vote for governor in 1824 in all parishes of the state except St. Bernard and West Feliciana was as follows: Henry Johnson 2,847, B. J. Villeré 1,831, B. Marigny 1,427, P. Thomas 236, Thomas Butler 184, total vote 6,525. In the legislature the vote stood as follows: Jolmson 41, Villere 15, blank I. H. S. Thi- bodeaux had served as acting governor for a short time. On November 22, 1824, the legislature elected a split electoral ticket as follows: For the Jackson ticket, P. Lacoste, J. B. Plauche and S. Tiriart; for the Adams ticket, William Nott and J. II. Shepperd. It required five ballots to arrive at this result.
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As a matter of fact the period from 1824 to 1828 was one con- tinned struggle for Jackson and the proclaimed Jacksonian prin- ciples, nearly all of which were based upon those of Thomas Jef- ferson. During the campaign of 1824 the negro question came up in the Second congressional district in the contest between Hamilton, a Jacksonian, and Gurley, an Adams man. The latter was then in congress, and was out for re-election. His oppo- nents declared of him that he had voted for Adams and that therefore he intended to emancipate his slaves. This charge cut quite an important figure at the time. A Mr. Larché, previous to this time, had filed his application in congress for pay for a slave who had been killed in the War of 1812, but which payment had been refused by the government. In spite of the opposition Gurley was re-elected, thus showing the Adams strength.
At the election of 1826 the attempt to unite the Creole and American elements partially succeeded. The Louisiana Gazette of July, 1826, said, "To one not acquainted with the character of Louisianians there is an apparent apathy in relation to the election which is to commence on Monday next that would be most appalling; yet to those who have been long domiciled in New Orleans, who know the character of the people, there is an intensity of interest manifested, highly honorable to the inhab- itants, exhibiting a knowledge of the importance of the elective franchise and an unbending determination to preserve unsullied our republican institutions." At this election Messrs. Livingston and Foucher were the opposing candidates for congress. The Gasette of July 6 said, "The election terminated yesterday at 4 o'clock p. m. From its commencement to the closing of the polls unusual excitement was produced, showing that the people are completely alive to the importance of the elective franchise. We could not perceive, nor do we believe that there was any collision between the populations who speak the French and the English languages. This is as it should be."
At the second session of the seventh assembly, begun at New Orleans January 2, 1826, the following acts or resolutions became law: Refusing to concur in the following amendment to the constitution of the United States proposed by the legislature of Georgia by act approved December 22, 1823: "That no part of the Constitution of the United States ought to be construed, or shall be construed, to authorize the importation, or ingress, of any person of color, into any one of the United States, contrary to the laws of such State;" authorizing the governor to borrow thirty thousand dollars, with which to build the capitol at Don-
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LOUISIANA, FROM 1816 TO 1828.
aldsonville; refusing to concur in the resolutions of Ohio in 1824, proposing a plan for the gradual emancipation of the slaves; requesting congress to have the line between Arkansas and Louisi- ana run at an early date; creating a board of internal improve- ment, to consist of five commissioners to be named annually by the governor ; prohibiting the introduction of slaves into Louisiana after June, 1826, for purposes of sale; authorizing the stoppage of bayou Manshac at its junction with the Mississippi; abolish- ing the College of Orleans and establishing two primary and one central school in the city of New Orleans; authorizing Percy Felix to set in order certain "ancient land titles bearing date from the year 1702 to the year 1771, as well as sundry other papers and documents affecting the rights of property in this State," and to make a general index of the same; reapportioning the state rep- resentatives; granting police powers to the board of trustees of the College of Louisiana, and defining the method by which a citizen could bring charges to bear against a public officer.
The following proceedings of the assembly in 1827 became law : . Authorizing the Grand Lodge of Masons to raise by lottery the sum of thirty-five thousand dollars with which to build a hall in New Orleans; repealing the act incorporating the Academy of Baton Rouge, but continuing that institution under different auspices ; incorporating the Agricultural Society of Baton Rouge, the object of which institution was "the improvement of agri- culture, the amelioration of the breed of horses, of horned cattle and others, and in short of all the several branches relative to agriculture in the country ;" extending to Andrew Jackson, "the hiero of Orleans," an invitation to attend the celebration of Jan11- ary 8, 1827; providing for the support of parish schools by an annual appropriation (except for Orleans) of about two dollars and sixty-two cents for every voter according to the last census, no parish to receive more than one thousand three hundred and fifty dollars nor less than eight hundred dollars ; exempting cotton and unrefined sugar from certain duties or taxes; incorporating "The Consolidated Association of the planters of Louisiana;" incorporating the New Orleans Savings Bank, the Bank of Louisi- ana, and several navigation and canal companies, and laying a tax on the sale of tickets of lottery companies not authorized by the legislature. At the same time the following became a law :
"Whereas, After a life devoted to the services of his country and that of the whole human race, Thomas Jefferson died, leav- ing to his children no inheritance save the example of his virtues and the gratitude of the people whose independence he had pro-
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claimed to the world in language worthy the representatives of a great nation ; and, whereas, the Legislature of Louisiana, a state acquired to the Union by his wisdom and foresight, in grateful remembrance of the illustrious citizen, to whom they are indebted for the blessings of political and civil liberty, wish to perpetuate to the latest posterity the memory of their deep sense of the unrivalled talents and virtues of their benefactor; Therefore, Be it enacted, etc., That the sum of ten thousand dollars in stock shall be forwarded by the Covernor to Thomas Jefferson Randolph in trust for his mother, Martha Randolph, and' her lieirs; and be it further enacted, That for the payment of said stock the Governor shall execute in the name of the state one or more bonds transfer- rable by delivery, bearing an interest not exceeding six per cent per annum, payable yearly and redeemable in ten years, or sooner if so determined by the Legislature." A later enactment some- what modified the character of the bonds.
In 1828 the following measures became law: Incorporating the Covington Academy and authorizing the trustees to raise twenty-five thousand dollars by lottery; requiring the Louisiana congressional delegation to do their utmost to have a canal built by the government from Lake Pontchartrain to the Mississippi; incorporating a law library society in New Orleans; authorizing Louis M. Lislet to prepare a digest of the laws of the state; incor- porating a society of architects in New Orleans; amending the civil code and the code of practice; incorporating a society of Israelites in New Orleans ; improving the state school laws ; incor- porating many protestant church societies and navigation and canal companies ; granting the right to certain sections to improve roads, canals, etc., by funds raised through lotteries; providing "that the act to prohibit the introduction of slaves for sale in this state be, and the same is, hereby repealed;" appropriating a sum not exceeding ten thousand dollars for the purpose of entertain- ing General Jackson on January 8, 1828, it being declared that "the said invitation is given solely in compliment to the military services rendered by the General in defense of Louisiana, and not for political purposes, or in any way to express an opinion on the approaching election of President of the United States;" and directing the board of commissioners on internal improvement to examine various rafts and other obstructions in several of the water courses of the state.
In 1827 the governor observed that the time had probably arrived when the government would voluntarily donate to the state a considerable tract of public land, and in 1828 he pronounced
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LOUISIANA, FROM 1816 TO 1828.
a brilliant eulogy on the rights secured to all citizens under the Federal constitution. The bill passed by the legislature to pro- hibit free negroes and persons of color from entering Louisiana was vetoed by Governor Jolinson on what he considered Federal constitutional grounds. He proceeded to discuss his position, and analyzed the political rights of such persons. In 1825 the people of Louisiana had been honored by a visit from the Marquis de Lafayette; they now in 1828 received with imposing ceremony Gen. Andrew Jackson, the "Hero of New Orleans." Mr. John- son retired from the governor's chair late in 1828.
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THE PROVINCE AND THE STATES.
CHAPTER V
The State from 1828 to 1840
N TOTWITHSTANDING that the state was strongly Feder- alist in the year 1824, three of the five electors chosen by the legislature voted for Jackson for president as before stated. But at the same time, an unswerving Federalist, Johnson, was elected governor by a large majority. These results merely showed the popularity of Jackson among the Federalists. And this popularity, instead of diminishing, continued to grow and augment far beyond any previous experience in American politics. The year 1828 is remarkable for the enthusiasm shown through- . out Louisiana for General Jackson. Never before in the state had such an extraordinary contest been seen. All former political factions were torn asunder, and over their ruin arose the triumph- ant figure of the hero of New Orleans, the leader of the new Democracy. But on nearly all political questions former ideas to a large extent continued to prevail: the only important change in views by reason of the election of General Jackson was in regard to the United States Bank. The concentration and pro- mulgation of Jacksonian principles caused the opponents likewise to unite in 1833-34 in the formation of the Whig party. In 1829, though the electoral vote of the state was cast for Jackson, the government of the state remained with the Federalists, still showing that the state was really of that faith. The Jackson electors in 1829 were as follows: J. B. Plauche, T. W. Scott, Trasimon Landry, Alexander Mouton and Placide Bossier. Adams was opposed at this election because he favored the tariff. The Courier said, "Louisianians prefer Jackson to J. Q. Adams because the administration of the latter is founded on principles repugnant to the spirit of Republican institutions-manufactures
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LOUISIANA, FROM 1828. TO 1840.
have been fostered at the expense of Southern agriculture and commerce ; the offspring of labor and industry has been depressed and shackled in its operations ; and while one quarter of the Union has been the exclusive object of extensive solicitude, the South has been contemned, calumniated, denounced, sacrificed." The Courier further said, "Not a spadeful of earth has been removed in order to improve the navigation of our rivers or to connect them by inland canals. Where is the boasted National road over which the mail, it was said, would glide in ten days from Wash- ington to New Orleans? Where are the canals that were to con- nect the Mississippi with the lakes? Where is the Military road intended to run from this city to the fort of Plaquemines?" These questions were asked at an immense political meeting held on October 25, 1828, on which occasion Modeste Le Febore, a Revolutionary soldier, presided. The popular vote for presidential electors in 1828 was as follows: Jackson 4,604, Adams 4,095, total vote 8,699, Jackson's majority 509.
In 1829 the following laws were enacted: Instructing the Louisiana delegates in congress to learn why five per cent of the net proceeds arising from the sale of public lands within the state had not been turned over to Louisiana, as provided by the act of February 25, 1811 ; requiring important documents concerning public lands in the state to be secured from Cuba; requesting the government to station a stronger body of troops on the Texas frontier ; requiring certificates of good character for all slaves brought into the state; authorizing an election to change the seat of justice from St. Francisville; requiring riparian proprietors to build levees and defining the comparative size of the improve- ments ; incorporating the New Orleans Gas Light Company ; tak- ing steps to prevent a crevasse at Pointe Coupee; recommending an amendment to the constitution of the United States extending the presidential term to six years, but rendering the president ineligible to re-election, and declaring that the interests of Louisi- ana demanded that the public lands within the state should be under the control of the state and not under that of the general government. At this time it was noticed and deplored that immi- grants, instead of seeking Louisiana, were pouring into the North- west, and the cause was attributed to the biased proceedings of the land department. It was not yet realized by the legislature of Louisiana that slavery was the repellent magnet which pre- vented the immigrants from pouring in.
Late in 1828 Pierre Derbigny assumed the governorship, but there was nothing striking during his short term. After his death
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in October, 1829, A. Beauvais and Jacques Dupre were acting governors until the last day of January, 1831, when Andre B. Roman assumed the reins of state government. He called the attention of the legislature to the greatness of the United States, declared that demagogues would never succeed in dissolving the Union, referred to the unwise course of the South Carolina nulli- fiers, revived the important question of the public lands, and stated that the United States had fallen into the chronic habit of forgetting the rights which had been secured to Louisiana by the cession of Napoleon in 1803. In 1833 the state was visited by the yellow fever, during which many were swept away. As showing the prosperity of Louisiana, the governor stated that the exports from New Orleans amounted to about thirty-six million seven hundred thousand dollars. He observed that the emanci- pation of the blacks after the pattern set by Great Britain in the . West Indies meant the destruction of commerce in Louisiana, because the sugar trade was wholly dependent upon the labor of the blacks, such industry then being the principal one in the state. The organization of abolition societies in the North was deplored.
In January, 1830, . the assembly met at Donaldsonville and enacted the following legislation: Incorporating the Pontchar- train Railroad Company, with a capital of one hundred fifty thou- sand dollars, and with authority to build a line from the lake to New Orleans ; providing for the publication of the supreme court reports; urging the government to remove the rafts in the Atcha- falaya and in bayou Pigeon; incorporating Clinton Female Academy ; granting two thousand five hundred dollars annually to the Louisiana legion, instead of one thousand dollars as under the act of 1822; approving the act of the Vermont legislature "by which they have declared the law of 1828 on the tariff to be con- stitutional, expedient and harmless to the Southern States;" incor- porating the Louisiana Sugar Refining Company, and amending the black code.
The first session of the tenth legislature convened at Donaldson- ville on January 3, 1831, but on the 8th adjourned to New Orleans. Among other important acts passed were the following: Urging upon congress the importance of deepening at least one of the mouths of the Mississippi; incorporating the College of Jefferson in the parish of St. James; establishing the College of Franklin in St. Landry parish; incorporating the City Bank of New Orleans; purchasing three hundred copies of "an Historical Essay on Louisiana by Charles Gayarre," the cost of all not to exceed six liundred dollars (this act was later amended) ; making
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LOUISIANA, FROM 1828 TO 18.40.
liberal appropriations for the various colleges and academies of the state, and incorporating the West Feliciana Railroad Com- pany, with a capital of one hundred fifty thousand dollars, and with authority to build a line from or near St. Francisville to the Mississippi state line in the direction of Woodville, Miss.
The political contest in 1830 was important and spirited. There were four candidates for governor, as follows: A. B. Roman, WV. S. Hamilton, Arnaud Beauvais and David A. Randall, the two former being the two leading candidates. The result was as follows: Roman 3,638, Hamilton 2,701, Beauvais 1,478, and Randall 463. This was a decided Federalist or Whig triumph. (These terms are used for want of better ones). The most important question in this campaign was that of the removal of the existing duty on sugar. Many meetings were held through- out the state and such removal was strongly opposed. Another important question concerned the removal of the capital from New Orleans. The Gazette edited by Mr. St. Romes, said, "For many years the aristocrats of New Orleans have given law to the State-composed principally of men grown suddenly rich-of individuals of various political tenets and natives of different climes-they cannot bear the idea of sharing the government with the honest farmers and mechanics of the country. They are aware that should the seat of government be permanently fixed out of the vortex of their intrigues, the good sense of the country members of the Legislature will enable them to introduce reform into the State, check the influence of foreign capital working through New Orleans banks, and above all eradicate from our social system the remnants yet remaining of Spanish feodality. This may be emphatically termed the time for asserting the rights of the people-for laughing with scorn at the machinations of those knots of aristocrats who regard the workingman as nothing. And it will be disgraceful to the people of Louisiana if, at a time when the popular cause is so nobly progressing in France and the Netherlands, it should cower to a band of aristocrats on the banks of the Mississippi."
The contest for presidential electors in 1832 was one of the most exciting in the history of the state. Never before were there so many spirited public meetings and so many local political organizations. All of the parishes in the state gave the follow- ing result : Jackson electors 4,094, Clay electors 2,522. This was the first national contest where, in Louisiana, the Anti-Masonic party had a ticket in the field. The Jackson electors were J. B. Planche, T. W. Scott, Trasimond Landry, Alexander Mou- ton and Placide Bossier. In this campaign as in others the Jack-
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son ticket was called Democratic-Republican. The United States Bank was an important and fruitful theme of controversy. The tariff question was also very important, the South generally de- nouncing the manufacturers of the North. The Jacksonians reprobated the rejection by the United States senate of the appoint- ment of Mr. Van Buren as minister to England. The sugar duty was also an all-important subject. John R. Grymes figured prominently as a Jackson partisan in this election. The opposi- tion denounced the spirit of nullification. At one of their large meetings, called by Governor Roman and fifty-seven others, nul- lification was disapproved, congress was memorialized to adjust the tariff, and a strong effort was made, in the interest of local harmony ; Judge Lewis presided at this meeting. On the new tariff bill of 1832 the Louisiana congressmen divided, Thomas voting for it and Bullard and White against it. This was the period of Tariffites and Anti-tariffites, Masons and Anti-Masons, Close-constructionists and Latitudinarians, Nullifiers and Union- ists, &c.
Early in 1832 many meetings were held for the purpose of opposing the nullification proceedings of South Carolina and approving the course taken by President Jackson in regard thereto. At one of these meetings Dominique Bouligny presided and Samuel Livermore, J. A. Maybin, John Nicholson, Nathan Morse and Bernard Maligny prepared a set of resolutions, the second and third being as follows :
"Resolved, That the citizens of the several States are also citi- zens of the United States; that their primary allegiance is due to the United States, and that no legislation or convention of the people of any State can absolve its citizens from that allegiance or excuse acts committed in violation thereof.
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