Chapter 9 Section 1 Antebellum Louisiana

Chapter 9 Lesson Antebellum Louisiana section 1

Andrew Jackson served as president of the United States for two terms (1829-1837) . He was so influential that some historians call this period the Age of Jackson. Other historians refer to the years between 1820 and 1860 as the antebellum (before the war) period, because they are the decades that preceded the American Civil War. During this eventful era, Louisiana’s politics sometimes followed national trends. On the whole, however, the state remained a place where politics were shaped principally  by concerns, conditions, and cultures that were specific to Louisiana.

Multiple Choice

Andrew Jackson was so influential in history that the time he was in office was referred to as :

• The Jackson Century

• The Age of Jackson

• The Jackson Era

• The Democrat Era

Multiple Choice

Term that means "before the war" (the Civil War)

• Manumission

• Emancipation

• Reprotst

• Antebellum

Multiple Choice

During the Antebellum Period Louisiana politics were principally shaped by

• The state

• The Federal Government

• The ;people

• The governor

Politics and Ethnicity

Creoles and Americans competed for political power during the antebellum period in Louisiana. The office of governor switched hands between Creoles and Americans but this fell apart during the 1820s. during the years between 1820 and 1828, Americans dominated the office. Thomas Robertson, who was born in Virginia and first came to Louisiana as an appointee of Thomas Jefferson, was elected in 1820. Creoles thought he focused on adopting laws and policies that favored Americans. Robertson resigned the governorship in 1824 but was followed in office by two more Americans.

The Creole-American rivalry became even more complicated when a member of a new immigrant group gained the governor’s office in 1828. Pierre Derbigny was born in France and was “foreign French,” the term used to describe French-speaking immigrants who came to Louisiana directly from France beginning in the 1820s. Like the Acadians and refugees from Saint-Domingue before them, the foreign French were fleeing warfare and political unrest. They were drawn to Louisiana because of its still-thriving French language and culture. 

Derbigny died in a carriage accident shortly after taking office. The next elected governor was the Creole André Bienvenu Roman, who served two full terms (1831-1835 and 1839-1843), separated by the term of the American Edward Douglass White. Roman is credited with being one of the state’s most effective antebellum governors. In his first term, he focused on improving the quality of levees and the state’s rudimentary (basic, undeveloped) system of roads. He also supported the development of the state’s first railroads

Multiple Choice

Beginning in the 1820's what ethnic group began to control the Governor's office in Louisiana?

• Creole

• French

• Spanish

• Americans

Multiple Choice

Many Creoles thought that Governor Thomas Robertson adopted laws favorable to whom?

• French

• Creoles

• Germans

• Americans

Multiple Choice

What is a "Foreign French"?

• People who came to Louisiana directly from France beginning in the 1820's

• People who came from French speaking Countries in Europe and Asia

• People who came from European Countries and adopted the French Culture

• People who left Louisiana for France and returned to Louisiana

Multiple Choice

Creole Governor of Louisiana who was one of the most effective Antebellum leaders for Louisiana. He improved roads and Levees.

• Pierree Lesure Marraissiles

• Andre Bienvenue Roman

• Thomas Robertson

• Emril Devalle

Regional Tensions

Besides the ethnic rivalries among Creoles, Americans, and the foreign French, there were other tensions that affected the state’s politics. Major disagreements developed between people who lived in different areas in the state. Voters in North Louisiana believed that New Orleans, which they saw as the Creole capital, had too much influence over the state’s politics. They tried to address this unfairness by moving the capital away from New Orleans, in the belief that this would reduce the city’s power.

In 1823, English-speaking legislators made their first attempt to change the capital’s location. They were not successful until 1825, at which time they were able to pass legislation moving the capital to Donaldsonville. It took five years to complete the construction of a facility in which they could meet. Despite these efforts, the legislature met in Donaldsonville for only one term, and returned to New Orleans the following year. 

n 1847, the rural legislators tried again to move the state government. This time, they selected Baton Rouge as the new capital. In order to protect their political victory, they allocated funds for the design and construction of an impressive capitol building. Architect James Dakin designed the distinctive, castle-like building that still stands on a high bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Although the building’s design received mixed reviews, it would remain the state’s capitol until the Civil War sent the state government into exile. The building was occupied by Union troops and was badly damaged by fire in late 1862.

Multiple Choice

Why did some people in North Louisiana want the State Capital to me moved from New Orleans?

• They wanted to help New Orleans grow other than politically

• They needed more land for the growing city

• They thought it gave Creoles too much power

Multiple Choice

People in North Louisiana viewed New Orleans as

• The American Capital

• The Creole Capital

• The French Capital

• Not part of Louisiana

Multiple Choice

Other than New Orleans and Baton Rouge, what other city was called the Capital of Louisiana?

• Monroe

• Plaquemine

• Donaldsonville

• Shreveport

Separate Municipalities

Political tensions were not confined to disputes between New Orleans and the rest of the state. I New Orleans developed into competing Neighborhoods and eventually had three governments. The French Quarter, largely inhabited by Creoles, became the first district. The second district was composed of neighborhoods above Canal Street and was the area identified with Americans who had settled there in large numbers. The third district was downriver from the French Quarter and was identified with working-class people, many of them recent immigrants. Each district had its own separate council. Thus, the state’s biggest city was essentially administered as though it were three distinct entities between 1836 and 1852.

Political Parties Ethnicity and regional identities were two factors that shaped political alignments. But as the 1830s began, identification with political parties also played a role in how voters made their decisions. Democrats Andrew Jackson’s presidency lasted only eight years, but differences in how people felt about Jackson and his policies defined the nation’s political party system through the late 1850s. Those who supported Jackson came to be known as Jacksonian Democrats or Democratic Republicans. Over time, they came to be known simply as Democrats. Members of that party tended to favor smaller government and programs designed to support common people and their interests, rather than the interests of businesses or banks

 Democrats also tended to prefer widespread political participation rather than a narrow franchise (right to vote) that favored property owners and the wealthy. They sought a broad franchise with few, if any, requirements for voting, so long as one was a free white man who had reached the age of twenty-one. This approach to granting voting privileges to the masses of American men is referred to as universal manhood suffrage.  

Multiple Choice

New Orleans developed into how many distinct governments that operated essentially independent of each other?

• 4

• 3

• 5

• 2

Multiple Select

Select all that were distinct ethnic divisions of New Orleans politically and geographically.

• Creoles - French Quarter

• Americans -above Canal Street

• Democrats- Near Superdome

• Working Class/ New immigrants-downriver from French Quarter

Multiple Choice

Jacksonian Democrats became what political Party that we know today

• Republicans

• Democrats

• Librarians

• Know Nothings

Multiple Select

Select all that were favored by Jacksonian Democrats

• Larger Military

• Widespread Voting Participation

• Programs designed to support the common people

• Smaller Government

Multiple Choice

What is the term that refers to the granting of voting rights to the masses of American Men?

• Universal Manhood Suffrage

• Civil Rights

• Civil Suffrage

• Civil Freedom

Whigs

The main faction that emerged to oppose the Democrats coalesced (came together) into the Whig Party in the mid-1830s. In contrast to the Democrats, the Whigs tended to favor business and banking interests over the rights of the common man. Whigs also sought government support for the development of the infrastructure (roads, bridges, canals, etc.), which they referred to as internal improvements. Whigs believed internal improvements would make doing business easier and make the nation more prosperous. In Louisiana, many sugar planters were drawn to the Whig Party because of its support of a sugar tariff. .

Sugar planters liked the idea of a tax on imported sugar that would make their locally grown sugar more competitive. The Whigs remained a viable political party until the mid-1850s, when tensions over sectional politics and the expansion of slavery into new territories split the party into northern and southern factions

Multiple Select

Check all that apply to the Whig party:

• Favored Business and Industry over the rights of the common man

• Government development of Roads, Bridges and canals (internal improvements)

• Favored secession

• Support of the Sugar Tariff

Multiple Choice

How did the Sugar Tariff Help Sugar Planters in Louisiana?

• Made Locally grown sugar more competitive with foreign grown sugar by raising the price of Foreign Grown sugar.

• Decreased the price of Foreign Grown Sugar and reduced the amount of sugar that could be sold in the the United States

• Bought ads that promoted American Grown sugar over Foreign Grown Sugar

• Made it illegal to buy foreign grwon sugar

The American Party

The American Party, called the “Know Nothings,” emerged as a party hostile to new immigrants. As citizens who were born in the United States, they believed that people who had been here a generation or longer should have a greater say in politics than newly arriving immigrants. They also believed Democrats exploited immigrants, particularly working-class Germans and Irish, in order to expand their voting base. Because most of the Irish who immigrated to the United States in the antebellum period were Catholic, members of the American Party were also known to be anti-Catholic. Party members were called Know Nothings because, when asked about the party and its priorities, the members often replied, “I know nothing.”

By the late 1840s, large numbers of new immigrants played a tremendous role in the nation and in Louisiana. Irish and German immigrants made up half the population of New Orleans by 1850. Despite the American Party’s numerical disadvantage, its candidates, who employed a combination of force and voter intimidation, controlled politics in New Orleans from 1854 until the outbreak of the Civil War in 1861.

Multiple Select

Which were beliefs of tghe American (know Nothing) party

• Against Immigrants

• For new Taxes

• Anti Catholic

• Felt democrats took advantage of immigrants to expand their voting base

Multiple Choice

By 1840's which two groups made up more than half of the population of New Orleans?

• German and French

• French and Spanish

• German and Irish

• Spanish and Creole

Few Rights for Women

Even with universal manhood suffrage and a growing diversity in political parties, the vote for women was nearly a century in the future. Although virtually all free white men gained the vote during the antebellum period, women were not believed to be interested in politics or capable of understanding political issues. The small numbers of women who did seek the vote were largely confined to the urban North. Most people believed that a woman’s proper place was in the home. In Louisiana, this belief took the form of head and master statutes. Under these laws, when a woman married, her husband became her head and master, as her father had been before the marriage. 

Due to civil law practices dating from the colonial period, a woman or her family did have the option to obtain a separate property agreement before marriage, through which the property and wealth she brought to the marriage would remain her own. If a woman failed to make a separate property agreement beforehand, all of the property she brought to the marriage became community property, and a husband could dispose of it without his wife’s knowledge or permission.

Multiple Select

which are reasons that women were not given the right to vote during the Antebellum Period?

• Men Believed women were too smart and they would lose their positions to women.

• Men believed women were not interested in politics

• Men believed that women were not capable of understanding politics and political issues

• There was a belief in society that the proper place for a women was the home

Multiple Choice

What best sums up the purpose of the head and masters statues (laws) in Louisiana

• When a woman became married her husband had the same rule over her that a father would over a child.

• Both man and woman shared in decision making equally like a head and master

• Both enjoyed freedom to operate separately and independently from each other

• Neither fcould tell the other what to do

Multiple Choice

True or False ? Women could own property separately from men in Louisiana.

• True

• False

Multiple Choice

If a woman did not complete a separate property before her marriage what would her rights be concerning property?

• She maintained complete ownership of her property

• She would have to share half of her property with her husband

• Her husband could sell the property without her permission or Knowledge

• Her Husband could sell her property but only after going to court.

Two State Constitutions

The two state constitutions adopted during the antebellum period reflected the tense competition among political parties and between New Orleans and the rest of the state. The Constitution of 1845 reflected the Democrats’ desire to write universal manhood suffrage into the state’s fundamental law. Democrats also succeeded at limiting state aid to private enterprises. The tensions between New Orleans and the rest of the state were also reflected in the 1845 document. Democrats in New Orleans preferred to 

use the total number of registered voters to determine the apportionment (distribution) of seats in the state legislature. Planters preferred that total population numbers, including slaves, be used as the basis for determining those numbers. The 1845 Constitution came to a compromise by allocating seats in the state House of Representatives based on registered voters and in the Senate based on total population, including slaves. As a compromise document, the Constitution of 1845 pleased almost no one, so a new constitution was adopted in 1852.

Although the new constitution retained the Democratic priority of universal manhood suffrage, it reasserted Whig priorities like government support for business endeavors, particularly those related to banking and internal improvements. Whigs argued that roads and railroads would expand opportunities for commerce and the development of wealth.

Multiple Choice

How did the Constitution of 1852 differ from the Constitution of 1845?

• The Constitution of 1852 included Whig beliefs including support for Business and internal improvements

• The Constitution of 1852 included Whig beliefs including support for social programs and internal improvements

• The Constitution of 1852 included Whig beliefs including support for social programs and support for businesses

• It did not differ

Multiple Select

The Louisiana Constitution of 1845 reflected what two Democratic Principles?

• Universal Manhood Suffrage

• Anti Catholic Bias

• Anti Immigration

• Limited Supports for private enterprise

Multiple Choice

What was the difference between Democrats and Planters in determining how to a lot the seats of representation in the Louisiana House of Representatives and Senate

• Democrats wanted Registered Voters and Planters wanted total population including slaves to count

• Democrats wanted unregistered Voters and Planters wanted total population including slaves to count

• Planters did not want to count slaves

• Democrats wanted to count slaves Planters did not

Multiple Choice

Which is the correct reflection of the compromise on how representation would be determined that was reached in the constitution of 1845?

• Senate Total Population House of Representatives based on registered voters

• Senate based on Registered voters, House of Representatives based on total population

• Both Senate and House of Representatives based on Total population

• Both Senate and House of Representatives based on registered voters only