Beautiful Crescent: A History of New Orleans by John B. Garvey, Mary Lou Widmer
Authors: John B. Garvey, Mary Lou Widmer
Tags: History
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later proved, not in Faubourg Marigny but in Faubourg Ste. Marie on the upriver side of Canal Street.
When the Americans began arriving in large numbers, they settled in Faubourg St. Mary, as they called it. They lived along the natural levee, crowding into sugar plantations that had existed for decades. In the first ten years after the Louisiana Purchase , enmity between Creoles in the Vieux Carré and Americans in the Faubourg St. Mary came alive.
Canal Street: Never a Canal
Canal Street was laid out at 171 feet wide, 50 feet of which was allotted for a canal. It is shown in the planning stage on some old maps, but it never materialized. The canal was designed to tie the river with the Carondelet Canal (the Old Basin Canal), which ran to Bayou St. John and then to Lake Pontchartrain. Industrialists envisioned a river-to-lake waterway. They hoped that the lake would become important commercially, but on the New Orleans side, it never did. There was a drainage ditch down Canal Street for a time, but that was as close as it ever came to being a canal.
Canal Street, the widest street in the United States, became a kind of boundary line between the feuding Creoles in the Old Town and the Americans in Faubourg St. Mary. The wide median down the center was called the “neutral ground,” a sign of a truce that existed, however fragilely, between the hostile residents of the two communities. In time, all medians in New Orleans came to be called neutral grounds.
In the early territorial period, fear of war with Spain was another disturbing element. After the Louisiana Purchase, the Spanish soldiers were still in New Orleans, as we have seen in Claiborne’s letters to Madison. They were also in the Spanish cities in and around New Orleans: Baton Rouge, Covington, and Mandeville north of Lake Pontchartrain, and Mobile and Pensacola to the east. The United States must have realized that they could not continue to hold on to New Orleans if they did not have control of West Florida. A main concern was whether or not West Florida was included in the Louisiana Purchase. At one point, the United States insisted that it was indeed included. (West Florida consisted of the parishes of St. Helena, the Felicianas, East Baton Rouge, and St. Tammany.) This area was inhabited by many Americans and English who had migrated down from the thirteen colonies when West Florida was not included in the Louisiana Purchase, and to make sure of this, they delayed acknowledging the transfer.
In 1810, the people living in the West Florida parishes revolted against Spain, taking over Fort San Carlos in Baton Rouge in a minor skirmish and declaring their independence from Spain. They established the West Florida Republic. The flag of the new republic was blue with a white star, and its president had the unlikely name of Fulwar Skipwith . Within six weeks, he asked to have his republic united with the Territory of Orleans. Evidently, he was too late, because Claiborne had already received orders from President Madison to take possession of West Florida. He did, and West Florida was annexed to the Territory. Spain and Great Britain protested the annexation, but it was all in vain.
Louisiana Becomes a State
When Claiborne was appointed governor in 1803, the territory he was to govern was the Territory of Orleans, which was later to become part of the state of Louisiana. From the beginning, the people of the Territory of Orleans wanted statehood. They wanted the benefits of American citizenship and pressured Congress for help in this effort.
In 1810, the Territory of Orleans had a population of 76,500. A population of 60,000 was required for statehood. In January 1811, Julien Poydras , the territory’s delegate to Congress, proposed statehood for Louisiana. The next month, Congress authorized the territory to draw up a constitution. Delegates drew up the constitution, and on April 8, 1812, Congress ratified it. It did not include the West Florida parishes,
When the Americans began arriving in large numbers, they settled in Faubourg St. Mary, as they called it. They lived along the natural levee, crowding into sugar plantations that had existed for decades. In the first ten years after the Louisiana Purchase , enmity between Creoles in the Vieux Carré and Americans in the Faubourg St. Mary came alive.
Canal Street: Never a Canal
Canal Street was laid out at 171 feet wide, 50 feet of which was allotted for a canal. It is shown in the planning stage on some old maps, but it never materialized. The canal was designed to tie the river with the Carondelet Canal (the Old Basin Canal), which ran to Bayou St. John and then to Lake Pontchartrain. Industrialists envisioned a river-to-lake waterway. They hoped that the lake would become important commercially, but on the New Orleans side, it never did. There was a drainage ditch down Canal Street for a time, but that was as close as it ever came to being a canal.
Canal Street, the widest street in the United States, became a kind of boundary line between the feuding Creoles in the Old Town and the Americans in Faubourg St. Mary. The wide median down the center was called the “neutral ground,” a sign of a truce that existed, however fragilely, between the hostile residents of the two communities. In time, all medians in New Orleans came to be called neutral grounds.
In the early territorial period, fear of war with Spain was another disturbing element. After the Louisiana Purchase, the Spanish soldiers were still in New Orleans, as we have seen in Claiborne’s letters to Madison. They were also in the Spanish cities in and around New Orleans: Baton Rouge, Covington, and Mandeville north of Lake Pontchartrain, and Mobile and Pensacola to the east. The United States must have realized that they could not continue to hold on to New Orleans if they did not have control of West Florida. A main concern was whether or not West Florida was included in the Louisiana Purchase. At one point, the United States insisted that it was indeed included. (West Florida consisted of the parishes of St. Helena, the Felicianas, East Baton Rouge, and St. Tammany.) This area was inhabited by many Americans and English who had migrated down from the thirteen colonies when West Florida was not included in the Louisiana Purchase, and to make sure of this, they delayed acknowledging the transfer.
In 1810, the people living in the West Florida parishes revolted against Spain, taking over Fort San Carlos in Baton Rouge in a minor skirmish and declaring their independence from Spain. They established the West Florida Republic. The flag of the new republic was blue with a white star, and its president had the unlikely name of Fulwar Skipwith . Within six weeks, he asked to have his republic united with the Territory of Orleans. Evidently, he was too late, because Claiborne had already received orders from President Madison to take possession of West Florida. He did, and West Florida was annexed to the Territory. Spain and Great Britain protested the annexation, but it was all in vain.
Louisiana Becomes a State
When Claiborne was appointed governor in 1803, the territory he was to govern was the Territory of Orleans, which was later to become part of the state of Louisiana. From the beginning, the people of the Territory of Orleans wanted statehood. They wanted the benefits of American citizenship and pressured Congress for help in this effort.
In 1810, the Territory of Orleans had a population of 76,500. A population of 60,000 was required for statehood. In January 1811, Julien Poydras , the territory’s delegate to Congress, proposed statehood for Louisiana. The next month, Congress authorized the territory to draw up a constitution. Delegates drew up the constitution, and on April 8, 1812, Congress ratified it. It did not include the West Florida parishes,
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