City History: New Orleans

Adelaide, a Domingan refugee of color, arrives in New Orleans. She is free. And she has the proof. But people continually try to re-enslave her anyway. READ MORE: "Paper Thin: Freedom and Re-enslavement in the Diaspora of the Haitian Revolution" by Rebecca J. Scott "'She... Refuses to Deliver Up Herself as the Slave of Your Petitioner': Emigres, Enslavement and the 1808 Digest of the Civil Laws" by Rebecca J. Scott SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

10,000 refugees from San-Domingue/Haiti suddenly land in New Orleans. Thousands get homes and jobs. Thousands are re-enslaved at the docks. READ MORE: The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300 by Jason Berry "The 1809 Immigration of Saint-Domingue Refugees to New Orleans: Reception, Integration and Impact" by Paul F. Lachance "The Saint-Domingue Refugees and the Preservation of Gallic Culture in Early New Orleans" by Nathalie Dessens "Paper Thin: Freedom and Re-enslavement in the Diaspora of the Haitian Revolution" by Rebecca J. Scott "'She... Refuses to Deliver Up Herself as the Slave of Your Petitioner': Emigres, Enslavement and the 1808 Digest of the Civil Laws" by Rebecca J. Scott https://64parishes.org/refugee-revolution SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Aaron Burr plots a conspiracy. To stop it, General Wilkinson places New Orleans under military dictatorship. French speakers prove their loyalty to the United States. READ MORE: The Burr Conspiracy: Uncovering the Story of an Early American Crisis by by James E. Lewis Jr. The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300 by Jason Berry "William C. C. Claiborne: Profile of a Democrat" by John D. Winters https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/duel-burr-conspiracy/cx https://www.history.com/news/aaron-burrs-notorious-treason-case https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4459 https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Jefferson/99-01-02-4537 SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Americans believe New Orleans is ignorant, hedonistic and overly Catholic. Governor Claiborne is given near-dictatorial powers to rule. New Orleans residents get a bit too passionate about their ballroom dancing. READ MORE: "'Too ignorant to elect suitable men': Characterizations of Louisianans in Congress: 1803–1805" by Julien Vernet A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America by Jon Kukla The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette City of a Million Dreams: A History of New Orleans at Year 300 by Jason Berry "The Public Masked Balls of Antebellum New Orleans: A Custom of Masque Tradition Outside the Mardi Gras Tradition" by R. Randall Couch "The Passion of the Prefect: Pierre Clément De Laussat, 1803 New Orleans, and the Bonapartist Louisiana That Never Was" by Eberhard L. Faber SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

The French tricolor rises over New Orleans. Three weeks later, the American flag takes its place. The last French governor has a weird, impactful year in New Orleans. READ MORE: "The Passion of the Prefect: Pierre Clément De Laussat, 1803 New Orleans, and the Bonapartist Louisiana That Never Was" by Eberhard L. Faber A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America by Jon Kukla The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette https://64parishes.org/entry/pierre-clment-de-laussat SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

France secretly reacquires Louisiana, but only for a couple years. After military catastrophe in Haiti, Napoleon sells Louisiana to the United States. New Orleans's fate is changed forever. READ MORE: A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America by Jon Kukla The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

American settlers demand access to the Mississippi and New Orleans. Pinckney's Treaty chips away at Spanish control. "Kaintucks" and other Americans float downriver to New Orleans. READ MORE: A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America by Jon Kukla The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette https://64parishes.org/entry/spanish-colonial-louisiana https://64parishes.org/entry/anglo-americans SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

In 1791 and 1795, enslaved people plot to overthrow Louisiana's plantation system. READ MORE: The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette Africans in Colonial Louisiana: The Development of Afro-Creole Culture in the Eighteenth-Century by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall "The Pointe Coupee Conspiracy of 1791" by Ulysses S. Ricard, Jr. "The 1795 Slave Conspiracy in Pointe Coupee: Impact of the French Revolution" by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall "The Abortive Slave Revolt at Pointe Coupee, Louisiana, 1795" by Jack D. L. Holmes SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

Revolutionary ideas make it to New Orleans. The new governor deports potential agitators. A conspiracy develops in Kentucky. READ MORE: The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette "Conflicting Loyalties: The French Revolution and Free People of Color" by Kimberly Hanger "The 1795 Slave Conspiracy in Pointe Coupee: Impact of the French Revolution" by Gwendolyn Midlo Hall SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0

The Louisiana economy collapses. Étienne de Boré figures how to make granulated sugar in Louisiana (just as the Haitian Revolution collapses San-Domingue sugar production). New Orleans area plantation owners profit. READ MORE: The Accidental City: Improvising New Orleans by Lawrence N. Powell The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square by Ned Sublette https://64parishes.org/entry/spanish-colonial-louisiana https://neworleanshistorical.org/items/show/1655 SOUNDS: French Quarter Bourbon walk.wav by volivieri -- https://freesound.org/s/110012/ -- License: Attribution 4.0