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134-594: Stephen Fuller Austin (November 3, 1793 – December 27, 1836) was an American-born empresario . Known as the " Father of Texas " and the founder of Anglo Texas , he led the second and, ultimately, the successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families and their slaves from the United States to the Tejas region of Mexico in 1825. Born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri , Austin served in

268-590: A "per capita income [that] was second in the nation and the highest in the South." The city had a role as the "primary commercial gateway for the nation's booming midsection." The port was the nation's third largest in terms of tonnage of imported goods, after Boston and New York, handling 659,000 tons in 1859. As the Creole elite feared, the American Civil War changed their world. In April 1862, following

402-408: A Mexican were just as much infringed, as they would be if I had a thousand." In 1830, Austin wrote that he would oppose Texas joining the United States without guarantees that he should "insist on the perpetual exclusion of slavery from this state [Texas]". In 1833, he wrote: "Texas must be a slave country. Circumstances and unavoidable necessity compel it. It is the wish of the people there, and it

536-456: A Spanish territory. José Antonio Navarro , a San Antonio native with ambitious visions of the future of Texas, befriended Stephen F. Austin, and the two developed a lasting association. Navarro, proficient in Spanish and Mexican law, assisted Austin in obtaining his empresario contracts. In San Antonio, the grant was reauthorized by Governor Antonio María Martínez , who allowed Austin to explore

670-1096: A brief period as Republican governor of Louisiana, becoming the first governor of African descent of a U.S. state (the next African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state was Douglas Wilder , elected in Virginia in 1989). New Orleans operated a racially integrated public school system during this period. Wartime damage to levees and cities along the Mississippi River adversely affected southern crops and trade. The federal government contributed to restoring infrastructure. The nationwide financial recession and Panic of 1873 adversely affected businesses and slowed economic recovery. From 1868, elections in Louisiana were marked by violence, as white insurgents tried to suppress black voting and disrupt Republican Party gatherings. The disputed 1872 gubernatorial election resulted in conflicts that ran for years. The " White League ", an insurgent paramilitary group that supported

804-537: A canoe full of corn on the Colorado River near the mouth of Skull Creek. Later the same evening, Robert Brotherton was riding along a trail near Skull Creek when he was "met by the Indians, robbed of his guns and perceiving he was in danger of his life after making his escape, was wounded in the back with an arrow, very severely. A volunteer militia was organized and went to the scene of the robbery. They followed

938-511: A colonization law authorizing the national government to enter into a contract granting land to an “empresario,” or promoter, who was required to recruit a minimum of two hundred families to settle the grant. Mexico approved immigration on a wider basis in 1824 with passage of the General Colonization Law . This law authorized all heads of household who were citizens of or immigrants to Mexico as eligible to claim land. After

1072-489: A colony that could provide a good supply of clean, potable water. Austin claimed rich tracts of land near bays and river mouths already populated by the Karankawa. The Karankawa relied on these bays for the fish and shellfish that provided their winter food sources and thus were fiercely protective of that land. Austin was greeted by the native Karankawa inhabitants with the help of his Mexican scouts, they watched closely as

1206-636: A complex system of levees and drainage pumps in an effort to protect the city. New Orleans was severely affected by Hurricane Katrina in late August 2005, which flooded more than 80% of the city, killed more than 1,800 people, and displaced thousands of residents, causing a population decline of over 50%. Since Katrina, major redevelopment efforts have led to a rebound in the city's population. Concerns have been expressed about gentrification , new residents buying property in formerly close-knit communities, and displacement of longtime residents. Additionally, high rates of violent crime continue to plague

1340-611: A concern into the 1740s for governor Marquis de Vaudreuil . In the early 1740s traders from the Thirteen Colonies crossed into the Appalachian Mountains. The Native American tribes would now operate dependent on which of various European colonists would most benefit them. Several of these tribes and especially the Chickasaw and Choctaw would trade goods and gifts for their loyalty. The economic issue in

1474-516: A country as this overrun by a slave population almost makes me weep. It is in vain to tell a North American that the white population will be destroyed some fifty or eighty years hence by the negroes, and that his daughters will be violated and Butchered by them." While Austin thought it would be advantageous someday for Texas to phase out of slavery, up until the Texas Revolution, he worked to ensure that his colony's immigrants could bypass

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1608-579: A decree that banned freedmen from Texas and forced emancipated slaves to work for their former slaveowners until the accrued "debt" (e.g. clothing, food), incurred for their own enslavement, was worked off. In 1828, Austin petitioned the legislature to guarantee that slaveowners immigrating to Texas could legally "free" their slaves before immigrating and contract them into a lifetime term of indentured servitude, thereby avoiding recognizing them as slaves. He lobbied to help his colony elude president Vicente Guerrero 's 1829 decree to emancipate enslaved people in

1742-432: A deep depression over the issue and sent his brother, Brown Austin , to further lobby the legislature on his behalf. In March 1827, the legislature signed Article 13 into law. Despite the law complying with some of his requests, Austin called it "unconstitutional". He contested the law as it freed the children of enslaved people at birth, established a six-month grace period before fully emancipating all enslaved people in

1876-480: A great deal more. He made his home in Hempstead County, Arkansas . Austin declared his candidacy for Congress two weeks before the first Arkansas territorial elections in 1820. His late entrance meant his name did not appear on the ballot in two of the five counties, but he still placed second in the field of six candidates. Later, he was appointed as a First Circuit Court judge. Little Rock was designated as

2010-471: A half cents per acre. Farmers could get 177 acres (72 ha) and ranchers 4,428 acres (1,792 ha). In December 1821, the first U.S. colonists crossed into the granted territory by land and sea on the Brazos River in present-day Brazoria County . Austin's plan for an American colony was thrown into turmoil by Mexico's gaining independence from Spain in 1821. Governor Martínez informed Austin that

2144-830: A large contingent of Tennessee state militia, Kentucky frontiersmen and local privateers (the latter led by the pirate Jean Lafitte ), to decisively defeat the British , led by Sir Edward Pakenham , in the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. The armies had not learned of the Treaty of Ghent , which had been signed on December 24, 1814 (however, the treaty did not call for cessation of hostilities until after both governments had ratified it. The U.S. government ratified it on February 16, 1815). The fighting in Louisiana began in December 1814 and did not end until late January, after

2278-442: A league and a labor of land, 4,605 acres (1,864 ha), and other inducements. It also provided for the employment of agents, called empresarios , to promote immigration . As an empresario , Austin was to receive 67,000 acres of land for each 200 families he brought to Texas. According to the law, immigrants were not required to pay fees to the government. Some of the immigrants denied Austin's right to charge them for services at

2412-509: A series of public meetings during 1765 to keep the populace in opposition of the establishment of Spanish rule. Anti-Spanish passions in New Orleans reached their highest level after two years of Spanish administration in Louisiana. On October 27, 1768, a mob of local residents, spiked the guns guarding New Orleans and took control of the city from the Spanish . The rebellion organized a group to sail for Paris, where it met with officials of

2546-501: A string of defeats with the dramatic turnabout victory at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836, and the capture of Santa Anna the following morning. He was then imprisoned. In December 1835, Austin, Branch Archer, and William H. Wharton were appointed commissioners to the U.S. by the provisional government of the republic. On June 10, 1836, Austin was in New Orleans, where he received word of Santa Anna's defeat by Sam Houston at

2680-565: Is my duty to do all I can, prudently, in favor of it. I will do so." In May 1835, Austin's colonists learned that Mexico's tolerance for the evasions of enslavers was drawing to a close with its proposal of new abolition legislation. Alarmed, and with Austin imprisoned in Mexico for pushing for independence, colonists turned against the Mexican government, calling it "oppressive" and a "plundering, robbing, autocratical government" without regard for

2814-572: Is named after the Roman emperor Aurelian , originally being known as Aurelianum. Thus, by extension, since New Orleans is also named after Aurelian, its name in Latin would translate to Nova Aurelia. Following the defeat in the Seven Years' War , France formally transferred the possession of Louisiana to Spain , with which France had secretly signed the Treaty of Fontainebleau a year earlier, in

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2948-576: The Company of the Indies , founded a convent in the city in 1727. At the end of the colonial era, the Ursuline Academy maintained a house of 70 boarding and 100 day students. Today numerous schools in New Orleans can trace their lineage from this academy. Another notable example is the street plan and architecture still distinguishing New Orleans today. French Louisiana had early architects in

3082-500: The Convention of 1832 : resumption of immigration, tariff exemption, separation from Coahuila, and a new state government for Texas. Austin did not support these demands; he considered them ill-timed and tried to moderate them. When they were repeated and extended at the Convention of 1833 , Austin traveled to Mexico City on July 18, 1833, and met with Vice President Valentín Gómez Farías . Austin did gain certain significant reforms:

3216-597: The Democratic Party , was organized in 1874 and operated in the open, violently suppressing the black vote and running off Republican officeholders. In 1874, in the Battle of Liberty Place , 5,000 members of the White League fought with city police to take over the state offices for the Democratic candidate for governor, holding them for three days. By 1876, such tactics resulted in the white Democrats ,

3350-559: The Gallic community would have become a minority of the total population as early as 1820. After the Louisiana Purchase, numerous Anglo-Americans migrated to the city. The population doubled in the 1830s and by 1840, New Orleans had become the nation's wealthiest and the third-most populous city, after New York and Baltimore . German and Irish immigrants began arriving in the 1840s, working as port laborers. In this period,

3484-653: The Gulf Coast between San Antonio and the Brazos River to find a suitable location for a colony. As guides for the party, Manuel Becerra and three Aranama Indians went with the expedition. Austin advertised the Texas opportunity in New Orleans, announcing that land was available along the Brazos and Colorado rivers. A family of a husband, wife, and two children would receive 1,280 acres (520 ha) at twelve and

3618-627: The Haitian Revolution , both whites and free people of color ( affranchis or gens de couleur libres ), arrived in New Orleans; a number brought their slaves with them, many of whom were native Africans or of full-blood descent. While Governor Claiborne and other officials wanted to keep out additional free black people, the French Creoles wanted to increase the French-speaking population. In addition to bolstering

3752-624: The Louisiana Purchase of 1803. New Orleans in 1840 was the third most populous city in the United States, and it was the largest city in the American South from the Antebellum era until after World War II . The city has historically been very vulnerable to flooding , due to its high rainfall, low lying elevation, poor natural drainage, and proximity to multiple bodies of water. State and federal authorities have installed

3886-501: The Mississippi River and that the use of the same name for the settlement relates to Native American concepts of the close interaction between rivers and their surrounding land. The name of New Orleans derives from the original French name, La Nouvelle-Orléans , which was given to the city in honor of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , who served as Louis XV 's regent from 1715 to 1723. The French city of Orléans itself

4020-565: The Mississippi River in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of Louisiana . With a population of 383,997 according to the 2020 U.S. census, it is the most populous city in Louisiana and the French Louisiana region; the third-most populous city in the Deep South ; and the twelfth-most populous city in the southeastern United States . Serving as a major port , New Orleans is considered an economic and commercial hub for

4154-464: The New Orleans streetcar strike during which serious unrest occurred. It is also credited for the creation of the distinctly Louisianan Po' boy sandwich. By the mid-20th century, New Orleanians recognized that their city was no longer the leading urban area in the South. By 1950, Houston , Dallas , and Atlanta exceeded New Orleans in size, and in 1960 Miami eclipsed New Orleans, even as

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4288-466: The Republic of Texas won its independence from Mexico , the young nation continued its own version of the empresario program, offering grants to French diplomat Henri Castro and abolitionist Charles Fenton Mercer , among others. Maps: New Orleans, Louisiana New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a consolidated city-parish located along

4422-484: The Treaty of Paris of 1763. The Spanish renamed the city Nueva Orleans ( pronounced [ˌnweβa oɾleˈans] ), which was used until 1800. The United States, which had acquired possession from France in 1803, adopted the French name and anglicized it to New Orleans . New Orleans has several nicknames, including these: La Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans) was founded in the spring of 1718 (May 7 has become

4556-548: The junta instituyente , the new rump congress of the government of Agustín de Iturbide of Mexico, refused to recognize the land grant authorized by Spain. His government intended to use a general immigration law to regulate new settlement in Mexico. Austin traveled to Mexico City , where he persuaded the junta instituyente to approve the grant to his father and the law signed by the Mexican Emperor on January 3, 1823. The old imperial law offered heads of families

4690-420: The port remained one of the nation's largest, automation and containerization cost many jobs. The city's former role as banker to the South was supplanted by larger peer cities. New Orleans' economy had always been based more on trade and financial services than on manufacturing, but the city's relatively small manufacturing sector also shrank after World War II. Despite some economic development successes under

4824-408: The "most unique" in the United States, owing in large part to its cross-cultural and multilingual heritage. Additionally, New Orleans has increasingly been known as "Hollywood South" due to its prominent role in the film industry and in pop culture. Founded in 1718 by French colonists, New Orleans was once the territorial capital of French Louisiana before becoming part of the United States in

4958-737: The Americans held off the Royal Navy during a ten-day siege of Fort St. Philip (the Royal Navy went on to capture Fort Bowyer near Mobile , before the commanders received news of the peace treaty). As a port , New Orleans played a major role during the antebellum period in the Atlantic slave trade . The port handled commodities for export from the interior and imported goods from other countries, which were warehoused and transferred in New Orleans to smaller vessels and distributed along

5092-519: The Atlantic world. Its inhabitants traded across the French commercial system. New Orleans was a hub for this trade both physically and culturally because it served as the exit point to the rest of the globe for the interior of the North American continent. In one instance the French government established a chapter house of sisters in New Orleans. The Ursuline sisters after being sponsored by

5226-474: The Battle of San Jacinto. Austin returned to Texas to rest at Peach Point in August. On August 4, he announced his candidacy for president of Texas. Austin felt confident he could win the election until two weeks before the election, when on August 20, Houston entered the race. Austin wrote, "Many of the old settlers who are too blind to see or understand their interest will vote for him." Houston carried East Texas,

5360-523: The Civil War, fought against Jim Crow. They organized the Comité des Citoyens (Citizens Committee) to work for civil rights. As part of their legal campaign, they recruited one of their own, Homer Plessy , to test whether Louisiana's newly enacted Separate Car Act was constitutional. Plessy boarded a commuter train departing New Orleans for Covington, Louisiana , sat in the car reserved for whites only, and

5494-616: The Confederate cause, his order warned that such future occurrences would result in his men treating such women as those "plying their avocation in the streets", implying that they would treat the women like prostitutes. Accounts of this spread widely. He also came to be called "Spoons" Butler because of the alleged looting that his troops did while occupying the city, during which time he himself supposedly pilfered silver flatware. Significantly, Butler abolished French-language instruction in city schools. Statewide measures in 1864 and, after

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5628-648: The French government. This group brought with them a long memorial to summarize the abuses the colony had endured from the Spanish. King Louis XV and his ministers reaffirmed Spain's sovereignty over Louisiana. Nearly all of the surviving 18th-century architecture of the Vieux Carré ( French Quarter ) dates from the Spanish period, notably excepting the Old Ursuline Convent . During the American Revolutionary War , New Orleans

5762-656: The Indian tribes, culminating in 1825 with his order for all Kawankawa to be pursued and killed on sight. By late 1825, Austin had brought the first 300 families to his settlement, the Austin Colony; these 300 are now known in Texas history as the Old Three Hundred . Austin had obtained further contracts to settle an additional 900 families between 1825 and 1829. He had effective civil and military authority over

5896-509: The Karankawa, sometimes more specifically the Carancaguases. Research had suggested that these accusations of cannibalism were false, possibly caused by confusion with another tribe, and that the Karankawa were horrified by cannibalism when they learned of it being practiced by shipwrecked Spaniards. Austin told the colonists that the Karankawa would be impossible to live among. Austin continued to encourage violence both against and between

6030-470: The Mexican government for a reversal of the ban and gained only a one-year extension to settle their affairs and free their bonded workers - the government refused to legalize slavery. Unlike its predecessor, the Mexican law required immigrants to practice Catholicism and stressed that foreigners needed to learn Spanish. Settlers were supposed to own property or have a craft or useful profession, and all people wishing to live in Texas were expected to report to

6164-460: The Mexican government's resistance to it. Doing so ensured the population growth and economic development of his colony, which was primarily dependent on the monocropping of cotton and sugar. In August 1825, he recommended that the state government allow immigrants to bring people they were enslaving with them through 1840, with the caveat that female grandchildren of the enslaved people would be freed by age 15 and males by age 25. His recommendation

6298-484: The Mexican government, Austin advocated conciliation, but the dissent against Mexico escalated into the Texas Revolution . Austin led Texas forces at the successful Siege of Béxar before serving as a commissioner to the United States. Austin ran as a candidate in the 1836 Texas presidential election but was defeated by Sam Houston , who had served as a general in the war and entered the race two weeks before

6432-504: The Mississippi River watershed. The river was filled with steamboats, flatboats and sailing ships. Despite its role in the slave trade , New Orleans at the time also had the largest and most prosperous community of free persons of color in the nation, who were often educated, middle-class property owners. Dwarfing the other cities in the Antebellum South, New Orleans had the U.S.' largest slave market. The market expanded after

6566-478: The Missouri territorial legislature. He moved to Arkansas Territory and later to Louisiana . His father, Moses Austin , received an empresario grant from Spain to settle Texas . After Moses Austin died in 1821, Stephen Austin won recognition of the empresario grant from the newly independent nation of Mexico . Austin attracted numerous Anglo-American settlers to move to Texas, and by 1825, Austin had brought

6700-596: The Red River region, and most of the soldiers' votes. Austin received 587 votes to Sam Houston's 5,119 and Henry Smith 's 743 votes. Houston appointed Austin as the first secretary of state of the new republic; however, Austin only served approximately two months before his death. In December 1836, Austin was in the new capital of Columbia (now known as West Columbia ), where he caught a severe cold; his condition worsened. Doctors were called in but could not help him. Austin died of pneumonia at noon on December 27, 1836. He

6834-518: The Texas rebels. With the colonists numbering more than 11,000 by 1832, they were becoming less amenable to Austin's cautious leadership, and the Mexican government was becoming less cooperative. It was concerned with the colony's growth and the U.S. government's efforts to buy the state from them. The Mexican government had attempted to stop further U.S. immigration as early as April 1830, but Austin's skills gained an exemption for his colonies. He granted land to immigrants based on 640 acres (2.6 km) to

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6968-629: The Texian forces during the Siege of Béxar from October 12 to December 11, 1835. After learning of the Disturbances at Anahuac and Velasco in the summer of 1835, an enraged Santa Anna made rapid preparations for the Mexican army to sweep Anglo settlers from Texas. War began in October 1835 at Gonzales . The Republic of Texas , created by a new constitution on March 2, 1836, won independence following

7102-612: The United States York Rite of Freemasonry as a liberal alternative to the established European-style Scottish Rite . On February 11, 1828, Austin called a meeting of Freemasons at San Felipe to elect officers and to petition the Masonic Grand Lodge in Mexico City for a charter to form a lodge. Austin was elected Worshipful Master of the new lodge. Although the petition reached Matamoros and

7236-568: The United States ended the international trade in 1808. Two-thirds of the more than one million slaves brought to the Deep South arrived via forced migration in the domestic slave trade. The money generated by the sale of slaves in the Upper South has been estimated at 15 percent of the value of the staple crop economy. The slaves were collectively valued at half a billion dollars. The trade spawned an ancillary economy—transportation, housing and clothing, fees, etc., estimated at 13.5 percent of

7370-403: The United States in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Thereafter, the city grew rapidly with influxes of Americans, French , Creoles and Africans . Later immigrants were Irish , Germans , Poles and Italians . Major commodity crops of sugar and cotton were cultivated with slave labor on nearby large plantations . Between 1791 and 1810, thousands of St. Dominican refugees from

7504-423: The United States. Before the arrival of European colonists, the indigenous Choctaw people called the area of present-day New Orleans Bulbancha , which translates as "land of many tongues". It appears to have been a contraction of balbáha a̱shah , which means "there are foreign speakers". In his book Histoire de la Louisiane , Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz wrote that the indigenous name referred to

7638-610: The United States. Only two of the groups that attempted to recruit in Europe built lasting colonies, Refugio and San Patricio . These colonies were successful in part because the empresarios spoke Spanish, were Catholic and generally familiar with Mexican ways, and allowed local Mexican families to join their colonies. In 1829, Mexico abolished slavery, which affected the Anglo-American settlers’ quest for wealth in building colonizations worked by enslaved Africans. They lobbied

7772-404: The United States. The rate of lynchings of black men was high across the South, as other states also disfranchised blacks and sought to impose Jim Crow. Nativist prejudices also surfaced. Anti-Italian sentiment in 1891 contributed to the lynchings of 11 Italians , some of whom had been acquitted of the murder of the police chief. Some were shot and killed in the jail where they were detained. It

7906-670: The administrations of DeLesseps "Chep" Morrison (1946–1961) and Victor "Vic" Schiro (1961–1970), metropolitan New Orleans' growth rate consistently lagged behind more vigorous cities. During the later years of Morrison's administration, and for the entirety of Schiro's, the city was a center of the Civil Rights movement . The Southern Christian Leadership Conference was founded in New Orleans, and lunch counter sit-ins were held in Canal Street department stores. A prominent and violent series of confrontations occurred in 1960 when

8040-463: The antebellum period. It was the nation's fifth-largest city in 1860 (after New York, Philadelphia , Boston and Baltimore) and was significantly larger than all other southern cities. From the mid-19th century onward rapid economic growth shifted to other areas, while New Orleans' relative importance steadily declined. The growth of railways and highways decreased river traffic, diverting goods to other transportation corridors and markets. Thousands of

8174-470: The authority of the " Fifth Military District " of the United States during Reconstruction. Louisiana was readmitted to the Union in 1868. Its Constitution of 1868 granted universal male suffrage and established universal public education . Both blacks and whites were elected to local and state offices. In 1872, lieutenant governor P.B.S. Pinchback , who was of mixed race , succeeded Henry Clay Warmouth for

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8308-538: The broader Gulf Coast region of the United States . New Orleans is world-renowned for its distinctive music , Creole cuisine , unique dialects , and its annual celebrations and festivals, most notably Mardi Gras . The historic heart of the city is the French Quarter , known for its French and Spanish Creole architecture and vibrant nightlife along Bourbon Street . The city has been described as

8442-681: The city attempted school desegregation, following the Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). When six-year-old Ruby Bridges integrated William Frantz Elementary School in the Ninth Ward , she was the first child of color to attend a previously all-white school in the South. Much controversy preceded the 1956 Sugar Bowl at Tulane Stadium , when the Pitt Panthers , with African-American fullback Bobby Grier on

8576-465: The city volunteered for the first regiments of Black troops in the War. Led by Brigadier General Daniel Ullman (1810–1892), of the 78th Regiment of New York State Volunteers Militia, they were known as the " Corps d'Afrique ". While that name had been used by a militia before the war, that group was composed of free people of color . The new group was made up mostly of former slaves. They were supplemented in

8710-449: The city with New Orleans experiencing 280 murders in 2022, resulting in the highest per capita homicide rate in the United States. The city and Orleans Parish ( French : paroisse d'Orléans ) are coterminous . As of 2017, Orleans Parish is the third most populous parish in Louisiana, behind East Baton Rouge Parish and neighboring Jefferson Parish . The city and parish are bounded by St. Tammany Parish and Lake Pontchartrain to

8844-539: The city's occupation by the Union Navy after the Battle of Forts Jackson and St. Philip , Gen. Benjamin F. Butler – a respected Massachusetts lawyer serving in that state's militia – was appointed military governor. New Orleans residents supportive of the Confederacy nicknamed him "Beast" Butler, because of an order he issued. After his troops had been assaulted and harassed in the streets by women still loyal to

8978-408: The city's population. The city became 63 percent black, a greater proportion than Charleston, South Carolina 's 53 percent at that time. On January 8-11, 1811, about 500 enslaved Africans in St. Charles and St. John the Baptist parishes rose up in rebellion against their enslavers, killing two white men in the process. They proceeded to march south toward New Orleans and were eventually controlled by

9112-407: The colonists and fill Texas "with Indians and negroes [freed slaves]". Immigration controls and the introduction of tariff laws had done much to dissatisfy the colonists, peaking in the Anahuac Disturbances . Austin became involved in Mexican politics, supporting the upstart Antonio López de Santa Anna . Following the success of Santa Anna, the colonists sought a compensatory reward, proclaimed at

9246-482: The colonists would lack the mass labor to cultivate the land, which would stall the pace of immigration needed to develop and increase the land's value, deflate the economy, and motivate his colonists to leave. Austin went before the legislature and pleaded that, at the least, his original 300 families should be allowed to continue enslaving people. He argued against the "bad faith" of freeing them, demanded reparations to enslavers for every enslaved person emancipated by

9380-409: The colony, which continued under Vaudreuil, resulted in many raids by Native American tribes, taking advantage of the French weakness. In 1747 and 1748, the Chickasaw would raid along the east bank of the Mississippi all the way south to Baton Rouge . These raids would often force residents of French Louisiana to take refuge in New Orleans proper. Inability to find labor was the most pressing issue in

9514-458: The competing interests of France, Spain, and England, as well as traditional rivals. Notably, the Natchez , whose traditional lands were along the Mississippi near the modern city of Natchez, Mississippi , had a series of wars culminating in the Natchez Revolt that began in 1729 with the Natchez overrunning Fort Rosalie . Approximately 230 French colonists were killed and the Natchez settlement destroyed, causing fear and concern in New Orleans and

9648-415: The early 20th century when medical and scientific advances ameliorated the situation, the city suffered repeated epidemics of yellow fever and other tropical and infectious diseases . In the first half of the 19th century, yellow fever epidemics killed over 150,000 people in New Orleans. After growing by 45 percent in the 1850s, by 1860, the city had nearly 170,000 people. It had grown in wealth, with

9782-498: The early seventeenth century. Richard Austin , a native of Titchfield , Hampshire was his paternal emigrant ancestor. Empresario Since empresarios attracted immigrants mostly from the Southern United States , they encouraged the spread of slavery into Texas. Although Mexico banned slavery in 1829, the settlers in Texas revolted in 1835 and continued to develop the economy, dominated by slavery, in

9916-477: The eastern part of the territory. In the late 18th century, Spain stopped allocating new lands in much of Spanish Texas , stunting the growth of the province. It changed this policy in 1820, and made it more flexible, allowing colonists of any religion to settle in Texas (formerly settlers were required to be Catholic, the established religion of the Spanish Empire). Moses Austin , an American colonist,

10050-427: The election. Houston appointed Austin as Secretary of State for the new republic, and Austin held that position until his death in December 1836. Numerous places and institutions are named in his honor, including the capital of Texas . Stephen F. Austin was born on November 3, 1793, in the mining region of southwestern Virginia. His parents were Mary Brown Austin and Moses Austin . In 1798, his family moved west to

10184-502: The end of the 1960s, a large gap in income levels and educational attainment persisted between the city's White and African American communities. As the middle class and wealthier members of both races left the center city, its population's income level dropped, and it became proportionately more African American. From 1980, the African American majority elected primarily officials from its own community. They struggled to narrow

10318-531: The first 300 American families into the territory. Throughout the 1820s, Austin sought to maintain good relations with the Mexican government and helped suppress the Fredonian Rebellion . He also helped ensure the introduction of slavery into Texas despite the Mexican government's opposition to the institution. Austin led the initial actions against the indigenous Karankawa people in this area. As Texas settlers became increasingly dissatisfied with

10452-466: The foreign trends as well. The French colony of Louisiana was ceded to the Spanish Empire in the 1763 Treaty of Paris , following France's defeat by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War . After the French relinquished West Louisiana to the Spanish, New Orleans merchants attempted to ignore Spanish rule and even re-institute French control on the colony. The citizens of New Orleans held

10586-471: The free people of color as mulatto , a term used to cover all degrees of mixed race. Mostly part of the Francophone group, they constituted the artisan, educated and professional class of African Americans. The mass of blacks were still enslaved, working at the port, in domestic service, in crafts, and mostly on the many large, surrounding sugarcane plantations. Throughout New Orleans' history, until

10720-405: The gap by creating conditions conducive to the economic uplift of the African American community. New Orleans became increasingly dependent on tourism as an economic mainstay during the administrations of Sidney Barthelemy (1986–1994) and Marc Morial (1994–2002). Relatively low levels of educational attainment, high rates of household poverty, and rising crime threatened the city's prosperity in

10854-549: The government debated a new colonization law, Stephen F. Austin , son of Moses Austin, was given permission to take over his father's colonization contract. Stephen F. Austin is probably the best known and most successful empresario in Texas. The first group of colonists, known as the Old Three Hundred , arrived in 1822 and settled along the Brazos River , ranging from the Gulf of Mexico to near present-day Dallas . In 1823, Mexico’s authoritarian ruler Agustín de Iturbide enacted

10988-458: The husband, 320 to the wife, 160 for every child, and 80 for every enslaved person. Slavery was a very important issue to Austin, one he called "of great interest" to him. Austin was a periodical enslaver throughout his life; however, he had conflicting views about it. Theoretically, he believed slavery was wrong and went against the American ideal of liberty. In practice, however, he agreed with

11122-445: The immigrants unloaded their goods, so that their two sloops could navigate safely up the shallows of the Colorado River. When the Karankawa noticed that only four armed men were guarding the merchandise of 300 immigrants, they made their attack, killing the guards and plundering the articles. On February 23, 1823, the Karankawa killed two men, named Loy and John C. Alley, and wounded another named John C. Clark . They were bringing home

11256-576: The immigration ban was lifted, but a separate state government was not authorized. Statehood in Mexico required a population of 80,000, and Texas had only 30,000. Believing that he was pushing for Texas independence and suspecting that he was trying to incite insurrection, the Mexican government arrested Austin in January 1834 in Saltillo . He was taken to Mexico City and imprisoned. No charges were filed against him as no court would accept jurisdiction. He

11390-595: The institutionalizing of laws governing slavery within the colony. These laws required that slaves be baptized in the Roman Catholic faith, slaves be married in the church; the slave law formed in the 1720s is known as the Code Noir , which would bleed into the antebellum period of the American South as well. Louisiana slave culture had its own distinct Afro-Creole society that called on past cultures and

11524-726: The last two years of the War by newly organized United States Colored Troops , who played an increasingly important part in the war. Violence throughout the South, especially the Memphis Riots of 1866 followed by the New Orleans Riot in the same year, led Congress to pass the Reconstruction Act and the Fourteenth Amendment , extending the protections of full citizenship to freedmen and free people of color. Louisiana and Texas were put under

11658-475: The later decades of the century. The negative effects of these socioeconomic conditions aligned poorly with the changes in the late-20th century to the economy of the United States, which reflected a post-industrial, knowledge-based paradigm in which mental skills and education were more important to advancement than manual skills. In the 20th century, New Orleans' government and business leaders believed they needed to drain and develop outlying areas to provide for

11792-459: The latter's population reached its historic peak. As with other older American cities, highway construction and suburban development drew residents from the center city to newer housing outside. The 1970 census recorded the first absolute decline in population since the city became part of the United States in 1803. The Greater New Orleans metropolitan area continued expanding in population, albeit more slowly than other major Sun Belt cities. While

11926-503: The law passed, the state government of Coahuila y Tejas was inundated with requests by foreign speculators to establish colonies within the state. There was no shortage of people willing to come to Texas. The United States was still struggling with the aftermath of the Panic of 1819 , and soaring land prices within the United States made the Mexican land policy seem very generous. Most successful empresarios recruited colonists primarily in

12060-564: The lead-mining region of present-day Potosi, Missouri . Moses Austin received a sitio from the Spanish government for the mining site of Mine à Breton , which had been established by French colonists. His great-great-grandfather, Anthony Austin (b. 1636), was the son of Richard Austin (b.1598 in Bishopstoke , Hampshire , England). The immigrant ancestors, Richard Austin and his wife Esther, were original settlers of Suffield, Massachusetts , which became Connecticut in 1749. When Austin

12194-400: The legislature of the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas passed a law similar to the one authorized by Iturbide. The law continued the system of empresarios and granted each married man a league of land, 4,428 acres (1,792 ha), stipulating that he must pay the state $ 30 within six years. Austin sought an area for his colonists on the land near the mouth of the Colorado River (Texas) for

12328-616: The legislature passed a constitutional amendment incorporating a " grandfather clause " that effectively disfranchised freedmen as well as the propertied people of color manumitted before the war. Unable to vote, African Americans could not serve on juries or in local office, and were closed out of formal politics for generations. The Southern U.S. was ruled by a white Democratic Party. Public schools were racially segregated and remained so until 1960. New Orleans' large community of well-educated, often French-speaking free persons of color ( gens de couleur libres ), who had been free prior to

12462-601: The local militia, with numerous casualties on both sides. The uprising has been called the "largest slave rebellion in US history." During the final campaign of the War of 1812 , the British sent a force of 11,000 in an attempt to capture New Orleans. Despite great challenges, General Andrew Jackson , with support from the U.S. Navy , successfully cobbled together a force of militia from Louisiana and Mississippi , U.S. Army regulars,

12596-520: The most ambitious people of color left the state in the Great Migration around World War II and after, many for West Coast destinations. From the late 1800s, most censuses recorded New Orleans slipping down the ranks in the list of largest American cities (New Orleans' population still continued to increase throughout the period, but at a slower rate than before the Civil War). In 1929

12730-422: The most feeling and affectionate Fathers that ever lived. His faults I now say, and always have, were not of the heart." Austin led his party to travel 300 miles (480 km) in four weeks to San Antonio , with the intent of reauthorizing his father's grant; they arrived on August 12. While in transit, they learned Mexico had declared its independence from Spain, and Texas had become a Mexican province rather than

12864-521: The nearest Mexican authority for permission to settle. The rules were widely disregarded and many families became squatters . Under the new laws, people who did not already possess property in Texas could claim 4438 acres of irrigable land, with an additional 4438 available to those who owned cattle. Empresarios and individuals with large families were exempt from the limit. Empresido of Mexico in New Madrid , Spanish Louisiana Territory , After

12998-419: The north, St. Bernard Parish and Lake Borgne to the east, Plaquemines Parish to the south, and Jefferson Parish to the south and west. The city anchors the larger Greater New Orleans metropolitan area , which had a population of 1,271,845 in 2020. Greater New Orleans is the most populous metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in Louisiana and, since the 2020 census, has been the 46th most populous MSA in

13132-490: The price per person, amounting to tens of billions of dollars (2005 dollars, adjusted for inflation) during the antebellum period, with New Orleans as a prime beneficiary. According to historian Paul Lachance, the addition of white immigrants [from Saint-Domingue] to the white creole population enabled French-speakers to remain a majority of the white population until almost 1830. If a substantial proportion of free persons of color and slaves had not also spoken French, however,

13266-565: The processes of government and other public services. During these years, Austin, a Louisiana Lodge No. 111 member at Ste. Genevieve, Missouri , sought to establish Freemasonry in Texas. Freemasonry was well established among the educated classes of Mexican society. It had been introduced among the aristocracy loyal to the House of Bourbon , and the conservatives had total control over the Order. By 1827, Americans living in Mexico City had introduced

13400-517: The province legally and to bypass the government's effort to prohibit slavery when it passed the Law of April 6, 1830 . In 1829, John Durst, a prominent landowner and politician, wrote about the president's emancipation of enslaved people, "We are ruined forever should this measure be adopted". Stephen F. Austin replied, "I am the owner of one slave only, an old decrepit woman, not worth much, but in this matter I should feel that my constitutional rights as

13534-676: The province who were trained as military engineers and were now assigned to design government buildings. Pierre Le Blond de Tour and Adrien de Pauger , for example, planned many early fortifications, along with the street plan for the city of New Orleans. After them in the 1740s, Ignace François Broutin, as engineer-in-chief of Louisiana, reworked the architecture of New Orleans with an extensive public works program. French policy-makers in Paris attempted to set political and economic norms for New Orleans. The city acted autonomously in much of its cultural and physical aspects, but stayed in communication with

13668-569: The rate of 12.5 cents/acre (31 cents/ha). When Emperor of Mexico Agustín de Iturbide abdicated in March 1823, the law was annulled once again. In April 1823, Austin induced the congress to grant him a contract to bring 300 families into Texas. He wanted honest, hard-working people who would make the colony a success. In 1824, the congress passed a new immigration law that allowed the individual states of Mexico to administer public lands and open them to settlement under certain conditions. In March 1825,

13802-547: The request and threatened to resign. The game went on as planned. The Civil Rights movement's success in gaining federal passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 renewed constitutional rights, including voting for blacks. Together, these resulted in the most far-reaching changes in New Orleans' 20th century history. Though legal and civil equality were re-established by

13936-576: The rest of the territory. In retaliation, then-governor Étienne Perier launched a campaign to completely destroy the Natchez nation and its Native allies. By 1731, the Natchez people had been killed, enslaved, or dispersed among other tribes, but the campaign soured relations between France and the territory's Native Americans leading directly into the Chickasaw Wars of the 1730s. Relations with Louisiana's Native American population remained

14070-602: The roster, met the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets . There had been controversy over whether Grier should be allowed to play due to his race, and whether Georgia Tech should even play at all due to Georgia's Governor Marvin Griffin 's opposition to racial integration. After Griffin publicly sent a telegram to the state's Board Of Regents requesting Georgia Tech not to engage in racially integrated events, Georgia Tech's president Blake R. Van Leer rejected

14204-500: The security of "life, liberty or property". Resisting the impact a changed slavery policy would have on economic growth, and fearing rumors of Mexico's plan to free the enslaved people and turn them loose upon the colonists, shortly after Austin returned from Mexico, he and his colonists took up arms against the Mexican government. Austin later gained U.S. Government support for his revolution when he wrote to Senator Lewis F. Linn and pleaded that Santa Anna planned to "exterminate" all of

14338-608: The settlers, but he quickly introduced a semblance of American law – the Constitution of Coahuila y Tejas was agreed on in November 1827. Austin organized small, informal armed groups to protect the colonists, which evolved into the Texas Rangers . Despite his hopes, Austin was making little money from his endeavors; the colonists were unwilling to pay for his services as empresario, and most of his revenues were spent on

14472-545: The situation for slaves in the New World . Afro-Creole was present in religious beliefs and the Louisiana Creole language. The religion most associated with this period was called Voodoo . In the city of New Orleans an inspiring mixture of foreign influences created a melting pot of culture that is still celebrated today. By the end of French colonization in Louisiana, New Orleans was recognized commercially in

14606-462: The so-called Redeemers , regaining political control of the state legislature. The federal government gave up and withdrew its troops in 1877, ending Reconstruction . In 1892 the racially integrated unions of New Orleans led a general strike in the city from November 8 to 12, shutting down the city & winning the vast majority of their demands. Dixiecrats passed Jim Crow laws, establishing racial segregation in public facilities. In 1889,

14740-463: The social, economic, and political justifications for it and worked hard to defend and expand it. Despite his defense of it, he also harbored concerns that the long-term effects of slavery would destroy American society. He grew particularly concerned following Nat Turner's rebellion in 1831, stating: "I sometimes shudder at the consequences and think that a large part of America will be Santo Domingonized in 100, or 200 years. The idea of seeing such

14874-577: The state legislature passed more restrictions on manumissions of slaves and virtually ended it in 1852. In the 1850s, white Francophones remained an intact and vibrant community in New Orleans. They maintained instruction in French in two of the city's four school districts (all served white students). In 1860, the city had 13,000 free people of color ( gens de couleur libres ), the class of free, mostly mixed-race people that expanded in number during French and Spanish rule. They set up some private schools for their children. The census recorded 81 percent of

15008-438: The state, and included provisions to improve the conditions of enslaved people and transitioning freedmen. Austin –– who had been so effective in persuading the legislature, however, that the author of Article 13 (before its passage) requested to withdraw it –– helped his colonists evade the law by advising them to legally supplant the word "slave" with the words "workingmen," "family servants," and "laborers," and by working to pass

15142-443: The state, warned that the loss of enslaved people could leave some colonists destitute, and reasoned that freeing them would not only leave his settlers alone in the harsh Texas environment but would also expose them to the discomfort and nuisance of living amongst formerly enslaved people, who would become vagrants seeking retribution upon their former owners. While he waited for the legislature's verdict of his request, Austin went into

15276-850: The territorial capital over the next few months. But Austin's claim to land in the area was contested, and the courts ruled against him. The Territorial Assembly reorganized the government and abolished Austin's judgeship. Austin left the territory and moved to Louisiana. He reached New Orleans in November 1820. He met and stayed with Joseph H. Hawkins , a New Orleans lawyer and former Kentucky congressman, and made arrangements to study law with him. During Austin's time in Arkansas, his father traveled to Spanish Texas and received an empresarial grant that would allow him to bring 300 American families to Texas. Moses Austin caught pneumonia soon after returning to Missouri. He directed that his empresario grant would be taken over by his son Stephen. Although Austin

15410-778: The territory's French-speaking population, these refugees had a significant impact on the culture of Louisiana, including developing its sugar industry and cultural institutions. As more refugees were allowed into the Territory of Orleans , St. Dominican refugees who had first gone to Cuba also arrived. Many of the white Francophones had been deported by officials in Cuba in 1809 as retaliation for Bonapartist schemes. Nearly 90 percent of these immigrants settled in New Orleans. The 1809 migration brought 2,731 whites, 3,102 free people of color (of mixed-race European and African descent), and 3,226 slaves of primarily African descent, doubling

15544-459: The tracks to a nearby encampment and slew nineteen of them, scalped them and plundered their camp", wrote one of the participants, John H. Moore . This event became known as the Skull Creek massacre . Austin wrote that extermination of the Karankawa would be necessary, even though his first encounter with the tribe was friendly. He talked to the settlers of cannibalism and extreme violence of

15678-673: The traditional date to mark the anniversary, but the actual day is unknown) by the French Mississippi Company , under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville , on land inhabited by the Chitimacha . It was named for Philippe II, Duke of Orléans , who was regent of the Kingdom of France at the time. His title came from the French city of Orléans . As a French colony, Louisiana faced struggles with numerous Native American tribes , who were navigating

15812-533: The war, 1868 further strengthened the English-only policy imposed by federal representatives. With the predominance of English speakers, that language had already become dominant in business and government. By the end of the 19th century, French usage had faded. It was also under pressure from Irish, Italian and German immigrants. However, as late as 1902 "one-fourth of the population of the city spoke French in ordinary daily intercourse, while another two-fourths

15946-480: The war, it was spared the destruction through warfare suffered by many other cities of the American South . The Union Army eventually extended its control north along the Mississippi River and along the coastal areas. As a result, most of the southern portion of Louisiana was originally exempted from the liberating provisions of the 1863 Emancipation Proclamation issued by President Abraham Lincoln . Large numbers of rural ex-slaves and some free people of color from

16080-415: The young colony. The colonists turned to sub-Saharan African slaves to make their investments in Louisiana profitable. In the late 1710s the transatlantic slave trade imported enslaved Africans into the colony. This led to the biggest shipment in 1716 where several trading ships appeared with slaves as cargo to the local residents in a one-year span. By 1724, the large number of blacks in Louisiana prompted

16214-515: Was "influential in obtaining a charter for the struggling Bank of St. Louis". Left penniless after the Panic of 1819 , Austin decided to move south to the new Arkansas Territory . He acquired property on the south bank of the Arkansas River , in the area that would later become Little Rock . After purchasing the property, he learned the area was being considered as the location for the new territorial capital, which could make his land worth

16348-406: Was able to understand the language perfectly," and as late as 1945, many elderly Creole women spoke no English. The last major French language newspaper, L'Abeille de la Nouvelle-Orléans (New Orleans Bee), ceased publication on December 27, 1923, after 96 years. According to some sources, Le Courrier de la Nouvelle Orleans continued until 1955. As the city was captured and occupied early in

16482-493: Was active in promoting trade and currying the good favor of the Mexican authorities, aiding them in the suppression of the Fredonian Rebellion of Haden Edwards . Some historians consider the Fredonian Rebellion the beginning of the Texas Revolution . Although "premature ...  the Fredonian Rebellion sparked the powder for later success." For this event, Austin raised troops to fight with Mexican troops against

16616-553: Was an important port for smuggling aid to the American revolutionaries , and transporting military equipment and supplies up the Mississippi River . Beginning in the 1760s, Filipinos began to settle in and around New Orleans. Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez successfully directed a southern campaign against the British from the city in 1779. The Third Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1800 restored French control of New Orleans and Louisiana, but Napoleon sold both to

16750-429: Was arrested. The case resulting from this incident, Plessy v. Ferguson , was heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1896. The court ruled that " separate but equal " accommodations were constitutional, effectively upholding Jim Crow measures. In practice, African American public schools and facilities were underfunded across the South. The Supreme Court ruling contributed to this period as the nadir of race relations in

16884-533: Was at the home of George B. McKinstry, near what is now West Columbia, Texas. He was 43. Austin's last words were, "The independence of Texas is recognized! Don't you see it in the papers?..." Upon hearing of Austin's death, Houston ordered an official statement proclaiming: "The Father of Texas is no more; the first pioneer of the wilderness has departed." Originally, Austin was buried at Gulf Prairie Cemetery in Brazoria County, Texas . In 1910, Austin's body

17018-620: Was eleven years old, his family sent him back East to be educated, first at the preparatory school of Bacon Academy in Colchester, Connecticut . He studied at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky , from which he graduated in 1810. After graduation, Austin began studying to be a lawyer, reading the law with an established firm. At age 21, he was elected to and served in the Missouri Territory legislature. There, he

17152-518: Was moved from prison to prison. He was released under bond in December 1834 and required to stay in the Federal District. He was entirely freed under the general amnesty in July 1835 and, in August 1835, left Mexico to return to Texas via New Orleans. In his absence, several events propelled the colonists toward confrontation with Santa Anna's centralist government. Austin temporarily commanded

17286-942: Was reinterred at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin . Austin never married, nor did he have any children. He bequeathed all his land, titles, and possessions to his married sister, Emily Austin Perry . While Stephen F. Austin and his sister Emily have each been the subject of a biography, they are descended from several generations of noteworthy people, including: Moses Austin (father—biography published by Trinity University Press), Abia Brown (grandfather), Joseph Sharp (great-grandfather), Isaac Sharp (great, great-grandfather), Anthony Sharp (great, great, great-grandfather—biography published by Stanford University Press). Accordingly, history records noteworthy social contributions in each generation of Stephen's family dating back to

17420-505: Was rejected. In 1826, when a state committee proposed abolishing slavery outright, 25 percent of the people in Austin's colony were enslaved. Austin's colonists, mostly pro-slavery immigrants from the south, threatened to leave Texas if the proposition passed, while prospective Southern immigrants hesitated to come to Texas until slavery was guaranteed there. Austin conceded that his colony's success depended on slavery. Without enslaved people,

17554-399: Was reluctant to carry on his father's Texas venture, he was persuaded to do so by a letter from his mother, written two days before Moses's death. Austin boarded the steamer Beaver and departed to New Orleans to meet Spanish officials led by Erasmo Seguín . He was at Natchitoches, Louisiana , in 1821 when he learned of his father's death. "This news has effected me very much, he was one of

17688-426: Was the largest mass lynching in U.S. history. In July 1900 the city was swept by white mobs rioting after Robert Charles, a young African American, killed a policeman and temporarily escaped. The mob killed him and an estimated 20 other blacks; seven whites died in the days-long conflict, until a state militia suppressed it. New Orleans' economic and population zenith in relation to other American cities occurred in

17822-479: Was the only man granted an empresarial contract in Texas under Spanish law. But Moses Austin died before he could begin his colony, and Mexico achieved its independence from Spain in September 1821. At this time, about 3500 colonists lived in Texas, mostly congregated at San Antonio and La Bahia . The Mexican government continued the generous immigration policies in order to develop east Texas. Even as

17956-455: Was to be forwarded to Mexico City, nothing more was heard. By 1828, the ruling faction in Mexico feared the liberal elements in Texas might try to gain their independence. Fully aware of the political philosophies of American Freemasons, the Mexican government outlawed Freemasonry on October 25, 1828. In 1829, Austin called another meeting, where it was decided that it was "impolitic and imprudent, at this time, to form Masonic lodges in Texas". He

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