French_and_Spanish_Colonial_Periods

French and Spanish Colonial Periods The colonial periods of the French and Spanish were handled very differently. The French tended to be stricter, while the Spanish were more generous and supportive. The Spanish were slightly less oppressive of slaves, and the social ways of the Spanish led to more “mixing” of people. The Spanish were more strategic and allowed cultural influence to flourish, while the French were more oppressive. Ultimately, all of these reasons directly relate to why the Spanish had a greater influence on Louisiana. France had three major reasons for the founding of the Louisiana colony. The first reason was because had a rivalry between Great Britain and Spain, and both countries had established colonies in the Carolinas and at Pensacola. Secondly, France feared either England or Spain would move into the Mississippi River valley if they did not do it first. Protection was another major concern for France, who thought that a military base on the Gulf Coast would provide protection. Lastly, mercantilism was a major factor. The more gold and wealth a nation had, then the more powerful they could be, so the attempt to settle in Louisiana was for pure economic reasons. King Louis XIV chose Sieur d’Iberville to lead the exploration, while his brother, Sieur de Bienville, served as lieutenant of the expedition. In 1699, the first permanent settlement was created on Biloxi Bay, in what is now Mississippi. Iberville then leaves Bienville in charge while he returns to France, and Bienville claims the first French settlement on the banks of the Mississippi River called Fort de la Boulaye. Problems arose when Iberville was called to fight in the French military, and in 1706, he died of yellow fever. Bienville then became the de facto civil and military commander of Louisiana. By 1709, Bienville was forced to move the main settlement to Mobile, Alabama, which is ironic because this means that the oldest two sites of French settlement are not in present day Louisiana. The French constantly faced problems such as an unstable economy, difficulty in governing the colony, and the lack of sufficient numbers of families to immigrate. Louisiana cost France a great deal of money, so the King granted Antoine Crozat as proprietor. He never had the desire to go to Louisiana, so he appointed Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac in 1713 as administrator to lead the colony. He created a new legal code, “Custom of Paris”, that advocated the production of indigo and tobacco. Cadillac’s greatest success was in expanding the geographical area of settlement in Louisiana, because of his desire to increase trade and commerce. Cadillac also ordered Louis Juchereau St. Denis to establish a military post in 1714, which became known as Natchitoches. After Crozat asked to be relinquished of his duties, a joint stock venture, Company of the West, took over. Bienville was the “director general”, but France soon went into an economic recession. John Law, who was thought of to have great success in finance, was called on to help. He created the General Bank in 1716, and he issued a currency there that was made the legal tender. After a few years, Law created the Royal Bank of France, where the Company of the Indies was started. All of the assets were now Law’s concern, but his only interest was in French Louisiana as an investment, so in 1720 he founded the city of New Orleans. The city prospered, and soon became the capital of French Louisiana, and by 1723, eight thriving settlements had been created with successful farms. In 1724, the slave law, code noir, became the basic legal standard. Cadillac thought the importation of slaves would spur the region’s economic development. Unfortunately, Law ran into problems when the Royal Bank failed. In 1725, Bienville was relieved of his command and Jacques de La Chaise then took over the economic and financial power of Louisiana government. Etienne de Périer was chosen as governor of Louisiana. Périer forced the Native Americans to give up their cultivated crop lands and their town of White Apple to the French. The Indians volunteered to hunt, while secretly planning an attack. On November 28, 1729, the Natchez struck killing more than 200 settlers, and capturing around 350. By 1731, the French with the help of Choctaw allies captured the remaining Natchez Indians who were then sent to St. Domingue to be sold as slaves. On January 23, 1731, the Company of the Indies was released of its control of Louisiana, and Louisiana is no longer seen as a royal colony. By the early 1740s, Bienville wanted to retire, so Marquis de Vaudreuil takes over. In 1752, the French defeated the Chickasaw, which led to the Indian’s formal surrender. By the 1760s, the French and Indian War was obviously going in favor of Great Britain, and The Peace of Paris formally ended the war in 1763. This resulted in France ceding all of Canada and Florida to Great Britain, as well as all of Louisiana to Spain, which they accepted because the control of the Mississippi River would ensure that the western part of the Gulf of Mexico would stay in the hands of the Spanish. When the Spanish take over Louisiana, Antonio de Ulloa becomes governor arriving in 1766. The French Creoles, mostly planters and merchants, resented the Spanish rule because it threatened their profits. In the Rebellion of 1768, Ulloa was forced out as governor, so Spain sent Alejandro O’Reilly to become the second governor of Louisiana. He took back control over the French, made changes in the structures of government, and put in new slave laws that were not as harsh as the French laws. In 1770, the third governor, Luis De Unzaga, was appointed. He wanted to win the respect of local residents, so he employed large numbers of local residents to minor governmental positions, so they would have a say in some decisions. Unzaga also married the daughter of a very wealthy New Orleans merchant. His attitude toward trading was laissez faire, and ignored the illegal underground trading with British colonies. He felt that Louisiana’s economy depended on it, even though Spanish law forbade it. Bernardo de Galvez became the new governor in 1777, and immediately married a Creole into the same family as Unzaga. He was very concerned with military defense. His lieutenant governor, Francisco de Bouligny, was one of the longest serving Spanish officials, and he also founded New Iberia. Galvez was considered a Spanish hero because of his success in the American Revolution, and he was named viceroy of Mexico. Because of Galvez’s efforts, Spain received the Floridas, which shows the ability of the Spanish to control the lower reaches of the Mississippi River. When Galvez died, Esteban Miró was officially appointed Governor of Louisiana in 1785. He lacked the spirit of Galvez, although he maintained peace and expanded settlements. His greatest impact was in immigration and the success of his “defensive colonization”. Most immigrants were not Spaniards; Acadians, Canary Islanders, Africans, Anglo-Americans, Englishmen, and Haitians composed most of the immigrants coming into Louisiana. The Spanish are considered responsible for setting conditions that allowed French cultural influence to grow and flourish in Louisiana. The British were forcing the Acadians out of Canada, and many made their way down to Louisiana, because they did not mind being under Spanish territory. Acadians were thought of to be good settlers because they were successful with agriculture and raising cattle. Colonial Louisiana’s economy relied on frontier trade exchange, where different regions traded among each other. A unique cuisine developed during this area, which is what the Louisiana food today is strongly based on. Tobacco, sugar, and especially cotton were successful cash crops for Louisiana. In the final years of Spanish domination, colonial Louisiana was continuously growing and greatly influenced political, economic, and social life of the region. The end of the American Revolution brought about the second Peace of Paris in 1783. In the treaty, Great Britain returned East and West Florida to Spain, and gave the United States the land west of the Mississippi River. However, the treaty failed to set boundaries in the lower Mississippi valley and along the Gulf Coast, which led to turmoil between the Americas and Spain. In 1795, George Washington sent Thomas Pickney to negotiate a treaty that would end the quarrel. Pickney’s Treaty stated that the southern boundary of the United States would be at the thirty-first parallel, U.S. citizens would also be able to travel the Mississippi, and Americans would have a three-year tax free period for transferring goods in New Orleans. Napoleon Bonaparte was a French leader, and by 1800 he had become secure enough to execute his desire to take back Louisiana for France and build a new French empire. On October 1, 1800, the Treaty of San Ildelfoso was signed which put France back in control. They tried to keep it a secret to allow Napoleon to protect Louisiana from potential attack, but soon word spread that France once again owned the land. President Thomas Jefferson heard the news and wanted the United States to possess New Orleans. He sent Robert R. Livingston and James Monroe to secure New Orleans, but at the last minute Napoleon offered the U.S. all of Louisiana with complete surrender of all French rights to the territory. Livingston and Monroe could not pass up this opportunity, and the U.S. received Louisiana for $15 million, and would pay $5 million in claims in what is known as the Louisiana Purchase, which occurred on May 2, 1803, thus ending colonial Louisiana. Amazingly, the Louisiana Purchase occurred very peacefully, even during a time of much warfare, and a small nation became a potential world power. I think that the Spanish rule of colonial Louisiana was most significant because of the culture it left behind. Louisiana was most affected by the immigrants that came over as a result of the Spanish rule, and they greatly influenced present day culture of the state. They knew how to cultivate and began popularizing the food that Louisiana is known for around the world. Under Spanish rule, colonial Louisiana grew and prospered.