Territory of Orleans
Territory of Orleans | |||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Governor | | ||||||||||
• 1804–1812 | William C. C. Claiborne | ||||||||||
James Brown | |||||||||||
• 1807–1811 | Thomas Bolling Robertson | ||||||||||
History | |||||||||||
• Established | October 1 1804 | ||||||||||
April 30 1812 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
Today part of | United States |
The Territory of Orleans or Orleans Territory was an
History
In 1804, all of the Louisiana Purchase south of the 33rd parallel became the Orleans Territory, and the remainder became the District of Louisiana. (The District of Louisiana was later renamed the Louisiana Territory; and still later, when the Orleans Territory became the State of Louisiana, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory.)
The Organic Act of 1804, passed on March 26 for October 1 implementation, also created the United States District Court for the District of Orleans—the only time Congress has ever provided a territory with a United States district court equal in its authority and jurisdiction to those of the states.[4] Congress also established the Superior Court for the Territory of Orleans whose three judges were the top territorial court.
On April 10, 1805, the Territorial Legislature organized 12 counties (starting from the southeast corner moving west and north): Orleans County, LaFourche County, German Coast, Acadia County, Iberville County, Attakapas County, Pointe Coupée County, Opelousas County, Rapides County, Concordia County, Natchitoches County, and Ouachita County.
The area that later became the
The Orleans Territory was the site of the largest slave revolt in American history, the
In the 1810 United States census, 20 parishes in the Orleans Territory reported the following population counts:[6]
Rank | County | Population |
---|---|---|
1 | Orleans | 24,552 |
2 | St. Martin | 7,369 |
3 | St. Landry | 5,048 |
4 | Pointe Coupee | 4,539 |
5 | St. James | 3,955 |
6 | St. Charles | 3,291 |
7 | St. John the Baptist | 2,990 |
8 | Concordia | 2,895 |
9 | Natchitoches | 2,870 |
10 | Iberville | 2,679 |
11 | Assumption | 2,472 |
12 | Ascension | 2,219 |
13 | Rapides | 2,200 |
14 | Lafourche | 1,995 |
15 | Plaquemines | 1,549 |
16 | West Baton Rouge | 1,463 |
17 | Avoyelles | 1,209 |
18 | Catahoula | 1,164 |
19 | Ouachita | 1,077 |
20 | St. Bernard | 1,020 |
Orleans Territory | 76,556 |
Leaders and representatives
William C. C. Claiborne was appointed Governor of the Orleans Territory; he held this position throughout the territorial period. Later he became the first Governor of the state of Louisiana.
There were two Territorial Secretaries,
Judges of the Superior Court were John Bartow Prevost (1804–1808), Ephraim Kirby (1804) (died en route to New Orleans), Peter Stephen Du Ponceau (1804) (declined President Thomas Jefferson's appointment), William Sprigg (1805–1807), George Mathews, Jr. (1805–1813), Joshua Lewis (1807–1813), and Francois Xavier Martin (1810–1813).
At its first meeting on December 3, 1804, the territory's Legislative Council consisted of Julien de Lallande Poydras, William Kenner, John Watkins, William Wikoff, Benjamin Morgan, Eugene Dorcier, and George Pollock.[7]
See also
- Historic regions of the United States
- Territorial evolution of the United States
- History of Louisiana
- List of parishes in Louisiana
- Florida Parishes
- Spanish West Florida
- Orleans Territory's at-large congressional district
- United States District Court for the District of Orleans
- United States District Court for the District of Louisiana
- United States Attorney for the District of Louisiana
Footnotes
- ^ 2 Stat. 283
- ^ "An Act erecting Louisiana into two territories and providing for the temporary government thereof"
- ^ "An Act for the admission of the state of Louisiana into the Union, and to extend the laws of the United States to the said state"
- ^ U.S. District Courts of Louisiana, Legislative history, Federal Judicial Center.
- ^ 2 Stat. 708, "An Act to enlarge the limits of the state of Louisiana"
- ^ Forstall, Richard L. (ed.). Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990 (PDF) (Report). United States Census Bureau. pp. 71–73. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
- ^ William C. C. Claiborne (December 2, 1804). "Letter to Thomas Jefferson". National Archives. Retrieved October 23, 2021.
Further reading
- Julien Vernet, Strangers on Their Native Soil: Opposition to United States' Governance in Louisiana's Orleans Territory, 1803–1809. Jackson, MS: University Press of Mississippi, 2013.[ISBN missing]
External links
- The Political Graveyard Secretaries of Orleans Territory