Unit 1: Colonial Louisiana - Statehood

Unit Description

Like much of the North American continent, Louisiana was colonized by European powers beginning in the 1700’s. Motivated by the trade opportunities afforded by the Mississippi River, France established the first European colonies in Louisiana.

However, the French were not the first people to live in Louisiana; Native Americans had lived in the region for thousands of years prior to French colonization. While friendly at first, the relationship between the two groups quickly soured as the French broke treaties, stole land, and mistreated the Natives. This trend of mistreatment and oppression continued as the French began importing enslaved Africans to both Louisiana and Haiti.

The people of Haiti successfully revolted against the French which would have huge implications on Louisiana; the greatest implication being the sale of Louisiana to the United States in the Louisiana Purchase. After losing Haiti in the costly Haitian Revolution, France looked to rid itself of its North American colonies.

This led to the Louisiana Purchase, which transferred control of Louisiana to the Americans. While this brought about a world of opportunity for the United States, it also brought tension, disagreement, and conflict between Louisiana’s colonial residents and their new neighbors. A new owner meant new rules — for enslave people, for Free People of Color, and for everyone. Because change is hard and not all change is good, making Louisiana an American state became a huge challenge. The influx of peoples and cultures during this time period gave birth to the identity of Louisiana. At the same time, Louisiana’s dependence on slave labor intensified as Louisiana moved into the Antebellum Era.

Essential Question

What is the legacy of settlement and colonization on Louisiana’s identity?

Themes

    • History is often told from the perspective of the oppressor, which eliminates the voices of the oppressed and promotes a single story. As a result, oppressed peoples fight back in different ways in an attempt to (re)claim their freedoms.
    • Land features create different societies and also create conflicts between people.
    • Push/pull factors cause people to migrate to seek new opportunities, and the resulting interaction of various cultural groups intentionally and unintentionally diffuses and mixes the cultures and traditions of each.
    • A region’s economy typically becomes reliant upon its resources and environment. However, people modify their environments in order to meet their diverse needs.
    • People create and further governing bodies in order to serve their various needs and interests.
    • All humans have fundamental rights and we must fight to protect them.
    • People enter conflicts to increase their power and defend their way of life.

Standards Addressed

    • 8.1.2- Construct and interpret a timeline of key events in La history
    • 8.2.1- Describe the contributions of explorers and early settlement groups to the development of Louisiana.
    • 8.2.2- Explain the importance of the Mississippi River as it relates to historical events throughout Louisiana’s history.
    • 8.2.3- Analyze push-pull factors for migration/settlement patterns of Louisiana’s inhabitants from French colonization to statehood in 1812.
    • 8.2.4- Explain how differences and similarities among ethnic groups in colonial Louisiana contributes to cooperation and conflict.
    • 8.2.5- Analyze causes and effects of major events and evaluate their impact on the growth and development of Louisiana.
    • 8.4.2- Describe the causes and effects of cultural diffusion and its impact on diversity in early Louisiana.
    • 8.10.1- Analyze how scarcity of resources affects the choices of individuals and communities

Unit Outcomes

Students will know:

  • The eroding relationship between French and Native Americans as the result of broken treaties and eventually violence between the two.
  • The motivations of the French for settling in the New Orleans area.
  • The major explorers and leaders of the colonial period.
  • The challenges faced by the French as a colony.
  • The motivations for trading Louisiana to Spain following the French and Indian War.
  • The successes and failures of the Louisiana colony under Spanish rule.
  • The connection between the Haitian Revolution and the Louisiana Purchase.

Students will be able to:

Historical Thinking:

  • Annotate documents
    • Use the different steps for different types of documents when analyzing their contents
  • Source documents
    • Identify author’s point of view/position on a historical event
    • Identify author’s purpose in producing the document
    • Consider the source’s audience

Writing:

  • U1: Strong body paragraphs
    • TOSEEC
    • Topic Sentences
    • 2 types of evidence

Unit Vocabulary

  1. Mound builders- earliest natives in Louisiana; built mounds for religious purposes
  2. Poverty Point- location of advanced mound builder civilization in Louisiana
  3. Mississippi River- important to Louisiana for trade
  4. natural resource - useful materials that come from the earth (lumber, oil, gold)
  5. Age of Exploration- period when people from Europe began exploring the Americas
  6. Hernando de Soto- Spanish; first European to explore Mississippi River
  7. Robert LaSalle- French; claimed Louisiana for France
  8. Iberville- Founded the first Louisiana colony in Mississippi
  9. Bienville- Governor who moved Louisiana’s capital to New Orleans
  10. colony- An area under the control of another country
  11. France- European country that made the first Louisiana colony
  12. mercantilism- belief that mother country controlling trade to colonies will result in $$$
  13. indigenous- originating in a particular place; native
  14. revolt- A rise in rebellion
  15. Natchez Revolt - fighting between French colonists and the Natchez Native Americans
  16. proprietorship - running a colony like a business
  17. Code Noir- set of laws that the French used to control the lives of enslaved and free black people in Louisiana
  18. Spain- European country that was the second to own Louisiana
  19. Treaty of Fontainebleau- The secret treaty between the French and Spanish that transferred Louisiana to Spain.
  20. Acadian/Cajuns- Settlers expelled from Canada and settled in the Acadian Triangle.
  21. Islenos- group from the Canary Islanders sent to increase the Spanish-speaking population
  22. Free People of Color- large group that contributed to New Orleans’ history and culture
  23. Creole- People of French, Spanish, and African descent in Louisiana.
  24. Haitian Revolution- 13 year war in which enslaved Haitians won independence against French colonial rule
  25. Louisiana Purchase- U.S. purchased LA for access to Port of Orleans; doubled the size of the U.S.
  26. territory: an area of land that is not yet a state
  27. Louisiana Territory - after the Louisiana Purchase when Louisiana went from a European colony to a territory but wasn’t yet a state
  28. William C.C. Claiborne- territorial and first governor of Louisiana
  29. German Coast Uprising/1811 Slave Revolt- largest slave revolt in America; unsuccessful
  30. War of 1812- war between America and Great Britain
  31. Battle of New Orleans- last battle of War of 1812; America won
  32. Louisiana State Constitution- outlines the purposes, powers, and structures of state government