registration as a test of his ability to read and write. If, however, he is a bona fide owner of property assessed at a valuation not less than $300, and the taxes upon it have been paid, the educational qualification cannot bar him from the exercise of the ballot. Neither does it operate against any person who was on January 1, 1867, entitled to vote in any State of the United States wherein he then resided; or against any son or grandson of such person, not less than twenty-one years of age at the date of adoption of the Constitution. Women taxpayers have the right to vote upon questions submitted to the taxpayers as such, in any municipal or other political subdivisions of the State. General State elections are held on the first Tuesday after the third Monday in April; and parochial elections, except for the city of New Orleans, are upon the same day. Louisiana sends 7 members to the National House of Representatives.
Executive. A Governor, Lieutenant-Governor, Auditor, Treasurer, and Secretary of State are elected for terms of four years. The Governor exercises the usual pardoning power under certain limitations. The Governor's veto of a bill or any item of an appropriation bill is overridden by a two-thirds vote of the members elected to each House.
Legislative. Both Senators and Representatives are elected for terms of four years. The number of Senators has a minimum and maximum limit of 36 and 41 respectively, and the Representatives of 98 and 116 respectively. Each parish and each ward of the city of New Orleans shall have at least one Representative. No parish except the parish of Orleans is divided in the formation of Senatorial districts. Members of the Legislature receive $5 per day for attendance and mileage. Revenue bills must originate in the House of Representatives. Impeachment is by the House and trial of impeachment by the Senate.
Judicial. The Supreme Court consists of one chief and four associate justices, all of whom are appointed by the Governor and the Senate for terms of twelve years. There are four Supreme Court districts, two justices being appointed from the district in which New Orleans is situated. The Attorney-General of the State is elected for four years. After July 1, 1904, the Court of Appeals shall be composed of two district judges designated by the Supreme Court. There are from 20 to 29 judicial districts, the District Court judges, as also the district attorney for each district, being elected for nine years.
Local Government. The Legislature cannot create a parish (county) with less than 625 square miles or less than 7000 inhabitants. The changing of parish lines or removing parish seats must be approved by two-thirds of the qualified electors of the parishes affected. See list of parishes on back of map.
Militia. In 1900 there were 268,739 males of militia age, 145,839 of whom were white. In 1898 the organized militia—men and officers—numbered 2693.
History. It is believed that the great river which Alvarez de Pineda, a Spanish explorer, entered in August, 1519, and followed up for some distance, was the Mississippi. Twenty-three years later the survivors of De Soto's expedition, in their overland journey to the Mexican town of Pánuco, must have traversed a large part of the present State. Authentic history begins with the year 1682, when Robert Cavelier de La Salle descended the Mississippi and took possession of the entire valley in the name of Louis XIV., in whose honor he named the region Louisiana. La Salle's attempt to establish a colony in Louisiana ended in disaster and his own death, but in 1698 a second venture was made by Pierre Le Moyne, Sieur d'Iberville (q.v.), under the auspices of the Comte de Pontchartrain. In March, 1699, Iberville ascended the Mississippi for some hundreds of miles, then returned and built a fort at Biloxi and another on the Mississippi about 40 miles above its mouth. Under Iberville and his brothers Sauvolle and Bienville, who succeeded him in the chief command, the colony experienced but a puny growth, for the heat, fever, and lack of food proved fatal. In 1711, when Louisiana was made an independent colony, the number of inhabitants comprised in the group of settlements at Biloxi, Mobile, Cat Island, Ship Island, and the Isle of Dauphin was about 400, of whom the greater number were soldiers. In 1712 Louis XIV. granted to Antoine Crozat, a Paris merchant, the exclusive privilege of trade and mining in Louisiana, for a period of fifteen years. After sinking a large fortune in fruitless attempts to develop the country. Crozat surrendered his charter in 1717, and the region passed into the hands of the Company of the West, headed by John Law (q.v.), who proceeded to engineer his famous Mississippi Scheme. Colonization was actively carried on. Emigrants from Germany and Alsace were settled on the Arkansas and Red rivers, convicts from French prisons were brought over in considerable numbers, and negroes were imported from Africa. New Orleans, which had been founded in 1718, was made the capital in 1722. The growth of the colony was hampered by the restrictive commercial policy of the company and incessant quarrels among the officials. In retaliation for the massacre of the French inhabitants at Fort Rosalie in 1729, warfare was carried on with the Natchez Indians until they were exterminated, but in their operations against the Chickasaws the French were less successful. In 1733 Louisiana came directly under the Crown, and for thirty years led a drowsy existence, and submitted quietly to a succession of inefficient Governors. In 1763 France ceded Louisiana east of the Mississippi (with the exception of the island of Orleans) to England, the vast region west of the river with the city of New Orleans having been ceded to Spain by a secret treaty in the preceding year. The people were dissatisfied with Spanish rule, although it was much better than the French, and in 1768 the inhabitants of New Orleans rose in rebellion. The revolt was put down with effective cruelty by the Spanish General O'Reilly. With the development of the Kentucky and Tennessee regions, whose inhabitants required an outlet for their produce, the free navigation of the Mississippi had become by this time of great importance for the United States. When the Spanish denied the Americans free access to the Gulf, a situation arose which might have led to war, but resulted instead in the purchase of Louisiana from the French by the United States in 1803, Spain having relinquished the region to France in 1800. Louisiana then embraced all the present State of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa,
