Minnesota west of the Mississippi, the Dakotas, Nebraska, most of Kansas and Indian Territory, and all of Wyoming, Montana, and Colorado east of the Rocky Mountains. In 1804 the region south of latitude 33° was organized as the Territory of Orleans, while the country north became the Territory of Louisiana in 1805, and the Territory of Missouri in 1812.
The State of Louisiana was admitted in April, 1812. (For military operations during the War of 1812, see United States.) The economic development of the State was rapid and was accompanied by constitutional changes which harmonized the old civil law with the principles of the common law and republican institutions. In 1845 the choice of a Governor was given directly to the people, and in 1852 many judicial offices were made elective. In the same year Baton Rouge became the capital. On January 26, 1861, a convention passed an ordinance of secession without submitting it to a popular vote. With the outburst of war the commerce of New Orleans disappeared almost entirely, and great want ensued throughout the State. (For military operations in Louisiana, see Civil War.) In May, 1862, New Orleans was occupied by the Union troops, a military government was established, and the courts were reorganized. In 1864 a convention elected by the loyal element in the State framed a new constitution emancipating negro slaves immediately and unconditionally. By 1866 the State Government had fallen into the hands of the ‘conservatives,’ who proceeded to legislate against the freedmen, and an attempt made by the Unionists to reconvene the convention of 1864 in order to revise the suffrage requirements led to a riot in the streets of New Orleans (July 30, 1866), in which nearly 200 negroes were killed, while throughout the State negroes and white Republicans were terrorized systematically. On March 2, 1867, Louisiana became a part of the Fifth Military District under General Sheridan, who made full use of his broad authority. In 1868 a new constitution enfranchising the negroes was adopted against the vehement opposition of the ‘conservatives,’ the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified, and military occupation came to an end in July, 1868. The great mass of white inhabitants were slow in reconciling themselves to the new conditions, and bitter feeling and turbulence marked the strife of parties and factions. In the election of 1872 the Democrats and Liberal Republicans were arrayed against the Radical Republicans. After a close poll, partisan boards of State canvassers declared either ticket elected, and two rival governments were organized, the Democratic Government supported by the State militia, the Republican by the Federal troops. Violence and bloodshed ensued in 1874, and peace was established only in 1875 through the medium of a Congressional committee. In 1876 there was another election dispute; a Republican returning board changed a Democratic majority of 8000 in the State into a Republican majority of 4000—a change which was all the more galling in that the electoral vote of Louisiana was sufficient to secure the election of the Republican candidate for the Presidency. By refusing to continue the policy of Federal intervention in political contests within the State, President Hayes insured the triumph of the Democratic Party, which has remained predominant since 1876. About 1875 was begun the system of river jetties and levees which has been continued at great expense to the State and the Federal Government ever since, and has resulted in the improvement of navigation and the protection of the river banks from disastrous floods. The question of the renewal of the charter of the Louisiana Lottery Company was the chief issue in the hotly contested election of 1891, which went against the company. In 1894 the repeal of the bounty on sugar by Congress occasioned a split in the Democratic Party in the State. After 1895 outbursts of racial feeling were frequent, and the determination of the white inhabitants to wipe out the negro as a political factor became apparent. In 1894-95 there were conflicts between white and negro labor in New Orleans, and in 1896, all through the so-called Black Belt, white men with arms drove negroes from the polls. By the so-called Grandfather Clause in the Constitution of 1898, which laid down the qualification for suffrage, the vast majority of the negroes were disfranchised, so that in 1900, out of 130,000 registered voters, it was estimated only 7000 were colored, though the negro population almost equals the white.
In national politics Louisiana has been Democratic-Republican and Democratic except in 1840 and 1848, when it voted for the Whig candidates, and 1876, when its electoral vote was given by the Electoral Commission (q.v.) to Hayes. In 1864 and 1872 its vote was not counted. The following have been the Governors of Louisiana since its organization as a Territory:
| Territory of Orleans | |||||||
| William C. C. Claiborne | 1804-12 | ||||||
| State | |||||||
| William C. C. Claiborne | Democratic-Republican | 1812-16 | |||||
| Jacques Philippe Villeré | ““ | 1816-20 | |||||
| Thomas B. Robertson | ““ | 1820-24 | |||||
| Henry Schuyler Thibodeaux (acting) | Dem.-Rep. | 1824 | |||||
| Henry Johnson | Democratic-Republican | 1824-28 | |||||
| Pierre Derbigny | ““ | 1828-29 | |||||
| Armand Beauvais (acting) | ““ | 1829-30 | |||||
| Jacques Dupré (acting) | ““ | 1830-31 | |||||
| André Bienvenu Roman | Whig | 1831-35 | |||||
| Edward D. White | “ | 1835-39 | |||||
| André Bienvenu Roman | “ | 1839-43 | |||||
| Alexander Mouton | “ | 1843-46 | |||||
| Isaac Johnson | Democrat | 1846-50 | |||||
| Joseph Walker | “ | 1850-53 | |||||
| Paul Octave Hébert | “ | 1853-56 | |||||
| Robert C. Wickliffe | “ | 1856-60 | |||||
| Thomas O. Moore | “ | 1860-62 | |||||
| George F. Shepley | Military | 1862-64 | |||||
| Henry W. Allen |
|
1864-65 | |||||
| Michael Hahn | Unionist and Military | 1864-65 | |||||
| James M. Wells | Democrat | 1865-67 | |||||
| Benjamin F. Flanders | Military | 1867 | |||||
| Joshua Baker | “ | 1867-68 | |||||
| Henry C. Warmoth | Republican | 1868-73 | |||||
| John McEnery |
|
1873 | |||||
| William Pitt Kellogg | ‘Custom House’ Republican | 1873-77 | |||||
| Stephen B. Packard |
|
1877 | |||||
| Francis T. Nicholls | Democrat | 1877-80 | |||||
| Louis A. Wiltz | “ | 1880-81 | |||||
| Samuel D. McEnery | “ | 1881-88 | |||||
| Francis T. Nicholls | “ | 1888-92 | |||||
| Murphy J. Foster | Anti-Lottery Democrat | 1892-1900 | |||||
| William W. Heard | Democrat | 1900— | |||||
Bibliography. Martin, History of Louisiana (New Orleans, 1827-29); Bunner, History of Louisiana (New York, 1841); French, Historical Collections of Louisiana (New York, 1846-53); Gayarre, History of Louisiana (3 vols., New York, 1866-67); Dimitry, History of Louisiana, Its Geography and Products (New York, 1878); Margry, Mémoires sur les découvertes et les
