coast, for thirty miles below, and seventy miles above the city. The inhabitants of these river settlements were chiefly Creole French, with a small intermixture of Anglo-Americans. On the Lafourche, for fifty miles below its efflux, and upon the Teche, for fifty miles below Opelousas, was also a dense French population. Several bayous west of the Atchafalaya were likewise occupied by the same people, and others in the delta of Red River, and extending as high as Natchitoches, but chiefly below Alexandria. A few scattering French habitations had been formed on Red River, many miles above Natchitoches, and also upon the Washita, as high as the post of Washita, and above the present town of Monroe. In all these settlements west of the Mississippi but few Anglo-Americans had arrived before the purchase of Louisiana. As late as the admission of that state into the Federal Union, the French were the most predominant class in the vicinity of Alexandria, as well as on the river coast below Baton Rouge.

It was only after the year 1815, when Louisiana was relieved from the dangers of foreign invasion, and began to reap the advantages of steam navigation on the river, that the state and New Orleans began to take the proud rank they now enjoy in population, commerce, agriculture, and arts. Enterprising emigrants and capitalists began to develop the unbounded resources of this great agricultural state. Since that time the Anglo-Americans have advanced into every portion of the state, and intermixed, by settlement and marriage, with the French, until, at last, the English language has nearly superseded the French, even in the concentrated settlements near New Orleans, as well as in one half of the old French part of the city.

In the Florida parishes the number of French was comparatively small at the cession of the province of Louisiana, and the proportion had greatly diminished in 1810, when the Spanish authority was rejected by the inhabitants, previous to their annexation to the State of Louisiana. Since that period the increase of population has been effected chiefly by emigrants from the State of Mississippi, and from the Western States generally; and the French language is almost unknown as a colloquial dialect.

[A.D. 1840.] That portion of the state on the west side of the Mississippi, north of latitude 31°, and westward to the Sa

bine, has been settled by emigrants from the States of Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, besides a portion from Carolina and Georgia. These, of course, are the native Anglo-Americans, and are mostly strangers to the French tongue. The American population in 1840 had spread, also, upon all the arable lands in the bayou regions and prairies southwest of the Teche.

The whole portion of the state west of the Washita and north of Red River in 1830 contained scarcely two thousand inhabitants. The same region in 1845 had been subdivided into several large parishes, with an aggregate population of not less than fourteen thousand souls. In the mean time, the state had increased in numbers in 1830 to 215,740 persons, including 126,300 blacks. The census of 1840 gave an aggregate of 352,400 souls, including 168,452 slaves, which in 1845 had increased to more than 400,000. In point of agricultural and commercial importance, Louisiana had advanced to an elevated rank as early as 1830. In mercantile transactions, New Orleans, in 1840, had attained a standing which placed her second only to the city of New York, and the staple productions of the state were probably inferior in value to none in the United States.

Louisiana is the only state in the Union which has made sugar one of its principal staples of export, and in the production of this article it greatly exceeds all the other states in the Union. The sugar crop of Louisiana in 1836 had increased to 55,000 hogsheads, each weighing not less than one thousand pounds, besides 1547 barrels of molasses. The crop of 1838 vielded 75,000 hogsheads of sugar, and molasses in proportion. The next largest crop of sugar in Louisiana was that of 1842, when the favorable season and the activity of the planters, with the wonderful facilities afforded by the introduction of steam power in all the operations of the manufacturing process, yielded a crop of about 140,000 hogsheads. The agricultural enterprise and resources of the country, stimulated by the success of former efforts, and favored by the fine season of 1844, was rewarded by the largest crop ever made in the state, amounting to 200,000 hogsheads.*

Louisiana, at the same time, had become an important cot

* See "New Orleans Annual Statement" of the prices current, and Merchant's Transcript, for 1844, 1845.

ton-producing state. For several years subsequent to 1836, the American population from Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Carolina, and Georgia had been advancing into the fine cotton regions on the Red River and Washita, and upon the Black River and Tensas north of Red River, as far as the northern limit of the state; and the original parish of Concordia had become densely inhabited, and subdivided into four new ones. In 1845 it constituted one of the most important cotton regions in the state.

As early as the year 1840 the subject of a revisal of the state Constitution had been agitated among the people, and, in obedience to the popular will expressed at the ballot-box, the Legislature had made provision for a convention to assemble at Baton Rouge in 1844, for the purpose of forming a new Constitution upon a more liberal basis, and more Democratic in its general features and provisions. The Constitution subsequently submitted to the people was approved by them in the usual way, and the new government went formally into operation in January, 1846, with Isaac Johnston as governThe Legislature was engaged until near the 1st of June following in reorganizing the administration of public affairs.

or.*

[A.D. 1846.] Such is the harmony and ease with which forms of government in the United States may be altered and established upon a new basis, without violence or bloodshed. The first Constitution of Louisiana, formed in 1812, under a strong national prejudice of the French inhabitants in favor of monarchical forms and powers, and partaking, in many of its features, of the aristocratic character of the old Spanish dominion, had fallen far behind the liberal and Democratic spirit which had Governor of the Territory of Orleans.

1. William C. C. Claiborne, from 1804 to 1812.

Governors of the State of Louisiana.

1. William C. C. Claiborne, from 1812 to 1816.

overspread the Valley of the Mississippi, and of course became obnoxious to the majority of the people, who in 1842 were mostly emigrants from adjoining states, where liberal and Democratic constitutions existed in successful and salutary operation. The year 1846 found Louisiana protected by and enjoying the advantages of a liberal Constitution, upon the same basis as other Western States, where all offices have a definite term of tenure, and where all are, directly or indirectly, at stated periods, responsible to the people for the faithful discharge of the duties of their offices respectively.

CHAPTER XVI.

PROGRESSIVE EXTENSION OF THE FEDERAL JURISDICTION OVER THE 66 NORTHWESTERN TERRITORY" TO THE MISSISSIPPI.-A.D. 1800 TO 1845.

Argument.-The Origins of three States in Northwestern Territory.-Indiana.-Illinois.--Michigan.--" Indiana Territory" organized.-Indian Treaties.-" Illinois Territory" organized.-Michigan Territory organized.-Condition of these Territories in 1811.-Shawanese threaten Hostilities.-United States Troops advance with Governor Harrison toward the Prophet's Town.-Harrison contemplates a Treaty.-Unfortu nate Battle of Tippecanoe.-Beginning of the Indian War in the West.-Emigration to Indiana and Illinois in 1816.-"State of Indiana" admitted into the Union.-"State of Illinois" admitted into the Union.-Progressive Increase of Population in these States. Treaties for Extinguishment of Indian Title.-Michigan Territory until 1832. -Emigration to Michigan and Wisconsin.-Commercial and Agricultural Advantages of Michigan discovered.-Increase of Population.-Extension of Settlements.-"State of Michigan" admitted.-"Wisconsin Territory" organized.-Population and Resources of Wisconsin.-" Territory of Iowa" organized in 1838.-Rapid Extension of Population into Wisconsin and Iowa.-Aggregate Population of the States and Territories comprised in original Limits of Northwestern Territory.-Commerce on the Lakes.-Advance of Population and Education in the State of Michigan.-Emigration to Wisconsin and Iowa Territories in 1840-43.-Wisconsin applies for Admission into the Union.

[A.D. 1800.] We have shown that previous to the admission of the State of Ohio into the Union, the Northwestern Territory, in its greatest extent, contained the germs of three other independent states, in which the first grade of territorial government had been instituted, and which were comprised in the Indiana Territory as originally organized. This territory included the county of Knox, upon the Wabash, from which has sprung the State of Indiana; the county of St. Clair, on the Upper Mississippi, or Illinois River, from which has sprung the

State of Illinois; and the county of Wayne, upon the Detroit River, from which has sprung the State of Michigan.

In each of these large counties, surrounded by immense regions of uninhabited country or Indian territory, the nucleus of the white population was the remains of old French colonies, which had been settled at these points early in the eighteenth century, about twenty years after the first settlement at Detroit.

From the first organization of state government in Ohio, when the Indian title to the southern half of the state had been extinguished by the treaty of Greenville, the Federal government omitted no opportunity, by treaty and purchase, to prepare the way for the progressive march of the whites, by extinguishing the Indian claim to other portions of territory. For this purpose, numerous and successive treaties were concluded with the resident tribes for the sale and relinquishment of lands, still in advance of the civil jurisdiction. In this manner the advanced settlements on the Wabash, the Illinois, the Upper Mississippi, and the Detroit River were protected from Indian resentment, and were restrained from encroachment upon lands still in the possession of the Indian tribes. After the close of the war with Great Britain, in the years 1812-15, the Federal executives redoubled their efforts for the peaceful purchase of the Indian right to lands which would soon be required by the rapid spread of immigration.

Indiana Territory.-When the eastern portion of the Northwestern Territory was organized into a separate territorial government, by act of Congress, approved May 7th, 1800, the remaining part of it, extending westward to the Mississippi and northward to the lakes, was denominated the "Indiana Territory," and was subsequently formed into the first grade of territorial government, as prescribed in the ordinance of July, 1787. Captain William H. Harrison received the appointment of governor and "Superintendent of Indian Affairs;" and the town of Vincennes was selected as the capital and seat of government.

The Indiana Territory, under this organization, embraced all the white settlements upon the Illinois and Upper Mississippi, as well as those in the vicinity of Detroit. At this time, the inhabitants contained in all of them did not amount to more than 5640 souls, while the aggregate number of the Indian