The Territory of Orleans or Orleans Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

that existed from October 1, 1804, until April 30, 1812, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Louisiana.

History

In 1804, all of the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or ap ...

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 United States District Court for the District of Orleans was a United States district court created on March 26, 1804, by 2 Stat. 283 for implementation on October 1, 1804 to resolve disputes in the Territory of Orleans, the portion of the Lo ...

—the only time Congress has ever provided a territory with a

United States district court The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district co ...

equal in its authority and jurisdiction to those of the states. 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 Florida Parishes on the east side of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest Drainage system (geomorphology), drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson B ...

was not included in Orleans Territory at this time, as it was in the Spanish territory of West Florida. This area was formally appended to the territory on April 14, 1812, after having been annexed forcibly by the U.S. in 1810, although Spain did not formally relinquish any of West Florida until 1821. The western boundary with

Spanish Texas Spanish Texas was one of the interior provinces of the colonial Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1690 until 1821. The term "interior provinces" first appeared in 1712, as an expression meaning "far away" provinces. It was only in 1776 that a leg ...

was not fully defined until the

Adams–Onís Treaty The Adams–Onís Treaty () of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty,Weeks, p.168. was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and define ...

was negotiated in 1819. A strip of land known as the Sabine Free State just east of the Sabine River served as a neutral ground buffer area from about 1807 until the treaty took effect after ratification in 1821. The Orleans Territory was the site of the largest slave revolt in American history, the 1811 German Coast Uprising. In the 1810 United States census, 20 parishes in the Orleans Territory reported the following population counts: Map of Ouachita River in Louisiana

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 A state is a centralized political organization that imposes and enforces rules over a population within a territory. There is no undisputed definition of a state. One widely used definition comes from the German sociologist Max Weber: a "sta ...

of Louisiana. There were two Territorial Secretaries, James Brown (1804–1807) and Thomas B. Robertson (1807–1811). Daniel Clark became the first Territorial Delegate to the U.S. Congress, in December 1806. Judge

Dominic Augustin Hall Dominic Augustin Hall (January 1, 1765 – December 19, 1820) was chief justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, the Chief United States circuit judge of the United States Circuit Court for the Fifth Circuit and a United States District Judge o ...

was the U.S. District Judge of the Territory. 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 Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

'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 Julien de Lallande (Lalande) Poydras (April 3, 1740 – June 23, 1824) was a French American merchant, planter, financier, poet, educator and political leader who served as Delegate from the Territory of Orleans to the U.S. House of Represe ...

, William Kenner, John Watkins, William Wikoff, Benjamin Morgan, Eugene Dorcier, and George Pollock.

Footnotes

External links

The Political Graveyard
Secretaries of Orleans Territory {{DEFAULTSORT:Orleans Territory Louisiana Purchase Pre-statehood history of Louisiana Former organized territories of the United States States and territories established in 1804 1804 establishments in the Territory of Orleans States and territories disestablished in 1812 Louisiana Territory History of New Orleans

History

Leaders and representatives

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

External links