creole of full French descent that grew up in
St. Landry Parish, Louisiana
St. Landry Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Landry) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 83,384. The parish seat is Opelousas. The parish was established in 1807.
St. Landry Parish com ...
. When he was ten years old, his father died and his mother remarried.
In 1791, he and his brothers received Royal
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...
grants
Grant or Grants may refer to:
Places
*Grant County (disambiguation)
Australia
* Grant, Queensland, a locality in the Barcaldine Region, Queensland, Australia
United Kingdom
*Castle Grant
United States
* Grant, Alabama
*Grant, Inyo County, ...
on
Bayou Boeuf
Kraemer is a census-designated place (CDP) in Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States. As of the 2010 census, its population was 934. Its ZIP code is 70371. It is also known as Bayou Boeuf.
Demographics
Education
Lafourche Parish Public ...
. The next year Dupré married Théotiste Roy of
Pointe Coupée Parish, in
Opelousas :''Opelousas is also a common name of the flathead catfish.''
Opelousas (french: Les Opélousas; Spanish: ''Los Opeluzás'') is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 ...
. They raised seven children on a ranch northwest of Opelousas. Beginning in 1815, Dupré served as a Major in the 16th Regiment of the Louisiana Militia. He saw combat at the
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought on January 8, 1815 between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson, roughly 5 miles (8 km) southeast of the Fren ...
along with two of his sons.
First elected to the
Louisiana House of Representatives
The Louisiana House of Representatives (french: link=no, Chambre des Représentants de Louisiane) is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Louisiana. This chamber is composed of 105 re ...
in 1816, Dupré was re-elected in 1822 and 1824. In 1828, Dupré was elected to the
Louisiana State Senate
The Louisiana State Senate (french: Sénat de Louisiane) is the upper house of the state legislature of Louisiana. All senators serve four-year terms and are assigned to multiple committees.
Composition
The Louisiana State Senate is composed ...
. In 1830, Dupré was chosen as
President of the Senate when Governor
Pierre Derbigny
Pierre Augustin Charles Bourguignon Derbigny (June 30, 1769 – October 6, 1829) was the sixth Governor of Louisiana. Born in 1769, at Laon, France, the eldest son of Augustin Bourguignon d'Herbigny who was President of the Directoire de l'Aisne ...
died, and Senate President
Armand Beauvais assumed the duties of Acting Governor.
When Beauvais resigned two months later, Dupré became Acting Governor. He was the second Acting Governor within the year and there was a constitutional crisis over the lack of an elected Governor. The result was that a special election was called in 1831. The dispute over who succeeds the governor in case of his death would not be solved until the office of Lieutenant Governor was created in a new constitution in 1845.
As governor, Dupré oversaw the incorporation of the first railroad, a canal company, a bayou improvement company, the Merchants Insurance Company of New Orleans, and a company to granulate sugar by a new process. During his administration there was also a prohibition of further immigration of
free persons of color
In the context of the history of slavery in the Americas, free people of color (French: ''gens de couleur libres''; Spanish: ''gente de color libre'') were primarily people of mixed African, European, and Native American descent who were not ...
into the state and the expulsion of all those who entered since 1825. Also in 1830, the seat of government returned to New Orleans from
Donaldsonville
Donaldsonville (historically french: Lafourche-des-Chitimachas) is a city in, and the parish seat of Ascension Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Located along the River Road of the west bank of the Mississippi River, it is a part of the Ba ...
.
Dupré did not run for Governor in 1831 and when
Andre B. Roman was elected, Dupré returned to the State Senate where he served 16 more years. He served another stint as
President of the Senate during 1838.
On September 14, 1846, Dupré died and was buried in
Opelousas, Louisiana :''Opelousas is also a common name of the flathead catfish.''
Opelousas (french: Les Opélousas; Spanish: ''Los Opeluzás'') is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 ...
.
Sources
Secretary of State of Louisiana
External links
Cemetery Memorialby La-Cemeteries
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dupre, Jacques
1773 births
1846 deaths
Governors of Louisiana
Members of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Louisiana Whigs
19th-century American politicians
Louisiana state senators
Louisiana National Republicans
National Republican Party state governors of the United States