Episodes Located: ORLEANS, Louisiana in the 1840's
- Governor Claiborne Remembered 23 Years After Death...
January 20, 1840 to August, 1840
ORLEANS, Louisiana
New Orleans, Government, Politics, Urban Society, Governor Claiborne, Law, Urban-Life/Boosterism, War, Battle of New OrleansAll the earth stood silent on December 20, 1803, as the Mississippi territorial governor rode in on the streets of New Orleans. Beautiful women adorned the balconies that hung over the Place d' Armes. Each country, represented by its own amount of officials and military, watched as the France flag descended and the American flag ascended succinctly down the pole, meeting halfway to acknowledge...
- Nathaniel Wilkinson House
1849
ORLEANS, Louisiana
Gothic Architecture, New OrelansLocated at 1015 South Carrollton Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Nathaniel Wilkinson House serves as a reflection of the Romantic Gothic architecture that invaded the region during the mid-to-late nineteenth century. Erected in 1849, an Englishman named Nathaniel Newton Wilkinson attempted to capture the Gothic style in his own residential structure. Undoubtedly unpopular within Louisiana...
- The Theatre of Everyday Life
January 1, 1848 to January 1, 1850
ORLEANS, Louisiana
Women, Urban SocietyAs the daughter of Don Andres Almonaster y Rojas, the Cabildo's original benefactor, the Baroness Pontalba was no stranger to the notion of civic duty expressing itself through architecture. After a tumultuous marriage and divorce to a Parisian nobleman, sensationalized in various newspapers, she returned permanently to her hometown and sought to transplant the culture and sophistication she had...
- The Louisiana Constitution of 1845
January 14, 1845
ORLEANS, Louisiana
African-Americans, Crime/Violence, Economy, Education, Race-Relations, SlaveryBy 1845, the public mind of Louisiana had decided that the state's current constitution, constructed in 1812, was too outmoded and contained too prominent elements of an aristocratic mindset. The Jacksonian idea of equal ability of all' and the Democratic Party's characterization of the common man' was pervasive, while the wealthy landowners and aristocrats still in existence became...
- Cholera Epidemic
1849
ORLEANS, Louisiana
Health/DeathIn late May, 1949 the Virginia legislature reconvened, though their work and discussion was often interrupted by the fears regarding the Cholera outbreak affecting the region, especially Richmond where the legislature met.
After much discussion and debate on whether it was necessary to leave, the legislature decided to move to the Fauquier Springs Hotel (though more like a country club) near... - New Orleans Courts report thousands of whites recently jailed for vagrancy
1847 to May 2, 1847
ORLEANS, Louisiana
Crime/Violence, Urban-Life/BoosterismAs of May 2, 1847 the New Orleans Court Recorder reported that thousands of whites had been sentenced to the workhouse for acts of vagrancy. Often times the courts handed down these sentences without proof, trial, or opportunity to appeal. The fate of these vagrants represents a common occurrence throughout the South. Around this time period in South Carolina the leadership sold vagrants into...
- Yellow Fever Epidemic in Louisiana
August 3, 1847 to October 18, 1847
ORLEANS, Louisiana
Health/DeathIn the summer of 1847, New Orleans became victim to another regular widespread epidemic of yellow fever. On Tuesday, August 3rd, The Daily Picayune stated that the Board of Health apprised the public that New Orleans was on the eve of an epidemic. They called for the unacclimated who remain with us to heed the counsel of the board and avoid such exposure and imprudence as may increase their...
- Inheriting Property
September 22, 1842
ORLEANS, Louisiana
African-Americans, Economy, Migration/Transportation, Native-Americans, Slavery, Urban-Life/Boosterism, WarBy the 1840s, it was clear to most Americans that the United States existed on a fair bit of land. This vast space stretched westward, father than many imaginations even reached. Word trickled back east of rich soil and bountiful harvests, but also of great hardships. Thousands of Native Americans perished on the over 2000 mile long Trail of Tears in 1838.
It was in this context that O.G....
- Louisiana's Involvement in the Mexican War
July 8, 1847
ORLEANS, Louisiana
Politics, Urban-Life/Boosterism, WarBy the summer of 1847, the Mexican War had been going on for just over a year. Newspapers kept citizens up to date with daily progress by their American troops south of the border, including lists of the casualties as well as those enlisting. New Orleans residents opened up their Times Picayunes the morning of July 8 to read a familiar notice, entitled Departure of Troops. It announced...
- The Runaway Slave
April 14, 1847
ORLEANS, Louisiana
African-Americans, Law, Race-Relations, Slavery, WomenFor many enslaved people in the Deep South, slavery was the only way of life they had ever known. Regardless, stories of the North and specifically, a place referred to as Philadelphia, were incentive enough to prompt some to brave the terrifying unknown and escape the even more terrifying world in which they were already bound. At some point during the day - or perhaps it was the night - of April...