Leaders
8th Grade Social Studies; GLE #72
Copyright 2008 by Paul Blankenship
Some rights reserved.
See for Creative Commons license.
Grade-Level Expectation
•History
•Louisiana History
•Benchmark: H-1D-M1; describing the contributions of people, events, movements, and ideas that have been significant in the history of Louisiana ; (1, 3, 4)
•GLE #72. Describe leaders who were influential in Louisiana's development (H-1D-M1)
Objective
•We will describe leaders who were influential in Louisiana's development.
•We will measure our learning on the VIP Profile, the GLE #72 Worksheet, and our next test.
Leaders
•We will examine leaders and their actions that influenced Louisiana.
Iberville
•Lived 1661 to 1706. Son of an innkeeper who had been raised to nobility by King Louis XIV.
•Soldier, explorer, and first governor of the colony (1699-1702).
•Built Fort Boulaye, the first French fort of the Mississippi River, in early 1699.
•Built Fort Maurepas near present-day Biloxi, Mississippi in April 1699.
•Regarded as the founder of Louisiana.
Sauvole
•Served as acting governor from 1699 to 1700.
•Iberville appointed him governor on his departure for France.
•Died of fever August 22, 1700.
•Not a LeMoyne brother.
•Bienville, his second in command, became governor.
Bienville
•Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville,1680-1767
•Took charge of the colony after his brother Iberville left for France and fellow officer Sauvole died.
•Bluffed an English captain into leaving the Mississippi River; the site became known as English Turn.
•Established New Orleans in 1718.
•Served as colonial governor four times: 1701-1713; 1716-1717; 1718-1725; 1733-1743.
•Accusations of corruption by political rivals never proven.
St. Denis
•Louis Juchereau de Saint-Denis, 1676-1744
•He was the first cousin of the Le Moyne brothers, Iberville and Bienville
•Founded Natchitoches in 1714
•Established illegal trade with the Spanish colonists in Texas at the Presidio San Juan Bautista Del Rio Grande de Norte where he married the step-granddaughter of the commandant. Her name was Dona Maria Manuela Sánchez Navarro y Gomez Mascorro.
•He was imprisoned by the Spanish a few times.
Crozat
•ca. 1655-1738
•Banker to the King of France, Louis XIV
•Became proprietor (owner) of the Louisiana colony in1712 for a 15 year term
•A lack of profits and the failure to discover precious metals caused Crozat to surrender his proprietorship in 1717
Cadillac
•Antoine Laumet de La Mothe, Sieur de Cadillac, 1658-1730.
•Founded Detroit in 1701.
•Served as Governor of Louisiana from 1713 to 1716.
•Argued with Bienville.
•Was recalled to France and briefly imprisoned in the Bastille for telling the truth about Louisiana when John Law was promoting emigration to the colony.
John Law
•John Law, 1671-1729
•Scottish gambler, banker, and economist
•Convinced the French regent, Philippe II, to convert the French economy to fiat money.
•Sold stock in the company that controlled the Louisiana colony; the price rose well above the value of the stock (the Mississippi Bubble) before collapsing and sending the French economy into a depression.
Etienne de Perier
•Lived 1690 to 1755.
•Served as governor from 1727 to 1733.
•Had no experience with Native Americans; his mistakes in taking Native lands resulted in the Natchez War.
•Worked for the Company of the West; opposed the pro-Bienville faction in the colony.
•Built levees around New Orleans; deepened the Mississippi River’s main channel; built a prison; provided care for orphans.
•Replaced by Bienville on orders of Louis XV because of the Natchez War.
Vaudreuil
•Pierre de Rigaud de Cavagnial, Marquis de Vaudreuil
•Lived 1698 to 1788
•Governor from 1743 to 1753
•Born nobleman; joined the military at age 10.
•Known for elegance and manners.
•Put down a revolt by the Chickasaw.
•The sugar cane industry in Louisiana was started by the Jesuits during his administration.
•Was rewarded with governorship of New France (Canada).
Kerlérec
•Louis Billouart, Chevalier de Kerlérec, 1704-1770
•Served as Governor of Louisiana from 1753-1763
•Military officer, imposed harsh penalties such as death on the wheel and death by being sawn in half inside a casket.
•Kerlérec respected the Choctaws and granted them land.
•France had transferred Louisiana to Spain on November 3, 1762 in the Treaty of Fontainebleau but kept the treaty secret from the people of Louisiana.
•A quarrel with the commissary, Rochemore, resulted in accusations of illegal trade with the British. Kerlérec was imprisoned in the Bastille in Paris.
Ulloa
•Don Antonio de Ulloa, 1716-1795
•Served as governor from 1766 to 1768
•Ulloa was the first Spanish Governor of Louisiana.
•He showed contempt for the French Superior Council. He ended trade with French ports.
•The French Creoles did not accept his authority and forced him out of the colony.
•Ulloa, as a scientist, discovered platinum. He was a noteworthy chemist, mathematician, and astronomer. He was a member of the royal science societies of England, Sweden, Germany, and France.
Alejandro O’Reilly
•Count Alejandro O’Reilly, 1735-1794
•Governed Louisiana from 1769-1770
•His Irish Catholic parents moved to Spain when he was a child. He served his entire career in the Spanish military.
•O’Reilly executed (by firing squad) five of the French Creole leaders of the uprising against Ulloa to impose Spanish rule in no uncertain terms. Five other French Creoles were arrested and imprisoned for life in Havana, Cuba (their sentences were soon commuted). Joseph Villere, another leader of the uprising, was falsely promised that he would not be arrested. He resisted arrest and was bayoneted. Villere later died of his wounds.
•He banned the enslavement of Native Americans.
•He became known as “Bloody O’Reilly.”
Unzaga
•Luis Unzaga y Amerzaga, lived 1721 to 1793
•Governed Louisiana from 1769 to 1777
•Easy-going and popular, he married a French colonist and tolerated smuggling with the British.
•He put French colonists back in positions of power.
•He allowed Oliver Pollock, an agent of the Continental Congress, to buy supplies in New Orleans. Years later, in Havana, he had Pollock briefly imprisoned on orders to stop American trade in Cuba.
•His health failed and he requested retirement. Instead, he was promoted to the position of captain general of Caracas.
Bernardo de Galvez
•Don Bernardo de Galvez, 1746-1786
•Served as Governor of Louisiana, 1777-1785
•Praised by King Charles III of Spain as a hero for capturing Baton Rouge and Mobile from the British. He was promoted for capturing Pensacola despite disobeying an order from an overly cautious superior officer. George Washington wrote Galvez a letter to congratulate him.
•Galvez aided the American Revolution through Oliver Pollock. He provided weapons, ammunition, and money to the Revolutionaries.
•Galvez recruited the Isleños to emigrate from the Canary Islands and settle in Louisiana.
Miro
•Esteban Rodriguez Miro, lived 1742 to 1795.
•Governed Louisiana from 1782 to 1791
•Rebuilt the French Quarter after the Great Fire of 1788.
•Stopped pirates from conquering the Natchez area.
•Tobacco was an important crop in Louisiana at this time.
•He turned American General James Wilkinson into a Spanish spy working against the United States.
Carondelet
•Francois-Louis Hector, Baron de Carondelet et Noyelles, lived 1747 to 1807
•Governed 1791 to 1797
•Built the Carondelet Canal from the Mississippi River to Lake Pontchartrain through Bayou St. John. It was used until the 1920s.
•Put down a slave revolt in Pointe Coupee Parish.
•Rebuilt after the fire of 1794.
•Endured the yellow fever outbreak of 1796.
Napoleon Bonaparte
•1769-1821
•As the Emperor of France he ruled Louisiana.
•Napoleon needed money to continue his wars with the British and their allies. He knew that he could not hold Louisiana against the United States so he sold New Orleans and the rest of the colony in the Louisiana Purchase in 1803.
Thomas Pinckney
•1750-1828
•American lawyer, military officer, and diplomat
•Established the boundary of West Florida, the right of Americans to navigate the Mississippi River, and the right of (tax-free) deposit of goods in New Orleans in Pinckney’s Treaty of 1795 (also known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo).
Thomas Jefferson
•1743-1826
•President of the United States
•Author of the Declaration of Independence
•Arranged the purchase of Louisiana from France under Napoleon
•He covertly threatened to help the British navy if Napoleon reinforced French troops in Louisiana.
Robert Livingston
•1746-1813
•American revolutionary leader and diplomat
•Sent to France in 1801 to negotiate the Louisiana Purchase
•Finally succeeded in purchasing Louisiana in 1803
•Later in life invested in the new steamship industry with Robert Fulton
William C. C. Claiborne
•William Charles Cole Claiborne, 1775-1817
•First American governor of Louisiana
•Appointed as Governor of the Mississippi Territory in 1801
•Appointed with James Wilkinson to govern the Province of Louisiana in 1803
•Appointed as governor of the new Territory of Orleans in 1805
•Elected as the first governor after Louisiana was admitted as a state in 1812, served 1812-1816.
•Elected to the U. S. Senate in 1817, died in office.
James Wilkinson
•1727-1825
•American general and traitor who secretly acted as a Spanish agent
•He betrayed the United States for trading rights in New Orleans under Governor Miro.
•He later betrayed the Spanish by conspiring with Aaron Burr to conquer Mexico.
•He betrayed Aaron Burr’s plan to create a new nation in the west to Thomas Jefferson.
•He was court-martialed but acquitted. His failure in the Battle of Montreal in the War of 1812 cost him his military command.
The VIP Profile
•Select a leader discussed in this presentation and complete the VIP Profile using your textbook or the Internet.
The GLE #72 Worksheet
•Complete the GLE #72 Worksheet using this presentation.