How dare Napoleon sell our land to the Americans? Everyone is upsetabout this Louisiana purchase he just signed trading the land for some million dollars.Many of the people are doomed about becoming American citizens and unwillingly admittingits sovereignty. We just heard the news that New Orleans will officiallybecome a French territory as we got it from the Spanish; however, Napoleon soldit immediately and handed us to the Americans. I still remember the day Iescaped France and got here after my father was killed in the revolution in1799.

They said New France will be the perfect place to start a new life whereno one can recognize me. I don’t know how should I feel towards this change andwhat will the Americans do to us. Rumors were all over the place that thoseAmericans are well known of enslaving foreigners, treating women as inferiors, onlycaring about wealthy families, change us from catholic to protestant,and their government will steal our farms and enslave us. Also, which language would be the official one, was aserious issue of the moment. The American expansion started since Napoleonofficially signed Louisiana purchase on May 1803, white families and theirslaves, free blacks, and some foreigners flood to New Orleans to work and livehere. They brought their culture and traditions with them creating a multi-culturaldiverse population in New Orleans, before that it was the Frenchmen, Africans, Spaniards,Creoles and other minority groups. In an official ceremony in New Orleans, theFrench flag was lowered and the American flag was raised and Louisiana is legallyan American territory.

On December 20, 1803, William Charles Cole Claiborne becamethe first non-colonial governor of Louisiana, the largest territory ever ownedby America. Merging all the people together New Orleans with the fact that eachof them having different culture, background, religion and language wasn’t aneasy phase in our lives. At first, Americans were a minority but that didn’tlast long with them moving from the east of Mississippi as they realized theprofits they can make from domestic and foreign trading. Nevertheless, Americansgenerally expected political leadership because of their familiarity with the governmentalsystem and that they are the citizens of the nation that just purchased Louisiana,that did not make them clang with the people of New Orleans socially orculturally. Within a few years, marriages between Frenchmen, Africans, Spaniards,Creoles and Americans became common, and each group started to learn theother’s language to facilitate communication and create a better society foreach individual of us. That doesn’t imply that the cultures merged into one butan adaptation and broadmindedness endorsed all the cultures to exist side byside.

New Orleans was known as an urban area and a commercialtrading center which is probably why the Americans were interested incontrolling it. Therefore, in March 1804, the federal government announced Orleansas a separate territory with District of Louisiana, Upper Louisiana, north ofit. That helped in passing new laws that apply to New Orleans only where they encouragedtrade. Agriculture also was a preponderant factor in New Orleans before thepurchase where farmers and their families owned land around the east and westbanks of the Mississippi river. When the Americans immigrated to New Orleansthey obtained to own land closer to the river but that wasn’t easy for them asthey were less desirable and not as fertile.

Throughout the years, thepopulation grew rapidly around the river where every farmer was growing sugar,corn and cotton in particular, that led to nourishment in slave trade as moreslaves were needed to work in the farms. The economy of Orleans territory surpassedover a short period and that made the Spaniards look up to control it, hence, afederal protection was needed. In the period between 1803-1812 there was federaltroops constantly guarding Orleans’ boundaries against possible attacks asSpain owned the land along Gulf of Mexico from Florida to Mexico. On April 8, 1812, President Madison signed the”act for the admission of the State of Louisiana into the Union, and toextend the laws of the United States to the said state”. That gave the Americangovernment the right to declare new states. Thus, on the 30th of thesame month the Orleans territory ceased to exist and was instead admitted as a partof Louisiana state.