French Louisiana: Economics and Development
When Louisiana was first settled in 1699 by French immigrants, the colonies of the newly formed state were in an impoverished, unprofitable position. The colonies' destitution was due to the lack of resources provided by their new land and government, as well as France's political and economic negligence. However, after long years of poverty, the colony would one day turn a profit by trading their naturally occurring precious metals for paper money and land. Though the early settlers had been drawn to America with enticing tales of wealth and freedom, France was unable to finance it's settlements; the country's national bank had already been depleted by various European wars. This economic deficiency
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While the Mississippi Colony was not the only settlement neglected by the French government at the time, they suffered the worst, being the newest and most unstable of the colonies. The settlers only worsened their squalid state, as they, being mislead by stories of American gold, disregarded their need to hunt and farm. The explorers mined and panned for gold, instead of planting crops or raising animals. Because of the colonials’ preoccupation with wealth, they only perpetuated their poverty. Subsequently, they were forced to trade all their remaining valuables: blankets, utensils, and other technologically advanced possessions to the nearby Native American tribes in exchange for food. Furthermore, because farms were small, scarce, and far between, and the immigrants were not adequately equipped for colonization, the settlers were forced to resort to scavenging the shores in search of small washed-up sea creatures, as well as foraging for edible naturally-occurring flora. Due to causes such as malnutrition, cold, and lack of sanitation, disease, including yellow fever, began to fester and spread like wildfire, killing many. Unfortunately, hunger and illness were only two of the many trials …show more content…
It spread and evolved over time, growing in population and wealth. The colony suffered through war and unrest, and was eventually bought by the United States of America for $15 000 a century later, taking up a little less than a third of America's territory.
The Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/collections/louisiana-european-explorations-and-the-louisiana-purchase/articles-and-essays/louisiana-as-a-french-colony/
The Mississippi Historical Society:
(-Peter Garber, “Famous First Bubbles,” in Speculative Bubbles, Speculative Attacks, and Policy Switching, Robert Flood and Peter Garber, eds. (MIT Press: Cambridge MA, 1994)
-Charles Kindleberger, A Financial History of Western Europe, 2nd ed. (Oxford University Press: New York 1993).
-Charles Kindleberger, Manias, Panics, and Crashes, 3rd ed. (Wiley: New York 1996).
-Charles Mackay, The Mississippi Scheme (Andrew Pub. Co.:
Also, as the settlers expanded westward, they wanted to create a new means of transportation – a railroad. In the 1850s, the United States paid Mexico 10 million dollars for a strip of land that the railroad could run through. This was a large amount of money compared to how much they paid for Louisiana. The Mexican government accepted the proposal and they ceded their lands. The purchase was the last territorial acquisition America added to the large area of the country.
Beginning in the 17th century, France discovered the Mississippi River valley and established scattered settlements in
England at the end of this all had more money coming in than out. The sugar plantations, owned by wealthy people, had to be built. And the building of the plantation cost a lot of money. They also needed supplies, which brought in even more money. England created laws that permitted more money to come in than out.
Saint Domingue was one of the richest colonies of the Americas during the late eighteenth century. Its extravagance resulted from their large production of highly demanded coffee, cotton, and sugar, which heavily depended on strict slave regime. Slaves, many whom were African born, made up the vast majority of the population and suffered poor working and living conditions. The anger of slaves caused the Haitian Revolution, which would lead to Haiti freeing itself from its oppressor and becoming an independent republic in the Caribbean. The Haitian Revolution created a profound effect not only the former French colony, but also acted as a leader for reformation around the world.
The Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana purchase was one of the biggest land purchases in history. In 1803, the United States paid around $15 million dollars for around 800,000 square miles of land. This was arguably the greatest achievement of thomas jefferson’s presidency. The louisiana territory was a wild card in the european game of imperialism.
Creoles and poorer classes began to get frustrated with the restrictions that the government had created on the economy. Merchants were forced to sell “products at artificially low prices and buy...at artificially high prices”. (Doc C)Latin Americans were also stripped of basic trading and property rights. When this started to occur, the Creoles began to try to convince the people of America that by gaining independence, they could be ruled by a class that was born in their country. This was one of the main reasons why the Creoles began to help lead the fight for independence.
The Louisiana Purchase was the purchase of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. The U.S. paid fifty million dollars and a cancellation of debts worth eighteen million dollars which averages to less than three cents per acre. The Louisiana territory included land from fifteen present U.S. states and two Canadian provinces. The territory contained land that forms Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska, portions of Minnesota, large portions of North Dakota; large portions of South Dakota, parts of New Mexico, the northern portion of Texas, the area of Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. The Louisiana Purchase was smart move by the United States.
One reason that the creoles lead the revolution is the massive economic issue that occurred in Latin America. There was a drought in early Mexico in 1808-09 this destroyed the harvest, as well as tripled the food prices. “In 1908-09 drought produced a great mortality among Mexico's livestock and decimated (destroyed) the harvest... Food prices tripled. ”(Document D).
Starting in the early 1600’s settlers from England came to “The New World.” England and Spain were competing to claim this new undiscovered land. The English were the first to claim the land by sending the first group of settlers, the Chesapeake settlers. They settled in present day Virginia and Maryland. The Chesapeake settlers came for commercial and profit.
They also had to pay taxes to the government. A poor financial situation led to economic crisis. Haiti 's economy before the revolution was good but when the revolution started the economy
Even though it heavily relied on France for supplies and support, New France formed its own individualistic society through its trade, politics, and
The French, not at all like the Haitian slaves, were under a legislature as nationals and were trying to overthrow their current government. In doing so, they wanted to create a new government where they had rights that could settle their social needs as well as repair the damages caused by the war and decrease France’s debt. France was going through an internal battle because for 175 years the estates general wasn’t in session and when it was in session in 1789, King Louis XVI asked for more money but locked out the third estate. The third estate had no voice, rights and were just poor peasants suffering from having to pay 40% tax. Louis XVI was the king of France and thusly was considered in charge of its monetary emergency and the disparity of the French society.
His most urgent issue at the colony was an economic base to make it profitable (Akin 22). Fort Maurepas was never able to be self-sustaining because only several of the colonists cared for agriculture, and the sandy soil made farming near impossible (Rowland 1). Only the Biloxi Indians were able to keep the French colony from total collapse (Bunn and Williams 2). It was for these reasons, along with a need to be closer to their ally, Spain’s colony of Pensacola, for the imminent war with England, that Bienville was ordered by the French government to move the colony to Mobile (Akin 22). Bienville’s adventures were far from over, and he would be a key figure in the region of Louisiana for many years (Rowland 1).
Beginning a life in the New World was a difficult and extended process. Many colonists made attempts to settle here, which failed for different reasons. There are two colonies that beat the odds and overcame their challenges. These colonies were called Jamestown and Plymouth. By using different methods and skills, they created new land for the people of Europe.
They saw that here, they could extract these resources at practically no price, and then refine them for a just as low price, and sell them in France for a lot. One of these resources is very well known: Cotton. The massive plantations in Pondicherry were of great use to the french. In France, medium class clothes lacked. There was either the most high end fine clothes, or simply rags.