From Another America:
Louisiana was first settled as a French colony in 1699, with the capital of Nouvelle Orleans being founded in 1718. Lower Louisiana developed a plantation economy, importing large numbers of African slaves, while the economy of more sparsely settled Upper Louisiana revolved around the fur trade with indigenous peoples. Throughout the century France managed to hold on to Louisiana through a number colonial wars - one effect of these wars was the migration to Louisiana of a large number of Acadian settlers expelled by the British, who would become known as Cajuns and have a major influence on Louisiana’s culture.
Louisiana first declared independence as a republic in the 1790s alongside the French Revolution, but after a few years and an unsuccessful attempt to unite its fellow revolutionary republic in Canada, Louisiana was occupied and the First Republic was overturned by French royalists (many of them part of an influx of planters and their slaves fleeing the Haitian Revolution) and placed under primarily Spanish occupation for the next two decades, leaving notable Caribbean and Spanish imprints on Louisianan culture. The royalist forces also attempted unsuccessfully to invade Canada in a series of clashes that defined the current border at the Mississippi River.
Following the defeat of Napoleon and Bourbon restoration in 1815, the rival Orleanist claimant Louis-Philippe was exiled to Louisiana, where local elites, chafing under the occupation and inspired by the wave of revolutions and wars of independence sweeping across the Americas, invited him to take the Louisianan throne and declared independence as the Empire of Louisiana, which with Mexican and Canadian support won a brief war of independence against a Franco-Spanish coalition.
The First Empire was dominated by the Creole planter elites (much to the chagrin of the Cajun yeomanry, not to mention their slaves) and particularly preoccupied with the issues of northward and westward expansion (successfully conquering Techas, by then mostly populated by Cajun settlers, from Mexico in the 1830s) and of slavery, which was the bedrock of the Louisianan economy but grew increasingly untenable as time went on and was gradually and fitfully abolished by the 1870s, with the liberally-inclined monarchy being one of the main drivers of abolitionism.
In the 1880s Louisiana joined Canada and the United Provinces in fighting the British Empire. Louisiana fought primarily on the Great Plains and was victorious in fending off the British on that front (in recognition of which its Indian allies such as the Sioux were granted lasting autonomy) although it failed to press its claims extending to the Pacific coast. The war was highly expensive and something a fiasco, revealing the underequipped and unprepared state of the military, with a sense that the monarchy was reluctant to support the military, frustrating many officers. Soon after the war, these military officers joined with the planter elites still dissatisfied over the abolition of slavery in a military coup, forcing the Emperor to abdicate and establishing the Second Republic.
The Second Republic was oligarchic in nature, dominated by planting and ranching (cattle drives having become prominent) interests and the military, and highly politically and economically unstable, especially in the 1920s as a result of the revolution in neighboring Florida. In 1928 the charismatic populist Hubert Long was elected president and quickly set about establishing a dictatorial regime with the support of the military. Long was skilled at appealing to and playing off all sides of the political spectrum and remains a controversial figure in Louisiana today, with his successes at economic development and establishing a welfare state weighed against his sometimes brutal suppression of dissent and democracy.
Long was assassinated in 1961, ushering in the era of the Third Republic, defined by a power vacuum and resumed political and economic chaos as different factions fought over what the new Louisiana should look like - whether it should be a liberal republic, socialist republic, monarchy, or military regime, the role of the Church, the status of black and indigenous people, economic redistribution, foreign relations, and a myriad of other conflicts exacerbated significantly by the civil war in neighboring Virginia, the effects of which brought Louisiana to the brink of civil war in the May 1968 crisis as well as to the brink of war with Florida.
During this time Henri d’Orleans, pretender to the imperial throne, emerged as a moderate unifying figure with appeal across the political figure. He is widely seen as pioneering the Grand Compromise of 1975: Henri would resume the throne as emperor in a democratic constitutional monarchy defined by federalism, racial equality, neoliberal economics, protection but not hegemony for the Catholic Church, and participation in North American integration. Thusly the Third Republic became the Second Empire. (Another effect of the new constitution was the quilt of autonomous native territories becoming united and formally organized as the Nations Indiennes.)
Since the restoration of the monarchy Louisiana has enjoyed an economic boom fuelled largely by oil, bringing it to parity with the other nations of North America, although inequality remains a major issue with much of the new wealth concentrated in a few hands (corruption scandals are frequent). It is still more religiously pious than the rest of North America, with a large Catholic majority, although secularism is increasing and this tension has become a major social issue. Louisiana is also regarded as having a particularly rich and vibrant culture, based on a French, African, and indigenous base with influence from successive waves of Haitian, Spanish, German, Irish, Scandinavian, Italian, Mexican, Floridian, and Vietnamese immigrants, with its cuisine, music, festivals, and more being influential across the Americas and the world. Much of this energy has come from cultural revival movements among minorities - for the Creole language and Vodun religion among Afro-Louisianans, especially in the black-majority province of Yazous, and for native languages, religions, and customs among indigenous peoples, many of whom have been empowered by recent oil discoveries in their lands. Louisiana is a full member of the North American Community and widely considered to be a rising power within that bloc.
Louisiana was first settled as a French colony in 1699, with the capital of Nouvelle Orleans being founded in 1718. Lower Louisiana developed a plantation economy, importing large numbers of African slaves, while the economy of more sparsely settled Upper Louisiana revolved around the fur trade with indigenous peoples. Throughout the century France managed to hold on to Louisiana through a number colonial wars - one effect of these wars was the migration to Louisiana of a large number of Acadian settlers expelled by the British, who would become known as Cajuns and have a major influence on Louisiana’s culture.
Louisiana first declared independence as a republic in the 1790s alongside the French Revolution, but after a few years and an unsuccessful attempt to unite its fellow revolutionary republic in Canada, Louisiana was occupied and the First Republic was overturned by French royalists (many of them part of an influx of planters and their slaves fleeing the Haitian Revolution) and placed under primarily Spanish occupation for the next two decades, leaving notable Caribbean and Spanish imprints on Louisianan culture. The royalist forces also attempted unsuccessfully to invade Canada in a series of clashes that defined the current border at the Mississippi River.
Following the defeat of Napoleon and Bourbon restoration in 1815, the rival Orleanist claimant Louis-Philippe was exiled to Louisiana, where local elites, chafing under the occupation and inspired by the wave of revolutions and wars of independence sweeping across the Americas, invited him to take the Louisianan throne and declared independence as the Empire of Louisiana, which with Mexican and Canadian support won a brief war of independence against a Franco-Spanish coalition.
The First Empire was dominated by the Creole planter elites (much to the chagrin of the Cajun yeomanry, not to mention their slaves) and particularly preoccupied with the issues of northward and westward expansion (successfully conquering Techas, by then mostly populated by Cajun settlers, from Mexico in the 1830s) and of slavery, which was the bedrock of the Louisianan economy but grew increasingly untenable as time went on and was gradually and fitfully abolished by the 1870s, with the liberally-inclined monarchy being one of the main drivers of abolitionism.
In the 1880s Louisiana joined Canada and the United Provinces in fighting the British Empire. Louisiana fought primarily on the Great Plains and was victorious in fending off the British on that front (in recognition of which its Indian allies such as the Sioux were granted lasting autonomy) although it failed to press its claims extending to the Pacific coast. The war was highly expensive and something a fiasco, revealing the underequipped and unprepared state of the military, with a sense that the monarchy was reluctant to support the military, frustrating many officers. Soon after the war, these military officers joined with the planter elites still dissatisfied over the abolition of slavery in a military coup, forcing the Emperor to abdicate and establishing the Second Republic.
The Second Republic was oligarchic in nature, dominated by planting and ranching (cattle drives having become prominent) interests and the military, and highly politically and economically unstable, especially in the 1920s as a result of the revolution in neighboring Florida. In 1928 the charismatic populist Hubert Long was elected president and quickly set about establishing a dictatorial regime with the support of the military. Long was skilled at appealing to and playing off all sides of the political spectrum and remains a controversial figure in Louisiana today, with his successes at economic development and establishing a welfare state weighed against his sometimes brutal suppression of dissent and democracy.
Long was assassinated in 1961, ushering in the era of the Third Republic, defined by a power vacuum and resumed political and economic chaos as different factions fought over what the new Louisiana should look like - whether it should be a liberal republic, socialist republic, monarchy, or military regime, the role of the Church, the status of black and indigenous people, economic redistribution, foreign relations, and a myriad of other conflicts exacerbated significantly by the civil war in neighboring Virginia, the effects of which brought Louisiana to the brink of civil war in the May 1968 crisis as well as to the brink of war with Florida.
During this time Henri d’Orleans, pretender to the imperial throne, emerged as a moderate unifying figure with appeal across the political figure. He is widely seen as pioneering the Grand Compromise of 1975: Henri would resume the throne as emperor in a democratic constitutional monarchy defined by federalism, racial equality, neoliberal economics, protection but not hegemony for the Catholic Church, and participation in North American integration. Thusly the Third Republic became the Second Empire. (Another effect of the new constitution was the quilt of autonomous native territories becoming united and formally organized as the Nations Indiennes.)
Since the restoration of the monarchy Louisiana has enjoyed an economic boom fuelled largely by oil, bringing it to parity with the other nations of North America, although inequality remains a major issue with much of the new wealth concentrated in a few hands (corruption scandals are frequent). It is still more religiously pious than the rest of North America, with a large Catholic majority, although secularism is increasing and this tension has become a major social issue. Louisiana is also regarded as having a particularly rich and vibrant culture, based on a French, African, and indigenous base with influence from successive waves of Haitian, Spanish, German, Irish, Scandinavian, Italian, Mexican, Floridian, and Vietnamese immigrants, with its cuisine, music, festivals, and more being influential across the Americas and the world. Much of this energy has come from cultural revival movements among minorities - for the Creole language and Vodun religion among Afro-Louisianans, especially in the black-majority province of Yazous, and for native languages, religions, and customs among indigenous peoples, many of whom have been empowered by recent oil discoveries in their lands. Louisiana is a full member of the North American Community and widely considered to be a rising power within that bloc.
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