Chapter Twenty-Two: The Other Nations of North America In 1808
Janaury 1, 1808 was when the bells rang across the Union, indicating the end of the Atlantic slave trade in the United States of America. Predictably, American citizens were celebrative, particularly Federalist New Englanders, while citizens in the Southern American Confederacy were enraged. This included New Orleans, which was split into three sections, and the French controlling two of those sections. The First Municipality included the French Quarter, from Canal to Esplanade Avenue. The Second Municipality began at Canal Street and went upriver past the current Pontchartrain Expressway. The Third Municipality stretched downriver from Esplande, through the Marigny towards today’s Bywater neighborhood. Each municipality had its own police force, schools, infrastructure, and services. In the First Municipality, English was the dominant language, while French prevailed in the other Two Municipalities.
In 1802, when the SAC gained access to New Orleans, the city had only about 8,000 people living in it. As previously discussed, the USA was allowed free navigation of the Mississippi River if it promised to stop impressing merchant vessels belonging to the SAC and continued neutrality throughout the Napoleonic Wars. The only exception to the rule would be when yearly revenue from the goods passing through the city and down the Mississippi River was calculated and a small fee was collected. One-third of this fee would go to the SAC and two-thirds to the French. This would be offset with not having to pay any passage fees. By 1815, the primary cargo transported along the Mississippi River was slaves, which was second in the SAC in terms of the highest amount of slave importations, only behind Charleston.
Up North laid British Canada. As part of the Treaty of Paris, signed on February 10, 1763, France renounced its claims to all its North American lands to Britain, including Canada. With Canada now part of the British Empire, it gained control of a population of 70,000 francophone Catholics. Although many Brits people (including the thirteen American colonies) hoped the French Canadians would assimilate, the Quebec Act (1774) allowed the French Canadians to retain their religion and their French system of civil law. On the other hand, Atlantic Canada was dominated by the British as early as 1710. In Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia and New Brunswick), the British expelled French-speaking populations in 1755 to Louisiana. The first immigration of Protestants happened in the province with the founding of Halifax in 1749. Cape Breton Island and Prince Edward Island were captured in the Seven Years War, later settled by New Englanders. Newfoundland was also under British influence before 1763.
During and after the American Revolution, tens of thousands of Loyalists fled the United States, mostly from the Southern states, with nearly 50,000 of them settling in Canada. By 1783, the year the Treaty of Paris was signed, 46,000 had settled in Canada, with 10,000 settling in Upper Canada (Ontario) and 36,000 in the Maritimes. The Maritimes in particular became susceptible to American accents and value. The waves of American immigrants continued, lured by promises of land if they swore a loyalty oath (which was usually nominal in most cases) to the King, mostly settling Upper Canada before the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815. As of 1812, 80,000 of 110,000 inhabitants in Ontario were American born or descendants of Americans. In the Maritimes 110,000 of 135,000 were Americans and their descendants. All of this inflow into Canada by both the USA and SAC would understandably stir the pot for future tensions.
At the conclusion of the American Revolution, the young republic hoped to use Indian lands to pay off its debt. In light of conflicts between Native Americans and white settlers, US Secretary of War Henry Knox developed a two-part policy in 1786. First, the United States would purchase Indian land, then the government would follow by “civilizing” them in which Natives would be instructed into white socioeconomic practices. Once the nation split in two in 1787, dealing with the Native Americans was important to both countries. In the North, treaties in the Northwest Territory
recognized Indian land titles, but settlers continued streaming into Ohio, causing conflict and for the Delawares, Shawnees, Miamis, and Algonquians to achieve victories against the United States in 1790 and 1791.. In 1794, Anthony Wayne defeated the tribes at the Battle of Fallen Timbers, opening most of Ohio to white settlement. Afterward, the Federalists continued securing against Native claims by using treaties and military force to draw legal boundaries. The War Department began building trading factories whose cheap merchandise would lure Natives in the Northwest into commercial dependency, and agents offered Indian families agricultural equipment and training to reduce dependence on hunting and gathering.
Down South, things were both similar and different. Previously, the Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and especially the Creeks were at the forefront of trading disputes as well as border disputes between states. Led by Alexander McGillivray, the Creeks and the SAC exchanged lands in return for attaching tribes to permanent land settlements and giving them domestic animals. Later, the Jeffersonian Democrats developed a more elaborate and expansive plan, known as the “Indian Civilization Program.” Jefferson suggested his agents encourage natives to buy goods on credit in order to fall into debt and sell their land to the government that way. The Shawnee of Tennessee and Cumberland were divided, with some settling along the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers to become farmers while others took up arms. Further South, the “Four Civilized Tribes” (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Creek) accepted the program to the point of building towns and plantations and some holding black slaves. Other southern tribes remained skeptical of "civilization" and built up an anti-white resistance movement called the Red Sticks, breaking out in 1812.
A/N: Sorry once more about the lack of frequent updates. Started a new class three weeks ago with the midterm last week and the final exam next week. I just decided to squeeze this update in while I could.