Pistols and Politics: The Dilemma of Democracy in Louisiana's Florida Parishes, 1810–1901

Introduction

INTRODUCTION Thomas Green Davidson was surprised when he heard of the brutal murder in neighboring East Feliciana Parish. Homicide was not unknown in the area, but a killing of this nature was certainly unusual. The reports told of a farmer shot in the back by an apparent lone gunman from ambush—a "bushwhacking ." Although it was a peculiar occurrence in 1854, Davidson would live to see a day when such acts of violence would overwhelm the region, serving as a primarymeans of settling differences. Davidson's dismay concerned the state of relative peace and prosperity temporarily prevailing in his home territory—a state of community equilibrium associated with the mutually beneficial relationship that existed between the ruling elite and the common folk. Although the current conditions proved advantageous to both planter and commoner, such had not always been the case in Davidson's region, nor would it remain that way.This variable relationship between southern planters and plain folk has long been the focus of scholarly research, in large measure because the deferential social and political system erected by the planters shaped the character of the antebellum South. The basis of planter power remained a brutal system of human bondage. To most planters and many other whites, all other social and political concerns proved secondary to the maintenance of slavery. The planters' determination to preserve the practice that guaranteed their power created a dilemma for the mass of southern commoners. They either aspired to enter the ranks of the slaveholding elite, accepted a system often antagonistic to their own economic and political livelihood, or agitated for democratic reform . The plain folk's response to planter dominance proved central to the maintenance or absence of social stability in many regions of the South. The implications of the planter-plain folk relationship proved exceptionally significant in Louisiana. The lower Mississippi valley boasted some of the richest plantation country in the nation, whereas the piney woods of 2 • PISTOLS AND POLITICS north-central and eastern Louisiana represented some of the poorest territory in the state. Since soil quality went far in determining economic activity in each region, it influenced the nature of the people and, correspondingly , local politics. Within Louisiana, however, one region, the Florida parishes, provides an even clearer statement on the implications of the planter-plain folk relationship. The seven parishes comprising that territory within the top of the "toe" of Louisiana, between the Pearl and Mississippi Rivers and above Lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain—East Baton Rouge, East and West Feliciana, Livingston , St. Helena, St. Tammany, and Washington Parishes (Tangipahoa Parish was not formed until 1869)—shared the statewide dichotomy between wealthy plantation country and poorer piney woods. The Felicianas and East Baton Rouge remained among the wealthiest and most politically powerful parishes in the state, while the eastern piney-woods parishes were far less developed . Even so, the region endured a peculiar pattern of development. An extended period of territorial ambiguity, which included interims of French, British, and Spanish overlordship, climaxed with an insurrection and the short-lived Republic of West Florida. Prior to its incorporation with the rest of the state in 1812, the region served as a haven for Tories, army deserters, and desperadoes, all of whom exploited the prevailing instabilityand absence of American control. Typically, Louisiana has been divided into three general areas. The first, New Orleans and its urban environs, has been traditionally considered unique not only to Louisiana but to the nineteenth-century South in general. Second, Acadiana, or the bayou country, also emerged as a peculiar region to both the state and the South. Settled primarily by French Catholics, Acadiana has been regarded as unique both for its population and for its topography . These two areas of the state tend to dominate the popular perception of Louisiana. The third region may best be called upstate Louisiana, encompassing the remaining portion of the state north of Alexandria, as well as the region along the Sabine River and the Florida parishes. More typical of the South as a whole, this region contained considerable numbers of Protestant yeoman farmers. By 1850, the white population of upstate Louisiana consisted largely of immigrants of Scotch-Irish ancestry from Georgia and the Carolinas. Even though upstate farmers maintained significant herds of livestock , particularly in the north-central region, cotton farming dominated.1 1. Milton B. Newton, Atlas of Louisiana: A Guide for Students (Baton Rouge, 1972). INTRODUCTION • 3...