When William C. C. Claiborne was first appointed as the governor of the Territory of Orleans of Louisiana in 1804, he had quite the resume. He had previously served as a member of Tennessee’s House of Representatives, as a judge of Tennessee’s Supreme Court, and as a governor of the Mississippi Territory. In fact today, Claiborne can be referred to as a Founding Father of the states of Louisiana, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Claiborne had met and befriended the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, while he worked as a clerk for Congress. In fact, when Jefferson ran against Aaron Burr in the presidential election of 1800, Claiborne helped Jefferson win the election by securing Tennessee’s vote in favor of Jefferson. This proved to be in
