William Claiborne: Who's To Blame?

When William C. C. Claiborne was 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. Claiborne can, therefore, 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 competed 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 Claiborne’s best interest because three years later, Jefferson named Claiborne and General James Wilkinson as commissioners to take possession of New Orleans. After securing the …show more content…
Claiborne needed to secure the allegiance of Louisiana’s foreign population to the United States regime. The foreign populations were not accustomed to American government and customs. The former French and Spanish citizens also divided themselves by following different religions and languages. Since these peoples were not familiarized with democracy, the democratic principles that Claiborne would soon establish in the new American territory were as strange as they were awkward. Coming from nations that were ruled primarily by kings and queens, the transition to voting officials into office was both peculiar and unfathomable. To create the democracy that Claiborne desired, he supervised a council that split the territory into parishes and created public school system. Supplying a free education to the children is a very important ideal in a democratic society because, under democratic principles, all deserves a quality