The Louisiana Rebellion of 1768
In 1768, Louisianians rejected the tyranny and misrule of Spain, which had recently acquired the territory from France. The Louisiana Rebellion of 1768 forced the representative of the Spanish Crown, the governor, to flee overseas on November 1. Louisiana was self-governing until Spain reasserted control 10 months later in August 1769. In fact, Louisiana had been mostly self-governed since France ceded Louisiana to Spain five years earlier.
This revolt began when the colony’s Supreme Council, including Joseph Villeré, voted to banish the governor. They issued a printed Memoire to justify their actions, which may have influenced the 13 colonies’ Declaration of Independence later. The Memoir says (in French) “…What wrong have we done in shaking off a foreign yoke, which the hand that imposed it rendered still more overwhelming? What wrong have we done, finally, in claiming back our laws, our country, our sovereign… Are, then, those praiseworthy attempts without an example in our history? More than one town of France… have they not several times broken the English yoke with fury, or refused their fetters with constancy?…” (The Spanish translation is shown below. Also, a Manifesto (see page 255) was written but not published).
Later, as subjects of Spain, Louisianians supported, financially and with force of arms, the secession of 13 colonies from British North America, especially after 1778.
In 1803, France ceded control over the Louisiana Purchase to the US, without getting the permission of the inhabitants there. In 1804, the inhabitants sent a 21-page complaint about DC’s misrule to Congress.
The Secession of the Florida Parishes from the Spanish Empire
In 1810, the Florida parishes (of today’s Louisiana) were still a part of West Florida. They stopped consenting to the misrule of the Spanish government, which had failed to protect them from illegal immigration, lawlessness, and crime. The Spanish governor refused their plan to set up local courts. The residents were English-speaking. A convention formed a militia led by Philemon Thomas. He led the territory’s militia against the Spanish garrison at Baton Rouge. After a firefight causing one or two Spanish deaths, they captured the fort and the territory’s governor. Four days later, a convention of representatives founded the Republic of West Florida with a declaration of independence. The militia wrote that they were “Goaded by oppression, Borne down by Subaltern Tyrants, Insulted & Betrayed; and an infernal Machine at work to Rivet on us Eternal chains.”
The US Army moved in, 2.5 months later, to protect the populace from Spain and to establish US authority over the territory. The Republic of West Florida was annexed by the US and added to the territory of Orleans (Louisiana), which the US had purchased (without the consent of Louisianians) seven years earlier. The entire territory of that Republic of West Florida is now in eastern Louisiana.
The Republic of West Florida was the first to use the flag that consists simply of a blue field with a white star, now known as the Bonnie Blue or Lone Star Flag, a symbol of independence. The Republic had an army, militia, navy, and constitution.
The song of the army of West Florida included these lyrics:
West Floriday, that lovely nation,
Free from king and tyranny,
Thru’ the world shall be respected
For her true love of Liberty.
Click here to read the Declaration of Independence of the Republic of West Florida (in Louisiana), September 26, 1810
The Loyalty of the Florida Parishes to Louisiana
The devotion of the Florida Parishes to Louisiana is shown by the events of 1812. Although they became a part of the Territory of Orleans in 1810, US Congress initially excluded the Florida Parishes from the state of Louisiana when the Territory of Orleans became a state on April 12, 1812, so that the Territory of Mississippi might have it. It was only the complaints of the Florida Parishes, including yet again raising the old flag of the independent Republic of West Florida, that caused Congress to add them back into Louisiana four days later.
The Battle of New Orleans
In the war of 1812, all the men of the territory fought the British in a miraculous victory against impossible odds. The women and children all assembled in the Ursuline Convent and prayed throughout the Battle, and God guided them on how to pray in real time even though they were more than an hour from the battlefield. This battle caused Britain to end the war.
The war of 1812 was the war that finally convinced the British that the US had seceded for good. Before then, the British Navy still forced Americans caught at sea to work in the Navy, because the British considered Americans to be British.
The Louisiana Constitution shows Louisiana’s commitment to independence. Article 1, Section 1 tells us that the people of Louisiana have the moral right to secede, and Section 26 says that since the right to secession was not given up in the US Constitution; it remains in the hands of the state.
ARTICLE I. DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
§1. Origin and Purpose of Government
Section 1. All government, of right, originates with the people, is founded on their will alone…
§26. State Sovereignty Section 26. The people of this state have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free and sovereign state; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled
The Louisiana Pledge of Allegiance is as follows:
“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the state of Louisiana and to the motto for which it stands: A state, under God, united in purpose and ideals, confident that justice shall prevail for all of those abiding here.”
The Louisiana State March Song: Louisiana, My Home Sweet Home
Kissed by the Gulf’s mighty stream,
A lovely state, LOUISIANA,
Where sweet magnolias, so rare,
Perfume the air
With fragrance that’s supreme.
God bless our lovely state.
It’s a paradise right here on earth.
Chorus:
LOUISIANA, LOUISIANA,
It’s beauty’s always aglow.
Moss covered shade trees
Sway in the cool breeze
While lazy bayous flow.
The sugar cane gleams
Beneath the moonbeams
That light the Heaven’s silvr’y dome.
Deep in the Southland
There is a dreamland:
LOUISIANA, my home, sweet home.