| Territory of Orleans | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Organized incorporated territory of theUnited States | |||||||||||
| 1804–1812 | |||||||||||
 The Territory of Orleans in 1804, with adjacent territories held by Spain, shown in red. | |||||||||||
| Government | |||||||||||
| • Type | Organized incorporated territory | ||||||||||
| Governor | |||||||||||
• 1804–1812 | William C. C. Claiborne | ||||||||||
| Secretary | |||||||||||
• 1804–1807 | James Brown | ||||||||||
• 1807–1811 | Thomas Bolling Robertson | ||||||||||
| History | |||||||||||
• Established | 1 October 1804 | ||||||||||
| 30 April 1812 | |||||||||||
| |||||||||||
| Today part of | United States | ||||||||||
TheTerritory of Orleans orOrleans Territory was anorganized incorporated territory of theUnited States that existed from October 1, 1804,[1][2] until April 30, 1812,[3] when it wasadmitted to the Union as theState of Louisiana.
In 1804, all of theLouisiana Purchase south of the33rd parallel became the Orleans Territory, and the remainder became theDistrict of Louisiana. (The District of Louisiana was later renamed theLouisiana Territory; and still later, when the Orleans Territory became the State of Louisiana, the Louisiana Territory was renamed theMissouri Territory.)
The Organic Act of 1804, passed on March 26 for October 1 implementation, also created theUnited States District Court for the District of Orleans—the only time Congress has ever provided a territory with aUnited States district court equal in its authority and jurisdiction to those of the states.[4] Congress also established theSuperior Court for the Territory of Orleans whose three judges were the top territorial court.
On April 10, 1805, the Territorial Legislature organized12 counties (starting from the southeast corner moving west and north): Orleans, Lafourche,German Coast, Acadia, Iberville,Attakapas, Pointe Coupée, Opelousas, Rapides, Concordia, Natchitoches, and Ouachita. These were replaced in 1807 by 19 civil parishes.[5]
The area that later became theFlorida Parishes on the east side of theMississippi River was not included in Orleans Territory at this time, as it was in the Spanish territory ofWest Florida. This area was formally appended to the territory on April 14, 1812,[6] after having been annexed forcibly by the U.S. in 1810, although Spain did not formally relinquish any of West Florida until 1821. The western boundary withSpanish Texas was not fully defined until theAdams–Onís Treaty was negotiated in 1819. A strip of land known as theSabine Free State just east of theSabine River served as a neutral ground buffer area from about 1807 until the treaty took effect after ratification in 1821.
The Orleans Territory was the site of the largest slave revolt in American history, the1811 German Coast Uprising.
In the1810 United States census,20 parishes in the Orleans Territory reported the following population counts:[7]
| Rank | County | Population |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Orleans | 24,552 |
| 2 | St. Martin | 7,369 |
| 3 | St. Landry | 5,048 |
| 4 | Pointe Coupee | 4,539 |
| 5 | St. James | 3,955 |
| 6 | St. Charles | 3,291 |
| 7 | St. John the Baptist | 2,990 |
| 8 | Concordia | 2,895 |
| 9 | Natchitoches | 2,870 |
| 10 | Iberville | 2,679 |
| 11 | Assumption | 2,472 |
| 12 | Ascension | 2,219 |
| 13 | Rapides | 2,200 |
| 14 | Lafourche | 1,995 |
| 15 | Plaquemines | 1,549 |
| 16 | West Baton Rouge | 1,463 |
| 17 | Avoyelles | 1,209 |
| 18 | Catahoula | 1,164 |
| 19 | Ouachita | 1,077 |
| 20 | St. Bernard | 1,020 |
| Orleans Territory | 76,556 |
William C. C. Claiborne was appointed Governor of the Orleans Territory; he held this position throughout the territorial period. Later he became the first Governor ofthe state of Louisiana.
There were two Territorial Secretaries,James Brown (1804–1807) andThomas B. Robertson (1807–1811).Daniel Clark became the first Territorial Delegate to theU.S. Congress, in December 1806. JudgeDominic Augustin Hall was theU.S. District Judge of the Territory.
Judges of the Superior Court wereJohn Bartow Prevost (1804–1808),Ephraim Kirby (1804) (died en route to New Orleans),Peter Stephen Du Ponceau (1804) (declined PresidentThomas Jefferson's appointment),William Sprigg (1805–1807),George Mathews, Jr. (1805–1813),Joshua Lewis (1807–1813), andFrancois Xavier Martin (1810–1813).
At its first meeting on December 3, 1804, the territory's Legislative Council consisted ofJulien de Lallande Poydras,William Kenner,John Watkins,William Wikoff, Benjamin Morgan, Eugene Dorcier, and George Pollock.[8]
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