“American Politics”

Abstract

This chapter unravels another paradox: that the relatively slow demographic and economic growth of French Louisiana did not accentuate the segmentation of the labor force between workers of various statuses. On the contrary, as local authorities and settlers were influenced by the Saint-Domingue model, they quickly became convinced that the only way they could succeed in developing the Lower Mississippi Valley would be to rely mainly on slaves of African descent. Their commitment to racial slavery never waned despite unfavorable circumstances. Consequently, heavy labor came to be reserved for slaves of African descent while slaveownership became the ultimate social fault-line among whites, including within New Orleans.