200th Anniversary of Statehood on April 30, 2012

Florida Parishes, Including Central, Did Not Join State Until Aug. 4, 1812

CENTRAL — While Louisiana proudly celebrates the 200th anniversary of statehood on April 30, 2012, residents of Central could wait awhile before celebrating.

The area which is now the City of Central didn’t become part of the State of Louisiana until Aug. 4, 1812 — more than three months after the rest of the state!

In fact, it literally took an Act of Congress to make the “Florida Parishes” part of Louisiana.  Some in Congress wanted to make the former Spanish colony of West Florida, which had declared its independence in 1810, part of the State of Georgia.  If they had succeeded,

we might all be Bulldogs now!

The people of West Florida suffered greatly for having been left out of the original State of Louisiana.  The Louisiana Constitution was drafted in early 1812 without any representation from the Florida Parishes.  Once they were admitted to the state, the Florida Parishes were sorely under-represented in the Louisiana House and Senate.  This was long before the Supreme Court’s “one-man, one-vote” decision, and the Florida Parishes’ representatives and senators had little voice in the proceedings.

Moreover, there was no way to reapportion the legislature, because the Constitution of 1812 had no procedure for adopting amendments.  It took the adoption of an entirely new Constitution in 1845 for East Baton Rouge and other parishes in the former Republic of West Florida to be fairly allocated state representatives and senators based on population.

The admission of Louisiana as a state on April 30, 1812, occurred only after the United States House and Senate considered the matter for nearly two years.  Reading the debates about Louisiana on the floor of Congress is as entertaining and hilarious as any topic ever heard in our nation’s capital.

Basically, many in Congress considered Louisiana a backward and foreign domain completely unsuited for statehood. In the course of numerous debates over two years, Louisiana statehood brought many issues to the forefront, some of which are still relevant today.

For example, the right to vote of blacks was a major topic of debate.  Louisiana’s territorial representative in Congress, Julien Poydras, believed that “free people of color” should be allowed the right to vote, and for awhile Congress sided with him on that.  Later, those opposed to giving free blacks the right to vote blocked statehood, and that right  was amended out of the legislation.

The issue of West Florida swirled around the House and Senate.  First West Florida was in, then it was out, then after statehood had been agreed to, Congress ordered the Louisiana Legislature to annex the Florida Parishes prior to the state’s being allowed to elect members of Congress.

The Florida Parishes — and what is now the City of Central — became part of Louisiana on Aug. 4, 1812.

Just a few weeks ago, former Sen. Rick Santorum created a furor in Puerto Rico when he said that Puerto Rico should be required to adopt English as its primary language prior to admission as a state.

Ironically, that is a very old issue, and Santorum was on the side of history.  Congress first required English to be the primary language when it considered statehood for Louisiana.  Fearful that French would be the dominant language in Louisiana, Congress provided in the Louisiana Enabling Act of 1811 as follows:

…[A]fter the admission of said territory of Orleans as a state into the Union, the laws which such state may pass shall be promulgated, and its records of every description shall be preserved, and its judicial and legislative written proceedings conducted, in the language in which the laws and the judicial and legislative written proceedings of the United States are now published and conducted….

We in Central can celebrate Louisiana’s Bicentennial April 30, but we have reason to celebrate again when our own bicentennial comes around on Aug. 4!

by Woody Jenkins, Editor, Central City News