What was life like in 1804 in Louisiana?

Answer 1

In 1804 Lousiana was the frontier. New Orleans was the largest town, by far and was a major port for bringing things into the U-S. It was also a major port for transportation just about anywhere. To the east coast, for example. The Mississippi RIver was the boundary between "civilization" and the unexplored west. No one knew what the land between the Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean was like, with the exception of the Native Americans. So when Lewis and Clark launched their expedition to find a route to the Pacific Ocean, they took a Native American (Shosone tribe) guide with them--Sacagawea. The Lousiana Purchase had taken place in 1803, when U-S President Thomas Jefferson had purchased the entire territory from Napolean of France, who needed money to finance his plan to take over Europe. The amount of land doubled the size of the U-S. There was apparently much intrigue and spying going on, since there was a lot of money changing hands and lots of money to be made. People tend to think of history as a dry, clean, barren thing. Great events are reduced to a few, simple sentences. But it is not like that. Things were no different then than they are today. Scandals, bribes, sex, money, power, greed, etc. People are no different today than they were then. Just look at Halliburton in Iraq and Afghanistan. The same type of things would have happened before, during and after the Louisiana Purchase. In short, life was crazy in 1804 Louisiana. Slavery existed, of course, as did good and bad things. It was the wild west, only closer to the east coast.