SUMMARYGovernor Claiborne: "several hundred persons held as slaves, who are descended of Indian families" (Territory of Orleans, June 21, 1808) [Connections: Gulf, Louisiana, Texas & Mexico, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDGovernor William C. C. Claiborne wrote to Secretary of State James Madison that "several hundred persons held as slaves, who are descended of Indian families" lived in the Territory. He wrote that in early Louisiana "Indians taken in war were permitted to be holden in slavery." He reported a suit in the Parish Court of Opelousas against "a Citizen who held in Slavery some Indian descendants," which the court decided for the plaintiffs. He also reported that the Assembly passed a bill declaring Indian descendants slaves, which he rejected as "worse than useless."
PATTERNThe territory's own governor counted Native-descended people enslaved by the hundreds. The legislature tried to lock that status in by statute
LENS (WW9)The governor counted them himself, and the legislature tried to write them into slavery forever
OPENThe name of the Opelousas case, the outcome of the expected appeal, and the text of the rejected bill
SOURCETo James Madison from William C. C. Claiborne, 21 June 1808 (Founders Online, National Archives).