From French Community to Missouri Town: Ste. Genevieve in the Nineteenth CenturyA small French settlement thrived for half a century on the west bank of the Mississippi River before the Louisiana Purchase made it part of the United States in 1803. But for the citizens of Ste. Genevieve, becoming Americans involved more than simply acknowledging a transfer of power. Bonnie Stepenoff has written an engaging history of Missouri's oldest permanent settlement to explore what it meant to be Americanized in our country's early years. Picking up where other studies of Ste. Genevieve leave off, she traces the dramatic changes wrought by the transfer of sovereignty to show the process of social and economic transformation on a young nation's new frontier. Stepenoff tells how French and Spanish residents--later joined by German immigrants and American settlers--made necessary compromises to achieve order and community, forging a democracy that represented different approaches to such matters as education, religion, property laws, and women's rights. By examining the town's historical circumstances, its legal institutions, and especially its popular customs, she shows how Ste. Genevieve differed from other towns along the Mississippi. Stepenoff has plumbed the town's voluminous archives to share previously untold stories of Ste. Genevieve citizens that reflect how Americanization affected their lives. In these pages we meet a free woman of color who sued a prominent white family for support of her children; a slave who obtained her own freedom and then purchased her daughters' freedom; a local sheriff who joined Aaron Burr's conspiracy; and a doctor who treated cholera victims and later became a U.S. senator. More than colorful characters, these are real people shown pursuing justice and liberty under a new flag. The story of Ste. Genevieve serves as a testament to Tocqueville's observations on American democracy while also challenging some of the commonly held beliefs about that institution. From French Community to Missouri Town provides a better understanding not only of how democracy works but also of what it meant to become American when America was still young. |
From inside the book
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Page x
... Pierre Delassus, the hapless French aristocrat who came to Ste. Genevieve to escape the French Revolution. On one occasion we watched as a dendrochronologist took core borings from some of the old timbers in the Delassus-Kern House ...
... Pierre Delassus, the hapless French aristocrat who came to Ste. Genevieve to escape the French Revolution. On one occasion we watched as a dendrochronologist took core borings from some of the old timbers in the Delassus-Kern House ...
Page 16
... Pierre Delassus DeLuzieres intended to establish a haven for monarchists fleeing the French Revolution. Delassus' landholdings included a large tract of farmland that became New Bourbon's big common field. He also owned rights to ...
... Pierre Delassus DeLuzieres intended to establish a haven for monarchists fleeing the French Revolution. Delassus' landholdings included a large tract of farmland that became New Bourbon's big common field. He also owned rights to ...
Page 17
... Pierre Charles Delassus De Luzières, An Official Account of the Situation, Soil, Produce, and etc., of that Part of Louisiana Which Lies between the Mouth of the Missouri and New Madrid, or L'Anse à la Graise, and on the West Side of ...
... Pierre Charles Delassus De Luzières, An Official Account of the Situation, Soil, Produce, and etc., of that Part of Louisiana Which Lies between the Mouth of the Missouri and New Madrid, or L'Anse à la Graise, and on the West Side of ...
Page 23
... Pierre Delassus was commandant of New Bourbon, and Francois Vallé II was commandant of Ste. Genevieve. Delassus' son Charles (Carlos) de Hault Delassus served in St. Louis as the last Spanish lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana from ...
... Pierre Delassus was commandant of New Bourbon, and Francois Vallé II was commandant of Ste. Genevieve. Delassus' son Charles (Carlos) de Hault Delassus served in St. Louis as the last Spanish lieutenant governor of Upper Louisiana from ...
Page 25
... Pierre Delassus awarded her thirty-five minots of wheat, ten minots of maize, a carbine, and a rifle to settle the claim.38 When there are no opportunities to participate in the daily business of governing the community, people seek ...
... Pierre Delassus awarded her thirty-five minots of wheat, ten minots of maize, a carbine, and a rifle to settle the claim.38 When there are no opportunities to participate in the daily business of governing the community, people seek ...
Contents
1 | |
11 | |
26 | |
Chapter Three Americans in a French Community | 42 |
Chapter Four German Influx | 58 |
Chapter Five Becoming an American Town | 75 |
Chapter Six Law and Order in Ste Genevieve | 91 |
Chapter Seven French omen in an American Republic | 106 |
Chapter Nine ork and Family in Ste Genevieve | 139 |
Chapter Ten Home Church and School | 154 |
Chapter Eleven Life Death and Remembrance | 170 |
Chapter Twelve Holidays and Celebrations | 187 |
Conclusion Ste Genevieve in 1885 | 200 |
Bibliography | 207 |
Index | 219 |
Chapter Eight Slavery and Freedom | 121 |
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From French Community to Missouri Town: Ste. Genevieve in the Nineteenth ... Bonnie Stepenoff No preview available - 2024 |
Common terms and phrases
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