Mr. E’s Wed, Mar. 18, 2009 Louisiana History Class

Vocabulary

Louisiana Lottery Company: A private company that operated a lottery in Louisiana during the late 1800s.

Populists: Members of the People’s Party.

Segregation: Public and social separation of the races.

Fact # 1

The Bourbon Democrats – The

Redeemer Democrats saw themselves as southern

gentlemen. Others called them the Bourbons. These

gentlemen thought their education, background, and success meant they should

lead the government.

Francis T. Nicholls: was the first democratic governor elected after reconstruction. As a former Confederate officer he believed that power should work for the good of all. Even blacks thought he was just and impartial but others thought he was too generous towards blacks.

Fact #2

Fact # 3

The Louisiana Lottery – As Nicholls tried to shut the lottery down in 1867, the state granted the company even more power with a 25 year charter (power to operate). It generally brought in more than $20 million a year from a public that made less than $2 a day. The lottery company became very powerful in La. politics.

Fact # 4

E.A. Burke – came to Louisiana took a job paying $1

a day. He claimed to be a former Confederate army

officer, but his critics claimed he was actually a Yankee spy. He became the state’s treasurer

and became the editor of the N.O. Times owned by the Louisiana

Lottery.

Fact # 5

1879 Constitution – Lottery officials pushed to get a new constitution that protected their investments. The writers wanted to return Louisiana to a “home rule” government. Southern University was established, lower property taxes, and separate school systems were established for both races.

Fact # 6

Lottery’s End – In 1888 Gov. Nicholls strongly

opposed the Lottery and its hold on the state. By ’89 a

scandal involving E.A. Burke was uncovered. He had stolen more than a million dollars of state funds. He fled to Central

American where he continued to operate the Louisiana Lottery

from there.

Fact # 7

Murphy J. Foster – In 1892 Foster was chosen as

governor and had campaigned against the lottery as a

“polluting monster” and promised to remove it. The

Louisiana Lottery company finally ceased its operations in the state

in 1893. Voters had refused to renew the lottery’s charter.

Gov. Murphy J. Foster, grandfather to

Gov. Mike Foster 100 years later.

Fact # 8

Populists – were better known as the People’s Party of 1891. It was built around America’s growing population of farmers. They believed that government should help the small farmers and the ‘middleman’ and manufacturers were taking too much of the farmer’s profits.

Fact # 9

Fusion – When farmers began to leave the Democratic Party, political strength in the state shifted. Sugar planters stopped supporting the national party and began to support the Republicans. The Republicans and Populists fused their party together to create one powerful ally to defeat the Democrats.

Fact # 10

Constitution of 1898 - the new constitute was much like the previous one except that

this one required voters to own property, be literate, and pay a

poll tax. These restrictions disfranchised many of the

freedmen.

This new constitution caused the African-American vote to drop from

130,000 in 1896 to 5,300 in 1900 and only 1,300 in 1904.

Upcoming

Thurs (19): Ch. 12, Populists

Fri (20): Ch. 12, Populists

Mon (23): Ch. 13, Huey Long

Tue (24): Ch. 13, Huey Long

Wed (25): Ch. 13, Huey Long

Thurs (26): Ch. 13, Huey Long

Fri (27): Ch. 13, Huey LongMon (30): Last Minute Test Tips