Louisiana Bicentennial History

Mandeville, LA – Exclusive Transcript – It was on January 22, 1812 that Louisianans decided we’re going to carve off this piece of the territory, the Orleans Territory, and we’re going to call this the State of Louisiana.  The congress that bought the territory says that we can do that.  The Louisiana Purchase document acknowledged that the inhabitants of what was being purchased would remain sovereign.  Of course, they were encouraged to form their own states.  So the State of Louisiana was formed before it joined the union.  This is important.  The founders and the framers recognized that only countries could be admitted into the union.  So that’s your little Louisiana / American history lesson for the day.  Check out today’s transcript for more…

 

Begin Mike Church Show Transcript

Mike:  I’m going to tell you what the historical significance of 30 April 1812 was.  That was the day on which the State of Louisiana was admitted into the union.  Monday was the bicentennial of Louisiana.  This is interesting to me and disconcerting all at the same time.  In yesterday’s editions of the Times-Picayune fish wrap newspaper, which is the local rag around here, the front page blared out the headlines that it was 200 years ago that Louisiana joined the nation, and that was when we became worth something because we joined the nation.  Not being a member of the nation was such a horrifying, useless existence.  It was only be becoming part of the nation, as they actually put on the front page, that made Louisiana reputable.

I did my commentary on the local ABC channel last night, ABC 26, about how Louisiana did not join the nation, you nitwits; we are a nation.  This is one of those things, if we have any chance ever of restoring republicanism, of restoring your freedoms and liberties that we all love to whine about so mightily that we have lost, you have to get back to cases.  I don’t think it’s too far of a stretch for conservatives or the conservative movement to drop this infatuation, this obsession with empire, this obsession with jingoism and all things large as in the nation, and get back to the understanding of what a state is.  State is 18th Century for country.

The Times-Picayune, and I would wager about 98 percent of our fellow Louisianans probably think, that the State of Louisiana is nothing more than something that was created out of whole cloth by the general government, is not sovereign, doesn’t have its own laws, own rules, own culture, and if it wanted to could go its own way.  We could exist like a country just like France does  We could exist as a country just like the Dominican Republic does, which is a consortium of Republics, or just like Spain or just like South Korea.  This is part of the problem.   Hell, this may be the problem, that it is the states that are the nation, it is the states that form the union, voluntarily form the union.  We should be able to voluntarily leave it if we want or at least threaten to leave it.  That way, the general government only serves the wishes of the states.  It’s just something that is lost.

As a matter of fact, ladies and gentlemen, I will tell you, that is the principle reason I sat down in 2007, over the course of the spring of 2007, researched and wrote the first of my documentaries The Road to Independence, the radio broadcast, which you heard July 4, 2007, for the first time.  As any study of American history, especially of the early republic, would show to you it was the states that were the nations and the countries and they used the general government as their representative, as the representative of the union of states.  Louisiana joined a union of states.  In other words, it became part of a union, but it did not surrender its sovereignty as a nation.  You’re never going to get back to reclaiming your freedoms and your liberties unless you get your states back first.  This is why it’s important to run for statewide offices and take over statewide caucuses and what have you.

It was on January 22, 1812 that Louisianans decided we’re going to carve off this piece of the territory, the Orleans Territory, and we’re going to call this the State of Louisiana.  The congress that bought the territory says that we can do that.  In the Louisiana Purchase document, the document acknowledged that the inhabitants of what was being purchased would remain sovereign.  Of course, they were encouraged to form their own states.  So the State of Louisiana was formed before it joined the union.  This is important.  The founders and the framers recognized that only countries could be admitted into the union.  So that’s your little Louisiana / American history lesson for the day.  Tom is in New Jersey next on The Mike Church Show.  Hello, Tom.

Caller Tom:  I was just calling about Louisiana.  You were saying that the bicentennial of its admission into union, I was wondering what your thoughts are on the purchase of it.  Didn’t Thomas Jefferson act outside the Constitution when he did that?

Mike:  I haven’t studied the entire exchange of letters and communications between the Jefferson Administration and Congress, but I do know that Jefferson did ponder the idea of whether or not he had the constitutional authority to act.  He determined ultimately that he did.  The Congress, which was led at that time by James Madison, went along with it.  Actually, Madison was the Vice President at the time.  Madison, being his chief constitutional consultant, went along with him.  So I would say that Jefferson acted properly.  Why?  Do you think he didn’t?

Caller Tom:  I know that it’s debated in history books.  Being that he was heavy towards the Constitution and preservation of states’ rights, it was interesting that he would do something that was extra-constitutional, outside the Constitution.

Mike:  Again, I don’t think he will.  If you look at Article IV, Section 3, you will find this:

[reading]

The Congress shall have the Power to dispose of and make all needful Rules and Regulations respecting the Territory or other Property belonging to the United States; and nothing in this Constitution shall be construed as to Prejudice any Claims of the United States, or of any particular State.

[end reading]

Mike:  You have to understand, Tom, at that point in time, in the 1780’s, one of the most hotly contested, widely debated, and famous incidents was known as the Jay-Gardoqui Treaty.  Are you familiar with it?

Caller Tom:  No, not at all.

Mike:  John Jay was a member of the Confederation Congress from New York.  He was a founding father that served in the Washington Administration.  I believe he was the minister plenipotentiary to France.  The Jay-Gardoqui Treaty, you can read all about this in The Fame of Our Fathers.  If you don’t have a copy, go to The Founders Depot and get one.  This was all about control of the Mississippi River.  First it was the Spanish that claimed New Orleans as theirs; then it was the French.
Don Diego de Gardoqui was the minister plenipotentiary from Spain to the United States.  It was believed by Patrick Henry and James Monroe and other Virginians that John Jay was conspiring with de Gardoqui to gain or to have the Spanish deny access to the Mississippi River for the southern states.  It was the opinion of the Virginians — Virginia at the time, I don’t know if you know this, Tom.  Even though Kentucky wasn’t a state, Virginia went all the way through Kentucky.  It went all the way to the Mississippi River.  The Congress regarded this and regarded that territory and men like Jefferson, of course Virginians, aristocratic Virginians, believed that territory would ultimately be part of the confederation of states or of the United States.  That’s why they left in what needs to happen if we acquire more territory like the Mississippi.  It was left in there and the power for Congress to regulate the territory was left in there.  I think Jefferson acted accordingly and I think he acted well within the bounds of the Constitution. 

End Mike Church Show Transcript