Creates a picture of the Illinois country as a single ethnic, economic, and cultural entity. Focusing on the French Creole communities along the Mississippi River, this book shows how land use practices intersected with several issues between Illinois and New Orleans to the significance of the mentalities of French Creoles and Anglo-Americans.

Based almost entirely on original source documents from the United States, France, and Spain, Carl J. Ekberg's Stealing Indian Women provides an innovative overview of Indian slavery in the Mississippi Valley. His detailed study of a fascinating and convoluted criminal case involving various slave women and a metis (mixed-blood) woodsman named Celadon illuminates race and gender relations, Creole culture, and the lives of Indian slaves--particularly women--in ways never before possible.

Begun as a royal adventure to enhance the glory of the king, the Dutch War sparked serious debate within the French government over the relationship of the ruler to the state. Ekberg focuses on one significant year of the war and explains how, despite opposition by several counselors, the king escalated the original conflict into a full European war and wrought a dramatic shift in French policy. The study is arranged thematically to bring clarity to a period of complex issues.

Originally published in 1979.

A UNC Press Enduring Edition -- UNC Press Enduring Editions use the...

The standard story of St. Louis's founding tells of fur traders Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau hacking a city out of wilderness." St. Louis Rising "overturns such gauzy myths with the contrarian thesis that French government officials and institutions shaped and structured early city society. Of the former, none did more than Louis St. Ange de Bellerive. His commitment to the Bourbon monarchy and to civil tranquility made him the prime mover as St. Louis emerged during the tumult following the French and Indian War.
Drawing on new source materials, the authors delve into the...

The standard story of St. Louis's founding tells of fur traders Pierre Laclede and Auguste Chouteau hacking a city out of wilderness. St. Louis Rising overturns such gauzy myths with the contrarian thesis that French government officials and institutions shaped and structured early city society. Of the former, none did more than Louis St. Ange de Bellerive. His commitment to the Bourbon monarchy and to civil tranquility made him the prime mover as St. Louis emerged during the tumult following the French and Indian War.
Drawing on new source materials, the authors delve into the...