Vie, Liberté et Recherche du Bonheur. The Reception of the Declaration of Independence in Louisiana (1776-1803)

FAIN: TA-309952-26

Nous Foundation, Inc. (New Orleans, LA 70116-2700)
Scott Lyden Tilton (Project Director: July 2025 to present)

Exhibition, catalogue, and conference on the response in Louisiana to the release of the Declaration of Independence.

Our project is an interactive and interdisciplinary humanities project that explores how the French-speaking colonists of Louisiana, who lived under Spanish rule in 1776, interpreted and reacted to the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution. The exhibition will present primary documents housed in archives across Louisiana and in France and Spain to paint a portrait of the complex web of politics, republican ideals, and great power rivalry that shaped Louisiana’s involvement in the American Revolution and laid the groundwork for the bourgeoning colony to eventually join the United States in 1803.