Creole Treaty Rights An article from Gilbert Martin On November 30, 1803, according to stipulations in the Louisiana Purchase Treaty and by formal action, the French rendered the entire Louisiana Territory an absolutely free country. And it remained that way until circa 1818, when the legislature of the newly formed state of Louisiana ruled otherwise. By those acts, in deliberate violation of the LPT, Louisiana became just another Jim Crow State in the Deep South. At the time of the American takeover of the vast Louisiana Territory, tens of thousands of people with lineage to Africa were among the inhabitants. Some were free, but most were slaves. Nevertheless, neither free or slave was ever apprised of their treaty rights. Consequently, both the so-called free people of color and the slaves were forced to suffer the realities of degradation, hostility, and other forms of inequities brought about segregation, discrimination, racism and bigotry. Naturally, an undercurrent of resent