PLAQUEMINES PARISH POLITICS - 1844
Submitted by: Gladys Stovall Armstrong
From The Deep Delta Quaterly
 


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	"The frauds in the parish of Plaquemines did not, as
sometime asserted, make Polk President. The vote of Nev York
and Pennsylvania did that. When, therefore, the news of the
result in Louisiana came dragging along through the slow
mails, it was a fresh surprise and grief to the Whig party,
which had been confident of carrying the state. But victory
or defeat no longer hung upon them." (This has been an exact
quote from the Louisiana Historical Quarterly, Volume 10,
1927, Page 402.)
 
	In Plaquemines Parish in 1840 there were only 1,351
whites, which included men, women and children. Remember
only white males and a few free blacks were allowed to vote.
The count of votes for President in 1844 was 1,014. The
previous year the vote count was 340.
 
	Judge Leonard, the Locofoco Representative for
Plaquemines Parish in the Louisiana Legislature, chartered a
couple of steamboats at New Orleans, took 350 voters, most
Irish and Germans, some of them could not speak a word of
English, and he gave them plenty of liquor to drink and took
them to Plaquemines Parish to vote. With the help of the
sheriff, Charles Dutillet threw away the receipts when
offered him, though the law imposed a property qualification.
The tickets were taken as fast as they could put them in a
box and every folded ballot opened.
 
	The Whigs in New Orleans heard what was going on and
took a boat to witness what was going on, but Sheriff
Dutillet would not let it touch the pier.
 
	It wasn't long though before Louisianians forgot the
whole affair and Louisiana furnished a Whig President as a
successor to Polk.