1793-Feb.: Governor Carondelet issued a public proclamation in Louisiana strictly prohibiting any reading or speaking in public about French politics.

1793-Feb.: Governor Carondelet issued a public proclamation in Louisiana strictly prohibiting any reading or speaking in public about French politics. The new regulations required twenty-four-hour prior notice for any meetings and directed shipowners to inform their crews of these restrictions. This attempted crackdown aimed to silence the “Jacobin” sympathizers who were increasingly vocal in New Orleans and its surrounding plantations. However, the suppression of official news only served to strengthen the “grapevine” of whispers and revolutionary rumors among the population. The state’s attempt to legislate silence illustrated its growing fear of the power of the spoken word in the Atlantic world.