New Orleans in the Era of Revolution: A Demographic Profile

Using censuses of New Orleans spanning the years from 1788 to 1820, this paper describes the exceptionally rapid increase of its population, the relative rate of growth of its major components (whites, free persons of color, and slaves), and trends in age distribution, sex ratios, and fertility. Growth was most rapid in the period 1805-1810, principally as a result of the massive influx of Saint-Domingue refugees in 1809. An appendix outlines the methodology used to standardize age categories in Spanish and American censuses