imported>Johnpacklambert: removed Category:People from New Spain; added Category:Merchants from New Spain using HotCat

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removed Category:People from New Spain; added Category:Merchants from New Spain using HotCat

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{{Short description|US Indian agent (1758–1849)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Jean-Pierre Chouteau
| image = Jean Pierre Chouteau, Sr (cropped).jpg
| image_size =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{birth date|1758|10|10|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[New Orleans]], [[Louisiana (New France)]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1849|7|10|1758|10|10|df=y}}
| death_place = [[St. Louis County, Missouri|St. Louis County]], [[Missouri]], USA
| death_cause =
| mother = [[Marie-Thérèse Bourgeois Chouteau]]
| father = [[Pierre Laclède]]
}}
'''Jean-Pierre Chouteau''' ({{IPA|fr|ʒɑ̃ pjɛʁ ʃuto}}; 10 October 1758 – 10 July 1849)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.geocities.com/daniellla.geo/chouteau.html |title=Chouteau-Papin Genealogy History |accessdate=2007-05-03 |url-status=bot: unknown |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20091027070458/http://www.geocities.com/daniellla.geo/chouteau.html |archivedate=October 27, 2009 }}</ref> was a [[Louisiana Creole people|French Creole]] [[fur trade]]r, [[merchant]], [[politician]], and [[History of slavery in Missouri|slaveholder]]. An early settler of [[St. Louis]] from [[New Orleans]], he became one of its most prominent citizens. He and his family were prominent in establishing the fur trade in the city, which became the early source of its wealth.

In 1975, he was inducted into the [[Hall of Great Westerners]] of the [[National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum]] in [[Oklahoma City, Oklahoma]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Hall of Great Westerners |url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/hall-of-great-westerners/ |website=National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum |access-date=November 21, 2019}}</ref>

==Early life==

Jean Pierre Chouteau, known as Pierre, was the son of [[Marie-Therese Bourgeois Chouteau]] and [[Pierre Laclède|Pierre de Laclède de Liguest]], the latter originally of [[Bedous]] in far southwestern [[France]]. Pierre was born in [[New Orleans]], when it was still under the authority of [[New France]]. He had three younger sisters.

==Marriage and family==

Jean-Pierre Chouteau married Pélagie Kiercereau on 26 July 1783 in St. Louis, where he had settled with his parents. Together they had four children:<ref>{{cite web |url=http://roglo.eu/roglo?lang=en;i=494352 |title= Roglo.eu, ''Pierre Chouteau (Jean Pierre Chouteau)'' |publisher=rolo.eu}}</ref>{{unreliable source?|sure=y|reason=self published on a genealogical website |date=May 2019}}
* [[Auguste Pierre Chouteau|Auguste P. Chouteau]] (1786–1838), a graduate of [[West Point]] who worked as a fur trader
* [[Pierre Chouteau, Jr.]] (1789–1865), founder of fur trading posts on Upper Missouri River, including [[Fort Pierre, South Dakota]], and posts in [[Chouteau County, Montana]]
* Pélagie Chouteau (1790–after 1824), wife of Bartholomew Berthold, an Italian-born fur trader who was affiliated with the Chouteaus; [[Fort Berthold]] was named for him
* Paul Liguest Chouteau (1792–1851), married Constance Chauvet-Dubreuil in St. Louis.<ref name=nps/>

Shortly after Pélagie's death, the widower Chouteau married Brigitte Saucier on 17 February 1794, in St. Louis. They had five children, one of whom died in infancy.<ref name=nps>[https://web.archive.org/web/20070702054314/http://www.nps.gov/archive/jeff/LewisClark2/Circa1804/StLouis/BlockInfo/Block28APierreChouteauSr.htm "Pierre Chouteau, Sr.], Lewis & Clark Expedition, National Park Service</ref>
* [[François Chouteau|François G. Chouteau]] (1797–1838), first official European settler and founder of [[Kansas City, Missouri]]
* Cyprien Chouteau (1802–1879), employee of the Chouteau-Sarpy Fur Company based in Kansas City
* Pharamond Chouteau (1806–1831), died at age 24
* Frederick Chouteau (1809–1891), fur trader and broker in [[Westport, Missouri]]; married four times

==Chouteau-Osage fur trade==
Jean-Pierre and his half-brother [[Auguste Chouteau]], known as the "river barons," adjusted to the many political changes which came about as the town changed from [[Louisiana (New Spain)|Spanish rule]] to becoming part of the United States after the latter's [[Louisiana Purchase]] in 1803. They continued to create political alliances with numerous parties. For a long time, they held [[monopoly]] rights on the lucrative [[fur trade]] with the [[Osage Nation|Osage]], and they expanded their St. Louis businesses to many parts of the emerging economy.

As soon as the early 1760s, the Chouteau family started fur trades with the Osage Indians. Jean-Pierre Chouteau spent considerable time among the Osage, where he learned their language, culture and customs. In 1796, he established a [[trading post]] in the western part of their territory, at the junction of the [[Neosho River]] and Saline Creek, which became the first permanent European (white) settlement at present-day [[Salina, Oklahoma]].<ref>[https://claremoremoh.org/1796/04/8668/ Jean Pierre Chouteau “The Father of Oklahoma”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210306163554/https://claremoremoh.org/1796/04/8668/ |date=2021-03-06 }}, ''Claremoh.org''</ref> In the very early 1800s, the Chouteau-Osage alliance contributed to 50% of Indian goods traded in Saint Louis.<ref name="okhistory family">[https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=CH056 Chouteau Family], ''Okhistory.org''</ref>

On March 19, 1799, Chouteau acquired 30,000 arpents of territory now known as [[Chouteau Springs, Missouri]] from the Osage.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Melton |first1=E J |title=Melton's History of Cooper County, Missouri |date=1937 |publisher=E. J. Melton |location=Columbia, Missouri |page=12}}</ref>

[[Image:Osage-chouteau-treaty.jpg|thumb|''Chouteau's Treaty with the Osages'', painted 1924 by [[Walter Ufer]], at the [[Missouri State Capitol]].]]
On July 14, 1804, President [[Thomas Jefferson]] named Chouteau the US Agent for Indian affairs west of the [[Mississippi River]]. This was a major step for Chouteau to gain access to officials of the new American federal government, but he also delivered on his responsibilities. After being appointed a United States agent of Indian Affairs, Chouteau founded the [[Missouri Fur Company]] in St. Louis in 1804, together with [[Manuel Lisa]], a Spanish trader from New Orleans. He devoted much of his energies to his company's fur trading activities with other family members, becoming one of the wealthiest residents of St. Louis. He became very wealthy and influential in St. Louis, and managed to retain considerable political power after the United States' [[Louisiana Purchase]].<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Chouteau.html "Pierre Chouteau"], ''Encyclopedia''</ref>

As negotiator of the [[Treaty of Fort Clark]], also known as the [[Osage Treaty (1808)|Osage Treaty of 1808]], Chouteau convinced the Osage to sell large portions of their land in present-day Missouri and Arkansas to European-American settlers for [[Government of the United States|Federal]] [[annuity (finance theory)|annuities]].<ref>[http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CH057.html "The Osage"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131102418/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/C/CH057.html |date=2009-01-31 }}, ''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of History and Culture'']</ref>

In addition, the Chouteau brothers kept up connections with Spanish authorities, further west. The Spanish gave Pierre Chouteau an exclusive license, in 1817, to trade with the Osage, in their region, west of US holdings. His fur trading business thrived, making him one of the wealthiest men in St. Louis.<ref>[http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Chouteau.html "Chouteau: Jean-Pierre Chouteau"], ''Columbia Encyclopedia'', 2008</ref>

Chouteau was elected to the St. Louis Board of Trustees and became its first chairman. As a measure of his influence, he was elected to serve on half of the twelve boards chosen between 1810 and 1822. He also was appointed as [[justice of the peace]].

==Slave freedom suits==
{{main|Marguerite Scypion}}
[[File:Jean Pierre Chouteau Sr. Residence. Southwest corner of Main and Washington Streets. Built 1785 by Clamorgan.jpg|thumb|Jean Pierre Chouteau Sr. Residence. Southwest corner of Main and Washington streets. Built 1785 by Clamorgan.]]
St. Louis was the site of hundreds of "[[freedom suits]]" filed by slaves seeking freedom on varying grounds of "wrongful enslavement". In 1826 Pierre Chouteau was sued by his slave [[Marguerite Scypion|Marguerite]], who in 1805 had earlier filed the first freedom suit in St. Louis against a former master. She was of African and [[Natchez people|Natchez]] descent, the latter through her late mother [[Marie-Jean Scypion]] and Natchez grandmother. The Spanish officials had outlawed [[Slavery among the indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indian slavery]] in 1769, after it took over former French territory, but it had been common before that in territorial Missouri under French rule.

Scypion's children asserted that as their maternal grandmother was Natchez Indian, their mother should have been freed in 1769, and they should have been considered free at birth, by the principle of ''[[partus sequitur ventrum|partus]]''. Since the colonial period, the social status of children was determined by that of the mother. Thus a child of a slave was born into slavery, regardless of paternal ancestry. Although the Scypion daughters and their descendants won, the decision was reversed by a higher court. For 30 years, Scypion's descendants did not give up their dream of freedom.<ref name=Circuit>[http://www.stlcourtrecords.wustl.edu/about-freedom-suits-series.php "Freedom Suits Case Files, 1814–1860"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181213035035/http://stlcourtrecords.wustl.edu/about-freedom-suits-series.php |date=2018-12-13 }}, St. Louis Circuit Court Records, Missouri Historical Society (St. Louis, MO), 2004, accessed 4 January 2011</ref>

At the end of 1824, the [[Missouri General Assembly]] passed a law providing a process for enslaved persons to sue for freedom and have some protections in the process. In 1825 Marguerite renewed her case against Pierre Chouteau, Sr., who was by then her master, in the St. Louis Circuit Court, as did her sisters against their masters. The cases were rolled into one under Marguerite's name. Although the judgment and appeal to the Missouri Supreme Court went against the Scypion descendants, the case was reviewed in 1834 and a new trial was ordered. The slaves' counsel asked for a [[change of venue]] because of the Chouteau family's prominence in St. Louis, which the court granted. The venue was changed first to [[St. Charles County, Missouri|St. Charles County]] and then to [[Jefferson County, Missouri|Jefferson County]] before the case came to trial on November 8, 1836. The jury decided unanimously in favor of Marguerite and the other Scypion descendants, a decision that withstood appeals up to the [[US Supreme Court]] in 1838. This case was considered to officially end Indian slavery in Missouri.<ref name=Circuit/>

The head of a large and influential family, Jean-Pierre Chouteau died in St. Louis at 90 years of age.

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.nps.gov/jeff/learn/historyculture/freedom-suits.htm "Freedom Suits"], ''African-American Life in St. Louis, 1804–1865, from the Records of the St. Louis Courts'', Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, National Park Service

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chouteau, Jean Pierre}}
[[Category:1758 births]]
[[Category:1849 deaths]]
[[Category:18th-century American merchants]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Missouri]]
[[Category:Politicians from St. Louis]]
[[Category:American people of French descent]]
[[Category:Politicians from New Orleans]]
[[Category:United States Indian agents]]
[[Category:Freedom suits in the United States]]
[[Category:People from Salina, Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from New Orleans]]
[[Category:American slave owners]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from St. Louis]]
[[Category:Merchants from New Spain]]

Jean-Pierre Chouteau - Revision history

imported>Johnpacklambert: removed Category:People from New Spain; added Category:Merchants from New Spain using HotCat