As the Great Lakes area was colonized in the early nineteenth century, the United States established its dominion over the old fur-trade communities. They also backed this up with the presence of the army and pressed most of the Creoles’ Indian relatives to give up their lands and move away. By the middle of the century, the massive immigration of Anglos and other outsiders brought enormous changes to the region’s economy, political and legal systems, and dominant social practices. Creoles faced a new government and court system, English as the court language, Protestant churches, and different forms of business and other economic practices. The fur trade went into decline. What this meant for the Creoles was that they eventually became minorities in their own communities, their livelihoods changed dramatically, and their access to authority and land shifted in complex ways.

The Creole men of Prairie du Chien, most of whom had supported the British side during the War of 1812, were not excluded from the government after the United States took over. During the demographic transitional stage in which the Anglo-Americans did not have a majority of the population, these newcomers needed the support and participation of the Creoles to control the Indians, to make the democratic institutions work, and to legitimize the government. So elite traders were appointed as local officials and judges, and ordinary Creole men served as voters and jurors. In the early years, because the Anglo-American judges, local Yankee officials, territorial governors, and members of the territorial legislative council needed Creole support and participation, they tolerated Creoles’ protests, unfamiliarity with the system, inability to speak English, and assertiveness and noncompliance as jurors (although at the same time, many non-Creole officials complained bitterly).