Though isolated amid low-lying mudflats, in a climate where withering tropical heat and violent hurricanes were normal, New Orleans had nevertheless become a center of European refinement and culture. An outpost of law and order in the wilderness, it was still home to more than a few outlaws. The most important city in the newest American state, it was French in spirit, but had also been a possession of both the British and the Spanish; many of its inhabitants didn’t even speak the language of their new government. In the event of invasion, Jackson would have to shape an unprecedented unity
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