The pirate, privateer and smuggler Jean Laffite dominated the mercantile life of New Orleans from 1809 to 1815 by exploiting the limited reach of a weak US government in its attempts to control over the frontier of the Louisiana Gulf Coast. Laffite’s status as a cultural anti-hero to the majority-French population, who disdained the American government and the war it initiated in 1812, saw much public support for his efforts to evade law enforcement. Such support, however, waned in the face of an overwhelming threat from British invaders in the autumn of 1814. Adept at survival, Laffite reinvented himself as a loyal patriot by contributing vital materiel to the shaky military defence of the city. In doing so, he ensured his freedom and became a hero of the Battle of New Orleans, a myth that endures to this day. His story demonstrates the limits of state power against piratical practices in the nineteenth century, particularly when they occurred on a distant shore, among a population who protected their cherished rogues.

中文翻译：

---

让·拉菲特：新奥尔良的海盗和国家权力的界限，1814-1815

从 1809 年到 1815 年，海盗、私掠者和走私者让·拉菲特 (Jean Laffite) 在试图控制路易斯安那州墨西哥湾沿岸边境的过程中，利用软弱的美国政府的有限影响力主宰了新奥尔良的商业生活。拉菲特作为大多数法国人的文化反英雄地位，他蔑视美国政府及其在 1812 年发起的战争，他逃避执法的努力得到了公众的广泛支持。然而，在 1814 年秋天，面对来自英国入侵者的压倒性威胁，这种支持逐渐减弱。拉菲特善于生存，通过向摇摇欲坠的城市军事防御贡献重要物资，将自己重塑为一名忠诚的爱国者。通过这样做，他确保了自己的自由，并成为了新奥尔良战役的英雄，这个神话一直流传至今。