WESTWARD EXPANSION.

The original territory of the United States as

acknowledged by the treaty with Great Britain, in 1783, consisted of the
following thirteen States: New Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island
and Providence Plantations, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina,
and Georgia. The boundaries of many of these States, as constituted by their
charters, extended to the Pacific Ocean ; but in practice they ceased at the
Mississippi. Beyond that river the territory belonged, by discovery and
settlement, to the King of Spain. All the territory west of the present
boundaries of the States was ceded by them to the United States in the order
named: Virginia, 1784; Massachusetts, 1785; Connecticut, 1786 and 1800;
South Carolina, 1787; North Carolina, 1790; Georgia, 1802. This ceded
territory comprised part of Minnesota, all of Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois,
Indiana, Ohio (see NORTHWEST TERRITORY), Tennessee, and a great part of
Alabama and Mississippi. Vermont was admitted as a separate State in 1791;
Kentucky, then a part of Virginia, in 1792; and Maine, till that time claimed by
Massachusetts, in 1820.

Louisiana Purchase

Spain's restriction of the navigation of the Mississippi, the great natural

commercial artery of the American continent, was a great annoyance to the
settlers on the western slopes of the Alleghanies. It was not until Oct. 17,
1795, and after many attempts, that Thomas Pinckney succeeded in
negotiating a treaty of friendship, boundaries, and navigation. On Oct. 1,
1800, by the treaty of St. Ildefonso, Spain retroceded to France the vast
province of Louisiana. Bonaparte's design to revive, in New Orleans, the
former colonial glories of the French monarchy more and more menaced the
United States; navigation was again closed ; and in Congress, James Ross,
Senator from Pennsylvania, introduced resolutions authorizing the President
to call out 50,000 militia and to take possession of New Orleans. Instead of
this, Congress appropriated $2,000,000 for the purchase of the city, and sent
James Monroe, as minister extraordinary, to cooperate with Livingston,
minister to France, in the proposed purchase. April 11, 1803, Livingston, who
had already begun negotiations for the purchase of New Orleans, was
suddenly invited by Napoleon to make an offer for the whole of Louisiana. On
the following day Monroe arrived in Paris, and the two ministers decided to
offer $10,000,000. The price was finally fixed at $15,000,000, one-fourth of it
to consist in the assumption by the United States of $3,750,000 worth of
claims of American citizens against France. The treaty was in three
conventions -to secure the cession, to ascertain the price, to stipulate for the
assumption of the claims —all signed the same day, April 30, 1803, by
Livingston and Monroe on one part, and Barbe-Marbois on the other. This vast
purchase added 1,171,931 square miles to the territory of the United States,
including Alabama and Mississippi south of the parallel of 31°; all of
Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indian Territory, Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa,
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana; Minnesota, west of the
Mississippi; Colorado and Wyoming, east of the Rocky Mountains; and
Kansas, with the exception of the southwestern corner. The western
boundary was not finally settled until after the purchase of Florida, in 1819.
Florida Purchase

The boundary between Louisiana and Florida had been long in dispute, Spain
claiming all that territory south of the parallel of 31° and east of the
Mississippi River, and the United States fixing it at the Perdido River, the
present boundary between Florida and Alabama. In 1810, the people of west
Florida met at Baton Rouge and declared themselves independent, and
Governor Claiborne, of the Territory of Orleans, was sent by the President to
take possession; in 1812 the Pearl River was made the eastern boundary of
Louisiana, and the remainder of west Florida was annexed to Mississippi
Territory ; in 1813 the fort and city of Mobile were taken by General
Wilkinson. During this period a determination of gaining east Florida had
been growing rapidly, and Congress, by acts passed in secret, in January and
March, 1811, had authorized the President to take temporary possession. In
1818, during the Seminole War, being annoyed by Spanish assistance given
to the Indians, Jackson raided east Florida, captured St. Marks and Pensacola,
and hanged Arbuthnot and Ambrister, two British subjects who had given aid
and comfort to the Indians. This demonstrated so completely that Florida was
at the mercy of the United States that the Spanish minister at Washington
signed a treaty, on Feb. 22, 1819, by which Spain ceded Florida, in return for
the payment of claims of American citizens against Spain, amounting to
$5,000,000. The ratification by Spain was not secured till 1821, Spain
attempting to obtain the refusal of the United States to recognize the
independence of the revolted Spanish-American colonies. The territory
purchased comprised 59,268 square miles.

Oregon

The treaty with Spain in 1821 settled the western boundary of the Louisiana
purchase as follows : " Beginning at the mouth of the Sabine, in the Gulf of
Mexico; up the west bank of the Sabine to the thirty-second degree of north
latitude; thence north to the Red River; along the south bank of the Red River
to the one-hundredth degree of longitude east from Greenwich; thence north
to the Arkansas; thence along the south bank of the Arkansas to its source ;
thence south or north, as the case may be, to the forty-second degree north
latitude, and along that parallel to the Pacific Ocean." This put out of dispute
the territory comprising the present States of Washington, Oregon, Idaho,
and the western part of Wyoming, claimed by the United States on the
grounds of discovery (1792), exploration (1805), and settlement (1811). The
boundary between the States of Washington and Idaho, on one side, and
Canada, on the other, was finally determined in 1848.

Republic of Texas

In 1833, Texas, then a part of the Mexican Republic, refused to remain a part
of Coahuila, and on April 1 formed a Mexican State constitution of its own.
The greater part of its population had emigrated from the southwestern part
of the United States. On the abolishment of the State constitutions, in 1835,
and the appointment of Santa Anna as dictator, Texas declared itself
independent of Mexico, March 2, 1836. After a brief war, distinguished by two
brutal massacres on the part of the Mexicans at Goliad and the ALAMO, Sam
Houston, the Texan commander, with 700 men, met Santa Anna, the Mexican
President, with 5,000 men, at San Jacinto, and totally defeated him. Santa
Anna, to gain his liberty, signed a treaty recognizing the independence of the
Republic of Texas. This treaty was never ratified by Mexico ; but the United
States, and afterwards England, France, and Belgium, recognizing the new
republic, its independence was practically secured. From this time the
annexation of Texas to the United States became a great political issue, both
by the Southern politicians, who were anxious to add more slave territory to
the United States, and by Texas herself, whose finances had fallen into fearful
disorder through careless and extravagant expenditures. This was not made
possible until the election of James Polk to the Presidency, when the
campaign cry of the South was, " Texas or Disunion." The first resolutions
were introduced into Congress in the House, Jan. 25, 1845; by joint
resolution, in the House, Dec. 16; and in the Senate, Dec. 22. Texas was
admitted as a State without the formality of a treaty. It added 376,133 square
miles to the territory of the United States.

Mexico and California

This territory, comprising 545,783 square miles, and including the present
States of California, Nevada, and Utah, and a large part of Arizona and New
Mexico, and part of Colorado, came to the United States as a result of the
MEXICAN WAR, through conquest and purchase. The treaty, known as the
treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, was signed Feb. 2, 1848, and was ratified by
the Senate March 10, the United States paying $15,000,000 in addition to
assuming the payment of claims of American citizens against Mexico
amounting to $3,250,000.

Gadsden Purchase

In 1853 the United States bought from Mexico a strip of land, now forming
that part of Arizona and New Mexico lying south of the Gila River and
extending from the Rio Grande, near El Paso, on the east, to the Colorado
River on the west. GEN. JAMES GADSDEN was at that time minister to