The New NationGeographical Conundrums

1780s – 1820s (more or less)

Chapter 7 (sort of)

Sequence of Topics

• Background – 1763 – 1763: Treaty of Paris (Proclamation Line)– 1783: Treaty of Paris (Trans-Appalachia)

• Land Ownership– Claims in the West– Public Domain and survey system– Indian Lands ( a minor inconvenience)

• Growing Population• Infrastructure

– Roads and canals– Topography and geography

• Admission of States

Map_pre1763

1763 - French and Indian War

1770 – Colonial settlement

1770 – colonial economy

1783 – Peace conference

Territorial Implications – USA and the three Euro powers all maneuvering:

1) US and Spain both desired Trans-appalachia country

2) French came in with no claims – just wanted to pound on the Brits!

3) Critical – 25,000 American settlers in the “West” (Kentucky) – not to be overlooked.

4) E.g. – three/way split

Mitchell Maps

Northern Boundary

Boundaries - 1783

Mississippi River

So – now what?

• Nation covers half the continent

• Good time for a mid-term exam

• 25,000+ settlers in Kentucky

• The rest? - empty

• Native Americans – an inconvenience

Need policies to:

– settle

– develop

– secure and protect

Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• Public Domain – much bigger story today in the American West

• Greatest legacy of Continental Congress– 1) system of government in the territories, and process to

become states– 2) validated the system for syrveying and selling the land– (Note: in colonies – disposal of land before or after survey)

• Applied initially to area north of Ohio River

• Result today “Patterns on the Land”

• Statement of Indian Policy (Warm Springs)

Background

• Demands of Revolutionary War veterans

• National indebtedness – 67% of federal income to service the debt

• Revision of earlier versions – quite a sequence of proposals actually

• E.g……..

Colonies of John Wright

Proposed states

Jefferson Plan - 1784

French Long Lots

…same

Metes & Bounds

Rectangular Survey System

• Ordinary “miles”• Township and Range system ( 6 mi. X 6 mi.)• 36 sections in each township • Surveyed according to “magnetic” north (laer

revised by Congress)• Surveyed prior to sale!!• First application – Ohio River country: prepare a

wilderness for sale to American citizens – Wow!

Ohio Surveys

Ohio

• N/S Lines not true• See county lines now• Indian troubles

– Shawnee, degeated by Gen. Mad Anthony Wayne at Battle of the Fallen Timbers

– Convergence problem

Great American Checkerboard

Survey - East

NW Ordinance (again)

• Confirmed this survey system

• Territorial administration

• Creating states– 3 to 5 states in “Old” Northwest– 60,000 population to apply for statehood

• By 1804 – all trans-mountain area to the Mississippi was laid out as states or territories

State/Territory Growth

Indian Land Cessions

• Congress sole authority to make deals

• 100’s of treaties

• See figure 7.3 in your text