THE CESSION OF TERRITORY TO THE UNITED STATES.

BY CONQUEST AND PURCHASE.

Ceded by Great Britain, Conquest, 827,844 Square

Miles.

Result of the "War of the Revolution."

November 30, 1782. Provisional articles between the United States of America and His Britannic Majesty concluded at Paris.

September 3, 1783. Definite treaty concluded at Paris.

Boundaries of Cession Established.

ARTICLE II.

"From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz.: that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of the St. Croix River to the Highlands; along the Highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the River St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean, to the northernmost head of the Connecticut River; thence down along the middle of that river to the 45th degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due west on said latitude, until it strikes the River Iroquois or Cataraguay; thence along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake, until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie; thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake, until it arrives at the water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the middle of said water communication into the Lake Huron; thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royale and Phillippeaux to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long Lake and the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods to the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most northwestern point thereof; and from thence on a due west course to the River Mississippi; thence by line to be drawn along the middle of the said River Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of the 31st degree of north latitude. Southerly by a line to be drawn due east from the detournation of the line last mentioned, in the latitude of 31 degrees north of the equator to the middle of the river Apalachicola or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its junction with the Flint River; thence straight to the head of St. Mary's River; and thence down along the middle of St. Mary's River to the Atlantic Ocean. East, by a line to be drawn along the middle of the River St. Croix, from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source, and from its source directly north to the aforesaid Highlands which divide the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean; from those which fall into the River St. Lawrence, comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean; excepting such islands as now are, or heretofore have been, within the limits of the said province of Nova Scotia,"

December 24, 1814. Treaty of Ghent.

Article II. Interior northeast boundary.

Article IV.

Certain territory in vicinity of Nova Scotia Article VI. North latitude at 45° westward.

November 24, 1817. Declaration of Commissioners at New York on Article IV., Treaty of Ghent.

"Moose Island, Dudley Island, and Frederick Island, in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, do, and each of them does, belong to the United States of America; and we have also decided, and do decide, that all the other islands, and each and every of them, in the said Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay of Fundy, do belong to his said Britannic Majesty. . . .”

January 30, 1819. Ratifications exchanged. (Convention concluded at London, October 20, 1818.)

Definition of the northern boundary from the Lake of the Woods to the "Stoney "Mountains. Article II.

June 18, 1822. Decision of Commissioners at Utica, New York, on Article VI., Treaty of Ghent.

From the 45th degree of north latitude and the Iroquois River, on St. Lawrence River, through Lake Ontario, Erie, Huron, to the water communication with Lake Superior, to determine the national ownership in the various islands.

November 10, 1842. Proclaimed. (Treaty concluded, August 9, 1842; ratifications exchanged, October 13, 1842.) Article II., Treaty of Ghent.

From the water

Article I. The northeastern or St. Croix boundary. Article II. and Article VI. of the Treaty of Ghent. communication between Lake Huron and Lake Superior (see June 18, 1822), through Lake Superior and waters to the

"most northwestern point of the Lake of the Woods; thence along the said line, to the said most northwestern point, being in latitude 49° 23′ 55′′ north, and in longitude 95° 14′ 38′′ west from the observatory at Greenwich; thence, according to existing treaties, due south to its intersection with the 49th parallel of north latitude, and along that parallel to the Rocky Mountains."

August 5, 1846. Proclaimed. (Treaty concluded at Washington, June 15, 1846; ratifications exchanged, July 17, 1846.)

Boundary line west of the Rocky Mountains,

"along said forty-ninth parallel of north latitude to the middle of the channel which separates the continent from Vancouver's Island, and thence southerly through the middle of the said channel, and of Fuca's Straits to the Pacific Ocean :

March 10, 1873.

Protocol proclaimed at Washington.

The channel of Fuca Straits not being determined, Great Britain claiming the line be run through the Rosario Straits; the United States alleging the Canal de Haro, by Article XXXIV. Treaty done in Washington, May 8, 1871, it was agreed to submit to the arbitration and award of His Majesty the Emperor of Germany. Emperor William I. decided, October 21, 1872, in favor of the Canal de Haro.

The Emperor referred the arguments on both sides to three experts, Dr. Grimm, Dr. Kiepert, and Dr. Goldschmidt, personages among the

most eminent of his subjects in jurisprudence and in science, and upon their report he gave his decision.

From France, Purchase, 864,931 Square Miles,
$15,000,000.

Cause. It grew out of the necessity of a seaport for the Northwestern Territory and the Mississippi Territory; assisted (1803) through a possible war between France and England. Napoleon, who was then Consul, unable to care for the "Province," with all his soldiery wanted at home, considered its sale a means of furnishing needed money, at the same time creating a friendly power of the United States, perhaps make it a threatening maritime rival of England.

The United States had in mind the possible conquest of Louisiana and control of the Mississippi River by England in the event of war with France, and with England on the west of the United States (in control of the Mississippi), also on the north, there might be either a bitter struggle or a compulsory alliance, the result of which would be impossible to foresee on the part of the United States.

The purchase of Louisiana was the first acquisition of foreign territory.

April 9, 1682. Robert Cavalier de la Salle, basing his claim upon discovery and occupation, took possession of the valley of the Mississippi, Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois rivers in the name of the French monarch, Louis XIV., as "The Government of Louisiana." In 1703 Pontchartrain designated the province as "The Colony of Mississippi.”

September 14, 1712. Granted to Sieur Anthony Crozat by King Louis XIV., for fifteen years, as a separate colony, subordinate to the government of New France.

Bounded by the lands of the English of Carolina, by New Mexico from the edge of the sea as far as the Illinois River, together with the River of St. Philip (Missouri), and the River of St. Jerome (Wabash), with all the countries, territories, lakes within land, and the rivers which fall directly or indirectly into that part of the River St. Louis (Mississippi).

1755. French claimed watershed of St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River and tributaries.

English conceded a southern limit following St. Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, thence across Lakes Huron and Michigan to the Illinois, descending to Mississippi River, with western watershed of that stream.

1763. France ceded to Great Britain all that portion of Louisiana lying east of the middle of the Mississippi River down to the Spanish possession of Florida. (Also Canada.)

February 10, 1763. France transferred to Spain all territory on the western side of the Mississippi River to repay that power for what it had lost, as an aid in the fight with Great Britain.

October 1, 1800.

Spain retroceded to France

Secret treaty of San Ildefonso, under which

"the colony or province of Louisiana, with the same extent that it now has in the hands of Spain, and that it had when France possessed it, and such as it should be, after the treaties subsequently entered into between Spain and other States."

March 22, 1801. Treaty confirmed at Madrid.

This cession was in consideration of the elevation of the Duke of Parma to the rank of king, and the enlargement of his territory.

April 30, 1803. Treaty concluded at Paris. Article I. ceding to the United States the territory as acquired from Spain October 1, 1800. The agreements of two conventions (April 30, 1803). The first convention fixed the purchase price at a sum equivalent to $15,000,000, i.e. 60,000,000 francs; a stock of $11,250,000, bearing interest of six per cent per annum, payable half-yearly in London, Amsterdam, or Paris; the principal to be reimbursed at the Treasury of the United States in annual payments of not less than $3,000,000 each. The first payment to commence fifteen years after date of the exchange of ratifications, the stock to be transferred to the government of France, or its representatives, three months after treaty ratifications, and possession of Louisiana taken by the United States. (The dollar fixed at five francs 3333 or five livres eight sous Tournois.)

100009

Treaty originally agreed on and written in the French language; later in the English and the French languages.

The second convention assumed to pay the debts due by France to American citizens.

October 17, 1803. Purchase of Louisiana officially communicated to the House by the President.

November 10, 1803. Passed the House with vote 89 to 23; the Senate 26 to 5.

December 20, 1803. New Orleans formally delivered to the United States, possession being taken by a public act. General Wilkinson, with Governor Claiborne of the Territory of Louisiana, authorized to take possession. See "Florida," February 22, 1819.

Oregon Country, by Discovery, 307,000 Square Miles.

The only acquisition was through discovery and occupation, the trapper and fur trader being the pioneers who carried the country's western boundary to the Pacific.

May 7, 1792. Captain Gray of the American ship "Columbia," of Boston, entered the Columbia River.

April 30, 1803. By purchase, France surrendered her claims west of the Mississippi River, possibly the Rocky Mountains a limit.

October 20, 1818. Convention with Great Britain concluded at London. (Ratifications exchanged January 30, 1819.) Definition of boundary from Lake of the Woods to the Stony Mountains.

February 22, 1819. Spain in a treaty (see “Florida") released all claims to the Pacific coast (South Sea) north of latitude 42°, the northern boundary of Spanish California.

April 5-17, 1824. Convention between the United States and Russia concluded at St. Petersburg. (Ratifications exchanged December 30, 1824; January 11, 1825; proclaimed January 12, 1825.)

No establishment to be formed "upon the northwest coast of America, nor in any of the islands adjacent, to the north of fifty-four degrees and forty minutes of north latitude"; and Russia to be similarly governed to the south. Article III.

For Great Britain's boundary agreements, see (this chapter) "Cessions of Great Britain." For Spanish and Mexican limit of territory, see "Florida" and "Mexican Sessions." [Oregon Country is now marked by Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and parts of Wyoming and Montana.]

From Spain, Purchase, 59,268 Square Miles,

$6,500,000.

Object. The Province of Florida was a menace to the southern people, as it furnished a base, and was a temptation to assist invasion on the part of foreign governments; also it became a refuge for the "runaway property" of the slave owners of Georgia and Alabama; besides, its acquisition would finish out the southeastern portion of the United States, carrying an unbroken coast from the St. Croix to the Sabine River.

April 2, 1512. Juan Ponce de Leon discovered and named Florida (see Index), taking possession in the name of the Spanish Monarch.

February 10, 1763. Ceded by Spain to England in exchange for Cuba, which England had captured in 1762. England divided the territory into East and West Florida, with the Appalachicola River as the dividing line (October 7, 1763); the western limit assumed to be the Mis