Things, however, improved rapidly under the new incumbent, whose talent for administration was the most remarkable, perhaps, of his many gifts. Few men more richly endowed, not only in the line of pure intellect, but also in that wisdom that guides toward the best in man’s intercourse with his fellows, have figured in American history. During his brief career as governor of Mississippi he ensured the construction of a government fort near Washington, then the capital of the state; established Jefferson College at Natchez, the first institution of learning in the great Southwest; laid out roads; surveyed boundaries and mail routes; prepared the new land, in fact, for the forces of civilization on their way to enter it. His dealings with the robber bands that infested river traffic and with the disaffected Indians was prompt, decisive and thoroughly effective, compelling the order so essential to the prosperity of a young community. When, in October, 1802, the port of New Orleans was closed, by the Intendant there, against foreign commerce and the American right of deposit, much feeling was aroused in Mississippi, since the injury thereby caused to American trade was great. Governor Claiborne, in his letters to the President and others, advocated stern measures of retaliation, which indeed would doubtless have been tried, had it not been generally known that Spain was negotiating for the sale of Louisiana. Indeed, there was more than a suspicion current as early as 1801, that the sale had been secretly consummated. In 1803, when the purchase of this territory by the United States from France was announced, it was known that no further fear of our encroaching neighbors need be cherished; they were now at our mercy. One of the most important acts of Claiborne’s administration was the collection, at the request of James Madison, Secretary of State, of facts relative to land claims in Mississippi, and conflicting titles thereto. These included, Mr. Madison noted, not only claims grounded upon two grants of land made by Georgia to Mississippi, but also claims under the French government prior to 1763, those derived from the British and Spanish governments previous to the Spanish treaty of 1795, and those under Spanish title subsequent to this treaty. On all these items Governor Claiborne made a most exhaustive report, which became the foundation on which Congress based all future measures for the settlement of local land titles not only in Mississippi, but other Southern states as well. November 9, 1803, Governor Claiborne received notification of his appointment as commissioner, associated with General James Wilkinson, to receive from France the Louisiana Purchase, and to succeed the Spanish governor provisionally, until a government for the new territory should be established. This transfer was received with all due ceremony, in the building known as the Cabildo at New Orleans, December 20, 1803.