The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807Roosevelt, Theodore
History
The Winning of the West, Volume 4: Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807
Roosevelt, Theodore
Northwest, Old -- History; United States -- Territorial expansion; West (U.S.) -- History
The chief sufferers, aside from Blennerhassett, were Sebastian and
Innes, of Kentucky. The former resigned from the bench, and the latter
lost a prestige he never regained. A few of their intimate friends also
suffered. But their opponents did not fare much better. Daveiss and
Marshall were the only men in the West whose action toward Burr had been
thoroughly creditable, showing alike vigor, intelligence, and loyalty.
To both of them the country was under an obligation. Jefferson showed
his sense of this obligation in a not uncharacteristic way by removing
Daveiss from office; Marshall was already in private life, and all that
could be done was to neglect him.
The Trial of Burr.
As for Burr, he was put on trial for high treason, with Wilkinson as
state's evidence. Jefferson made himself the especial champion of
Wilkinson; nevertheless the General cut a contemptible figure at the
trial, for no explanation could make his course square with honorable
dealing. Burr was acquitted on a technicality. Wilkinson, the double
traitor, the bribe-taker, the corrupt servant of a foreign government,
remained at the head of the American Army.
CHAPTER VII.
THE EXPLORERS OF THE FAR WEST, 1804-1807.
The Far West.
The Far West, the West beyond the Mississippi, had been thrust on
Jefferson, and given to the nation, by the rapid growth of the Old West,
the West that lay between the Alleghanies and the Mississippi. The
actual title to the new territory had been acquired by the United States
Government, acting for the whole nation. It remained to explore the
territory thus newly added to the national domain. The Government did
not yet know exactly what it had acquired, for the land was not only
unmapped but unexplored. Nobody could tell what were the boundary lines
which divided it from British America on the north and Mexico on the
south, for nobody knew much of the country through which these lines
ran; of most of it, indeed, nobody knew anything. On the new maps the
country now showed as part of the United States; but the Indians who
alone inhabited it were as little affected by the transfer as was the
game they hunted.
Need for its Exploration.
Even the Northwestern portion of the land definitely ceded to the United
States by Great Britain in Jay's treaty was still left in actual
possession of the Indian tribes, while the few whites who lived among
them were traders owing allegiance to the British Government. The
head-waters of the Mississippi and the beautiful country lying round
them were known only in a vague way; and it was necessary to explore and
formally take possession of this land of lakes, glades, and forests.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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