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Show 78 HISTORY OF PUBLIC LAND LAW DEVELOPMENT New England Federalists had been quite content with the administration of Washington and Adams (their own man) and with the fiscal policies of Hamilton. They were most unhappy, however, with the election of Jefferson and the continued antagonism of the Republicans toward England. They were deeply disturbed by the growth of the new West, the admission of new states and the presence of their new radical Representatives in the Congress. It was bad enough to have Vermont and Kentucky-both representing the spirit of the frontier-enter the Union in 1791 and 1792 respectively, but it was worse to have Tennessee, a second new slave state, enter in 1796 and then Ohio in 1803, as a free state, but one with political principles closer to those of Jefferson and Virginia than to those of Adams and Massachusetts. Then came the sudden purchase of Louisiana, a territory that could be divided into additional states, satellites to the South, and peopled by its surplus population.3 This was too much for New England. Not yet realizing that it was to play a powerful role in developing the West and that its leaders were to have great political influence in that area, New England was becoming increasingly disillusioned with the Union and fearful that its own influence would be swamped by new, radically oriented states. The treaty with France providing for the purchase of the Louisiana Territory was ratified by an overwhelming vote, but seven Senators voted in opposition: two from Connecticut, two from New Hampshire, one from Massachusetts, and two from Delaware. The same minority led the fight in opposition to the measure to appropriate funds for the purchase.4 3 Geological Survey Bulletin 1212, Boundaries of the United States and the Several States (1966), is useful for its swift account of acquisitions of territory by the United States and of national and state boundary questions. 4 The Senators from Vermont and Rhode Island voted for ratification. Senate Executive Journal, I, 450; Annals of Congress, 8th Cong., 1st sess., p. 74. Also see John Bach McMaster, History oj the People of the United States (8 vols., New York, 1883-1913), III,42ff. In fact, New England had little reason to fear the creation of new states out of the Louisiana Purchase. For years the bulk of the people moving westward were content to take up land east of the Mississippi. True, Louisiana was admitted in 1812 and Missouri in 1821 with barely sufficient population to meet requirements, but not until 1836 and 1846 were other states carved out of the Louisiana Purchase ready for admission. Long before then New England was sending its own surplus population and," equally important, investment funds to new western communities which assimilated her political and social views. By the retrocession of Louisiana to France, Spain lost the most valuable part of its empire north of the Rio Grande and took on additional boundary disputes with the United States both on the western and eastern borders of Louisiana. Americans had some justification for claiming that the Purchase included that portion of Florida bounded by the Perdido River on the east and all the Gulf Coast, now a part of Mississippi and Alabama, and that it extended to the Rio Grande on the west. Both claims were adopted by Jefferson and disputed by Spain. The Spanish position was not aided by the growth of population in Georgia and the movement of settlers into Mississippi Territory. A restless, sometimes lawless, landgrabbing people who had little respect for the weak government below the line were coming close to East and West Florida. Moreover, Spanish officials had earlier invited Americans and other immigrants into Florida, and had thereby gained an undependable population. While maintaining America's right to West Florida, Jefferson was careful not to push the issue to war but sought to purchase all of East and West Florida. Spain refused to give way, but events in Europe in 1810 encouraged the population of West Florida to revolt against the weak Spanish authority, and the predominantly American population of Baton Rouge overthrew the local government, declared their independence, and requested annexation to the United States. |