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Show The Peace of 1783 left the thirteen States without access by water to the ocean except from the eastern slope of the Appalachian Mountains. At the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia frontier on the northeast of the Massachusetts territory called Maine, navigation on the St. John River and the true location of the international boundary line were both left in serious dispute with Great Britain, whose disgruntled king had also closed the St. Lawrence River, shutting off all American commerce between the Great Lakes and the sea *16a The treaty of peace 1? acknowledging the independence of the thirteen States provided that "... the navigation of the River Mississippi from its source to the ocean shall forever remain free and open to the subjects of Great Britain and the citizens of the United States." But none of the United States, nor all of them together, then possessed either the river or the right of navigation thereon to the ocean. This artful reser- vation by the British sovereign may have had its inspiration in the Treaty of Paris (1763) by which England, France and Spain divided up the sovereignty of North America, with France ostensibly retiring from this continent; but in any event it was a facile change of front for a monarch who had just spurred his colonies to revolt by closing their ports and territorial waters to all flags except his own.1® By virtue of the Treaty of Versailles, signed the same day as the definitive treaty of peace between Great Britain and the States, all British claims to the Floridas were relinquished to Spain, so that the Mississ- ippi River all the way from its source to within about one hundred miles of the Gulf of Mexico was left as the international boundary between the unorganized remaining parts of the northwest territory when states or new territories wore created therefrom (2 Stat. at L. 58, 173, 514 3 Stat. at L. 289); and was partially adopted for the government of still other territories create-d from the public domain from time to time. . It has been considered in many decisions. A discussion showing its partial abrogation by admission of States carved out of the northwest territory appears in Escanaba Co. v. Chicago, 107 U.S. 678, 2 Sup. Ct, 185, 27 L. Ed. 442 (1883), afftg 12 Fed. 777 (CC. Ill. 1882); see also Sands v. MMiisteo River Impv Co., 123 U. So 288", 8 Sup. Ct. 113? 31 L. Ed. II4.9 (1887), afftg 53 Mich. 593> 19 N.W. 199 (188U); Indiana v. Kentucky* 136 U. S. kl9, 10 Sup. Ct. 1051, 3JL4. L. Ed. 329 (I89O). •^See note 19, infra, . 'This treaty appears in 8 Stat. at L» 80, and supplemental treaties about freedom of commerce and navigation appear in the same volume at pp. 117* 130 and ljl. See also 1 Malloy's Treaties, 586. The provision for free naviga-tion of the Mississippi by Great Britain disappeared in the Treaty of Ghent (181-U)- at the close of the second war with Great Britain and was never revived. A^ the time the treaty of peace was signed in 1783* it was believed that the Mississippi River had its source in British territory. See 5 American Sta-fc-e Papers, Foreign Relations, 577* ^The Navigation Act passed by the British Parliament in I65I restricted colonial trade to English bottoms and many articles- of commerce to Snglisjte . markets only. It was the cause of much colonial smuggling for more than^a century and the revival of attempts to enforce it and similar legislation the reign of George III was one of the contributing causes of the American Revolution* |