56 The Winning of the West 



when the peace negotiations were begun, they speed 

 ily found that their allies were, if anything, more 

 anxious than their enemy to hamper their growth. 

 England, having conceded the grand point of inde 

 pendence, was disposed to be generous, and not 

 to haggle about lesser matters. Spain, on the con 

 trary, was quite as hostile to the new nation as 

 to England. Through her representative, Count 

 Aranda, she predicted the future enormous expan 

 sion of the Federal Republic at the expense of 

 Florida, Louisiana, and Mexico, unless it was ef 

 fectually curbed in its youth. The prophecy has 

 been strikingly fulfilled, and the event has thor 

 oughly justified Spain's fear; for the major part 

 of the present territory of the United States was 

 under Spanish dominion at the close of the Rev 

 olutionary War. Spain, therefore, proposed to hem 

 in our growth by giving us the Alleghanies for 

 our western boundary. 6 France was the ally of 

 America; but as between America and Spain, she 

 favored the latter. Moreover, she wished us to 

 remain weak enough to be dependent upon her 

 further good graces. The French court, therefore, 

 proposed that the United States should content 

 themselves with so much of the trans-Alleghany 

 territory as lay round the head-waters of the Ten 

 nessee and between the Cumberland and Ohio. This 

 area contained the bulk of the land that was already 



8 At the north this boundary was to follow the upper Ohio, 

 and end toward the foot of Lake Erie. See maps at end of 

 volume. 



