Louisiana and Aaron Burr 289 



stand a chance of success in the conflict it was cer- 

 tain that they would try to throw off the yoke of the 

 fanatical and corrupt Spanish Government. As 

 early as 1801 bands of armed Americans had pene- 

 trated here and there into the Spanish provinces 

 in defiance of the commands of the authorities, and 

 were striving to set up little bandit governments of 

 their own. 54 



The frontiersmen possessed every advantage of 

 position, of numbers, and of temper. In any contest 

 that might arise with Spain they were sure to take 

 possession at once of all of what was then called 

 Upper Louisiana. The immediate object of interest 

 to most of them was the commerce of the Missis- 

 sippi River and the possession of New Orleans ; but 

 this was only part of what they wished, and were 

 certain to get, for they demanded all the Spanish ter- 

 ritory that lay across the line of their westward 

 march. At the beginning of the nineteenth century 

 the settlers on the Western waters recognized in 

 Spain their natural enemy, because she was the power 

 who held the mouth and the west bank of the Mis- 

 sissippi. They would have transferred their hostil- 

 ity to any other power which fell heir to her posses- 

 sions, for these possessions they were bound one day 

 to make their own. 



A thin range of settlement extended from the 

 shores of Lake Erie on the north to the boundary 

 of Florida on the south; and there were out-posts 

 here and there beyond this range, as at Fort Dear- 



M Do., p. 447- 

 VOL. VIII. 13 



