ADDRESSES OF MAJOR LACEY 129 



Louisiana. The French in the north were trappers, the 

 Spanish in the south were gold seekers, but the English 

 were settlers. 



It is always interesting to discuss what might have 

 been, but it is almost unthinkable to consider the northern 

 part of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois as constituting a part 

 of the state of Connecticut, in the light of subsequent his- 

 tory. But there was a complex variety of things which 

 brought about the present configuration of the great state 

 of Illinois, and the transfer of the land on which Chicago 

 stands to the national government, by the state of Con- 

 necticut. New T York had a shadowy claim, in the days of 

 the Revolution, to parts of Ohio and Virginia. Maryland 

 refused to enter the confederation of the Revolution, on 

 the ground that the Northwest Country should be ceded 

 to the united colonies as a whole, but she still joined 

 hands with her sisters in doing her best to make the 

 struggle for liberty a successful one. It was not, how- 

 ever, till 1781 that she finally became an actual part of the 

 confederation. It was fortunate that there were so many 

 conflicting charters and claims in the Northwest, thus 

 adding to the reasons for nationalizing the public lands. 



New l r ork's claims were very shadowy, and rested 

 upon very slight foundations, but her unconditional con- 

 veyance of these claims to the national government paved 

 the way for the action of other states. Virginia had for- 

 tified her paper title by the successful expedition of Gen- 

 eral George Rogers Clark. 



The peace of 1783 involved France and Spain as well 

 as England. But Jay, Franklin, and Adams so managed 

 it as to save the great Northwest, including the unknown 

 wealth of Lake Superior in iron and copper. 



It was a keen negotiation but the decision opened up 

 the great possibilities of the Northwest to be followed by 

 the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. 



