OQy THE TliKATY OF WASHINGTOX. 



On tlie South, Spain sliiit us up on the side of the 

 Gulf of Mexico. 



It was ini])ossi])le in this state of tilings that the 

 United States could attain the development to Avhieh, 

 in other res])eets, they had the right to as2)ire, Ijy rea- 

 son of the fertility of their soil, tlieir numerous rivei's, 

 and their eonnnanding position in the temperate zone 

 of America. 



But the cession of Louisiana to the United States 

 by the voluntary act of France, — the most splendid 

 concession ever made by one nation to another, — jn'o- 

 duced a revolution in the condition of America. We 

 thus ac(piired territory of indefinite limits westward, 

 with such limits on the south as the j)retensions of 

 S])ain woidd allow, an<l witli limits north only where 

 sui)erior claim of right on the part of Great Britain 

 intervened, namely, tlie parallel of forty-nine degrees 

 established between Fi'ance and Great Britain by the 

 Treaty of Utrecht. 



President Jefierson lost no time in asserting the 

 rights of the United States in the interior of the 

 Union, and at the same time acquiring knowledge of 

 the CGuntiy'' by means of tiie celebrated expedition of 

 Lewis and Clark. Theretofore the only knowledge 

 we possessed of the great chain of the Kocky ]\lount* 

 ains, and of the country or even the name of the coun- 

 try of Oregon beyond, was founded on the narration 

 of Jonathan Carver, or other information derived 

 from the Lidians. 



"\Ve were thus enaljled to comprelienu the relation 

 of Louisiana to the shores of the Pacific, and to see 



