THE NORTHWESTERN BOUNDARY -LINE. 207 
Thus, when the Thirteen Colonies obtained inde- 
pendence, and treated for the partition between them 
and Great Britain of the British empire in America, 
each took the part of which they respectively held 
constructive jurisdiction, according to its recognized 
limits in time of peace,—that is to say, Great Britain 
retained for herself the territories which she had con- 
quered from France, and relinquished to the Thirteen 
Colonies all the territory which she had theretofore 
claimed as hers against France by title of colonization 
and possession. 
The new Republic thus became the sovereign of a 
magnificent territory regarded in the comparison with 
European standards of magnitude, and also of intrin- 
sic value and resources unsurpassed by the posses- 
sions of any European State. 
But, even with such limits, we felt cribbed and con- 
fined from the first: for the statesmen of the United 
States had clear perception not only of what we pos- 
sessed as territory, but also of what we needed to 
possess in order to be a first-rate Power in America. 
We found ourselves blocked in on the North by 
the British possessions, which also overshadowed us 
on the East, and which were at that time of sufficient 
relative strength to constitute an object of solicitude 
to us so long as they remained in the hands of Great 
Britain. 
Westward, we were hemmed in along the Missis- 
sippi by the French, who also held the mouths of 
that river, and barred us from access to the sea in 
that direction. 
