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CHAPTER XIII. 

 1803 to 1806. 



Cession of Louisiana by France to the United States — Inquiries as to the true Extent 

 of Louisiana — Erroneous Supposition that its Limits towards the North had been 

 fixed by Commissaries agreeably to the Treaty of Utrecht — President Jefferson 

 sends Lewis and Clarke to examine the Missouri and Columbia — Account of their 

 Expedition from the Mississippi to the Pacific. 



The discovery, or rediscovery, of the Columbia River, by Gray, 

 remained almost entirely unknown, until it was communicated to the 

 world by the publication of the narrative of Vancouver's expedition, 

 in 1798 ; at which time, and for several years afterwards, no one 

 imagined that any thing connected with that river would ever be- 

 come particularly interesting to the people or government of the 

 United States of America. 



The territories of the United States were, at that time, all in- 

 cluded between the Atlantic Ocean on the east and the Mississippi 

 River on the west. In the north were the British provinces ; in the 

 south lay Florida, belonging to Spain ; and beyond the Mississippi, 

 the Spaniards also claimed the vast region called Louisiana, stretch- 

 ing from the Gulf of Mexico northward and north-westward to an 

 undefined extent. Thus all communication between the States of 

 the Federal Union and the Pacific was completely cut off, by the in- 

 terposition of countries possessed by foreign and unfriendly nations. 



The position of the United States, and of their government and 

 people, with regard to the north-western portion of the continent, 

 was, however, entirely changed after the 30th of April, 1803, when 

 Louisiana, which had been ceded by Spain to France in 1 800, came 

 into their possession, by purchase from the latter power. From that 

 moment, the route across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pa- 

 cific lay open to the Americans ; and nothing could be anticipated 

 capable of arresting their progress in the occupation of the whole 

 territory included between those seas. 



Before relating the measures taken by the government of the 

 United States in consequence of the acquisition of Louisiana, it will 



