It is maintained on the part of the United States that the territory
they held on the continent of North America prior to the purchase of
Louisiana and the Floridas was possessed by a title derived from their
own Declaration of Independence on the 4th of July, 1776, the assertion
of that independence in a successful war, and its acknowledgment by
Great Britain as a preliminary to any negotiation for a treaty of peace.
It is admitted on the part of Great Britain that a territory designated
by certain limits was _granted_ to the United States in the treaty of
1783. As a matter of national pride, the question whether the territory
of the original United States was held by the right of war or by virtue
of a grant from the British Crown is not unimportant; as a basis of
title it has not the least bearing on the subject. From the date of the
treaty of 1783 all pretensions of the British Crown to jurisdiction or
property within the limits prescribed by the provisions of that
instrument ceased, and when a war arose in 1812 between the two nations
it was terminated by the treaty of Ghent, in which the original
boundaries were confirmed and acknowledged on both sides.
The treaty of 1783, therefore, is, in reference to this territory, the
only instrument of binding force upon the two parties; nor can any other
document be with propriety brought forward in the discussion except for
the purpose of explaining and rendering definite such of the provisions
of that treaty as are obscure or apparently uncertain.
The desire of full and ample illustration, which has actuated both
parties, has led to the search among neglected archives for documents
almost innumerable, and their force and bearing upon the question have
been exhibited in arguments of great ability. Such has been the talent
shown in this task of illustration and so copious have been the
materials employed for the purpose that the great and only important
question, although never lost sight of by the writers themselves, has
to the eye of the casual observer been completely hidden. In the report
under consideration this distinction between treaties of binding force
and documents intended for mere illustration has not been regarded, and
the vague as well as obviously inaccurate delineations of a French or a
Venetian map maker are gravely held forth as of equal value for a basis
of argument as the solemn and ratified acts of the two nations.
In pursuance of this desire of illustration, every known document which
could in any form support either claim has been advanced and set forth
in the statements laid before His Majesty the King of the Netherlands
when acting as umpire under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent. If
not yet given entire to the public,[39] they are in the possession of
both Governments in a printed form, together with the opinion of the
arbiter in respect to them; and although it is necessary that the
arguments then adduced in favor of the American claim should be in part
repeated, and although new illustrations of the correctness of that
argument have since been brought to light, the present document will be
confined as closely as possible to the provisions of the treaty itself,
and will adduce no more of illustration than is barely sufficient to
render the terms of that treaty certain and definite.
[Footnote 39: A considerable part of the papers, together with the
argument, has been published by Mr. Gallatin in his Right of the United
States to the Northeastern Boundary. New York, 1840. 8 vo. pp. 180.]
The boundaries of the United States are described in the treaty of 1783
in the following words:[40]
[Footnote 40: The words here appearing in italics are not italicized in
the original treaty.]
"And that _all disputes which might arise in future on the subject
of the boundaries of the said United States may be prevented_ it is
hereby agreed and declared that the following are and shall be their
boundaries, viz: _From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia_, viz, _that
angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source of
St. Croix River to the highlands; along the said highlands which divide
those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from
those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean_ to the _northwesternmost_ head
of Connecticut River; _thence_ down along the middle of that river to
the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; from thence by a line due west
on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois, or Cataraquy;
thence along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario; through the
middle of said lake until it strikes the communication by water between
that lake and Lake Brie; thence along the middle of said communication
into Lake Erie through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the
water communication between that lake and Lake Huron; thence along the
middle of said water communication into the Lake Huron; thence through
the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and
Lake Superior; thence through Lake Superior northward of the Isles Royal
and Phelipeaux to the Long Lake; thence through the middle of said Long
Lake and the water communication between it and the Lake of the Woods to
the said Lake of the Woods; thence through the said lake to the most
northwestern point thereof, and from thence on a due west course to the
river Mississippi; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of the
said river Mississippi until it shall intersect the northernmost part of
the thirty-first degree of north latitude; south by a line to be drawn
due east from the determination of the line last mentioned in the
latitude of 31° north of the equator to the middle of the river
Apalachicola, or Catahouche; thence along the middle thereof to its
junction with the Flint River; thence straight to the head of St. Marys
River, and thence down along the middle of St. Marys River to the
Atlantic Ocean; east _by a line to be drawn along the middle of the
river St. Croix from its mouth in the Bay of Fundy to its source_ and
from its source _directly north_ to the aforesaid highlands which divide
the rivers that fall into the Atlantic Ocean from those which fall into
the river St. Lawrence; comprehending all islands within 20 leagues of
any part of the shores of the United States and lying between lines to
be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between
Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other shall
respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting
such islands as now are or heretofore have been within the limits of
the said Province of Nova Scotia."
So far as the present question is concerned, five points of discussion
are presented by this article of the treaty of 1783: