Immediately following this treaty between France and Spain, on the
30th of April of the same year, France sold the whole territory to the
United States, for fifteen millions of dollars. Gen. Wilkinson was
ordered to take possession of the new purchase, which he did, amid the
rejoicings of the warm hearted Frenchman, whose love of liberty had
increased as the galling yoke of his Spanish master bore down upon his
neck. To him the day was one that he had long desired, the day for
knocking off his chains and throwing them in the face of the insolent
Spaniard.--From this hour, the riches of the Mississippi Valley were
unlocked. The march of improvement, and the swelling tide of business,
poured out her treasures into every clime, and at once determined that
this valley was the grand centre to which the extremes and every part
of the circle of this vast continent must yield their homage.