The following set of negotiations over the use of the Mississippi and colonial
borders took place between the US and France, culminating in the Treaty of San
Lorenzo del Escorial on the 27th of October, 1795. Also known as Pickney's Treaty,
after US negotiator Thomas Pickney, the treaty stipulated that France 'accordingly
granted the right to navigate the lower Mississippi, as well as the "right
of deposit" [enabling the US to dock ships and leave goods at port for reshipment]
at New Orleans so ardently desired by the West; and recognised the thrity-first
parallel to the Chattahootchee as the southern border of the US' 1,
that is, the northern most border of West Florida. 2 It was not, however,
until 1798, after exhausting all its rich resources in procrastination, that the
Spanish government evacuated the posts it held north of that line. So that, in
all, fifteen years elapsed before the US obtained control of their own territories
from European powers.' 3
- Samuel Eliot Morison and Henry Steele Commager, The Growth of the American
Republic, Volume 1, Fourth Edition, Oxford University Press, New Haven 1956,
361.
- David J. Weber, The Spanish Frontier in North America, Yale University Press,
New Haven, 1992, 289.
- Morrison and Steele Commager, 361.