" [Footnote: Robertson MSS. His
letter above referred to, and another, in his own hand, to the
Delawares, of about the same date.] He did not spell well; but his
meaning was plain, and his hand was known to be heavy.
CHAPTER III.
THE NAVIGATION OF THE MISSISSIPPI; SEPARATIST MOVEMENTS AND SPANISH
INTRIGUES, 1784-1788.
It was important for the frontiersmen to take the Lake Posts from the
British; but it was even more important to wrest from the Spaniards the
free navigation of the Mississippi. While the Lake Posts were held by
the garrisons of a foreign power, the work of settling the northwestern
territory was bound to go forward slowly and painfully; but while the
navigation of the Mississippi was barred, even the settlements already
founded could not attain to their proper prosperity and importance.
Need of Free Navigation of the Mississippi.
The lusty young commonwealths which were springing into life on the Ohio
and its tributaries knew that commerce with the outside world was
essential to their full and proper growth. The high, forest-clad ranges
of the Appalachians restricted and hampered their mercantile relations
with the older States, and therefore with the Europe which lay beyond;
while the giant river offered itself as a huge trade artery to bring
them close to all the outer world, if only they were allowed its free
use.
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