As already said, the sense of national unity among the frontiersmen was
small. The men of the Cumberland in writing to the Creeks spoke of the
Franklin people as if they belonged to an entirely distinct nation, and
as if a war with or by one community concerned in no way the other
[Footnote: Robertson MSS. Robertson to McGillivray, Nashville, 1788.
"Those aggressors live in a different state and are governed by
different laws, consequently we are not culpable for their
misconduct."]; while the leaders of Franklin were carrying on with the
Spaniards negotiations quite incompatible with the continued sovereignty
of the United States. Indeed it was some time before the southwestern
people realized that after the Constitution went into effect they had no
authority to negotiate commercial treaties on their own account. Andrew
Jackson, who had recently taken up his abode in the Cumberland country,
was one of the many men who endeavored to convince the Spanish agents
that it would be a good thing for both parties if the Cumberland people
were allowed to trade with the Spaniards; in which event the latter
would of course put a stop to the Indian hostilities. [Footnote:
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