1798 John Adams - Mississippi Territory

Was Mississippi worth it?   It may not have seemed so in 1798.  It was controversial, and Adams referred to it as "some matters of less moment".

After signing Pinckney's treaty with Spain.   Andrew Elliot was appointed to be the American boundary commissioner to establish a boundary between Spain and the United Sates.  President John Adams was happy to announce that the boundary line was now complete.

"After the Spanish garrisons had evacuated the posts they occupied at the Natchez and Walnut Hills the commissioner of the United States commences his observations to ascertain the point near the Mississippi which terminated the northernmost part of the 31st degree of north latitude. From thence he proceeded to run the boundary line between the United States and Spain. He was afterwards joined by the Spanish commissioner, when the work of the former was confirmed, and they proceeded together to the demarcation of the line."

But this was without controversy.  When Andrew Elliot first arrived in the Natchez territory in  February 1797, he found two factions of citizens, 'Debtors' and 'Creditors'. On several occasions Elliot overstepped his political authority in Natchez, and created tension between the two sides.  Andrew Elliot became intimately involved in the dissension and Captain Isaac Guioon had to be sent to Natchez to quell the conflicts.  After peace returned, and the last of the Spanish troop had evacuated the garrisons, the was was clear for Elliot to finish his survey and establish the boundary lines.  On March 30, 1798, the Spanish flag was lowered in Natchez, and the American flag was raised.   The Mississippi and lands north of the 31 degrees was now American - The Mississippi territory became an organized incorporated territory of the Untied States.  The boundary line was drawn, but at a great expense and in "in opposition to the will of the Indian tribes".  For President Adams, it was not time to recall the commissioner.  

"Recent information renders it probably that the Southern Indians, either instigated to oppose the demarcation or jealous of the consequences of suffering white people to run a line over lands to which the Indian title had not been extinguished, have ere this time stopped the progress of the commissioners; and considering the mischiefs which may result from continuing the demarcation in opposition to the will of the Indian tribes, the great expense attending it, and that the boundaries which the commissioners have actually established probably extend at least as far as the Indian title has been extinguished, it will perhaps become expedient and necessary to suspend further proceedings by recalling our commissioner."

http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29440
The Uniting States: Louisiana to Ohio by Benjamin F. Shearer (2004) pg 656