The Correspondence of Thomas Jefferson
By Subject
MISSISSIPPI RIVER / CONTROL OF
I feel very differently at another piece of intelligence, to wit, the
possibility that the navigation of the Mississippi may be abandoned to
Spain. I never had any interest westward of the Alleghany; and I never
will have any. But I have had great opportunities of knowing the
character of the people who inhabit that country; and I will venture
to say, that the act which abandons the navigation of the Mississippi
is an act of separation between the eastern and western country. It is
a relinquishment of five parts out of eight, of the territory of the
United States; an abandonment of the fairest subject for the payment
of our public debts.
to James Madison, 30 January 1787
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