The Mississippi Territory and the Southwest Frontier, 1795-1817

Territorial Mississippi was the focus of an intense international rivalry when it became a possession of the United States following Pinckney's Treaty of 1795. The newly created American nation vied for land already claimed by Spain, as well as territory inhabited by natives who had lived on the land for centuries. These challenges, coupled with the constant threat of a British invasion from Canada, made the southwestern frontier a volatile landscape and westward expansion a harrowing strug...