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Territory of Louisiana by act of March 3, 1805 (2 Stat. 331). By act of Congress of April 8, 1812 (2 Stat. 702), effective April 30, the Territory of Orleans, except the area north and east of Lake Pontchartrain, which was added by a later act, was admitted as a State under the name of Louisiana, and by the act of June 4, 1812, the name of the Territory of Louisiana was changed to Missouri Territory. (See fig. 19.) In the same year the limits of the State were enlarged on the southeast to their present extent (2 Stat. 708). The United States claim to the area between the Sabine and the Mississippi was not recognized by Spain until 1819.

The act approved March 26, 1804, (2 Stat. 283) defines the Territory of Orleans as

all that portion of country, ceded by France to the United States under the name of Louisiana, which lies south of the Mississippi territory, and of an east and west line to commence on the Mississippi river, at the thirty-third degree of north latitude, and to extend west to the western boundary of the said cession, shall constitute a Territory of the United States, under the name of the territory of Orleans.

The following clause from the act admitting Louisiana as a State defines its original boundaries:

* beginning at the mouth of the river Sabine; thence by a line to be drawn along the middle of said river, including all islands, to the thirty-second degree of latitude; thence due north, to the northernmost part of the thirty-third degree of north latitude; thence along the said parallel of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the river Iberville, and from thence along the middle of the said river and lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain to the Gulf of Mexico; thence, bounded by the said gulf, to the place of beginning, including all islands within three leagues of the coast.

The Iberville River is now known as Bayou Manchac. (See p. 35.) An act approved April 14, 1812 (2 Stat. 708), made the following addition to Louisiana:

Beginning at the junction of the Iberville with the river Mississippi, thence along the middle of the Iberville, the river Amite, and of the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the eastern mouth of the Pearl River; thence up the eastern branch of Pearl River to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning, shall become and form a part of the State of Louisiana.

This change in the boundary, whereby an area of more than 5,000 square miles was added to the State, required acceptance by the legislature before it became effective. (See fig. 17.)

The question has often been asked why the State boundary as fixed by the act of April 8, 1812, was not made to include the area added a few days later. When the enabling act of February 20, 1811, was under consideration, it was proposed to include in the new State all or

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part of West Florida as described in the treaty of 1763 between Spain and Great Britain, but because of numerous objections this area was purposely omitted. The matter was brought up in the constitutional convention of January 1812, when it was again proposed to include the West Florida area east to the Perdido River, but the proposition was voted down, presumably because the enlarged area would include too many Anglo-American inhabitants, the objectors being largely among the Creoles of Louisiana (Cox, 1918, p. 548, 599, 601, 604).

A few days later, however, the convention sent a memorial to Congress asking that the West Florida area, west of the Pearl River, be at once made a part of the proposed State. This request was refused, as it was deemed best to provide for the change in a separate bill. The principal reasons for this action were that it gave the people of the new State an opportunity for accepting or refusing the addition as they saw fit, and although the United States was in actual possession of the area, the title was in dispute and according to the presidential proclamation of October 27, 1810, was subject to "amicable negotiation." 24

The water boundary between Mississippi and Louisiana south of the Pearl River is thus described (202 U.S. 58; see also 202 U.S. 1):

34 For references to Congressional debates on this subject, see "Annals of Congress" (Pub. in 1853), 11th Cong., 3d sess., p. 486; 12th Cong., 1st sess., v. 1, p. 186-194, 1159; v. 2, p. 1185-1216.

the deep water channel sailing line emerging from the most eastern mouth of Pearl River into Lake Borgne and extending through the northeast corner of Lake Borgne, north of Half Moon or Grand Island, thence east and south through Mississippi Sound, through South Pass between Cat Island and Isle a Pitre, to the Gulf of Mexico, *

The north boundary of the Territory of Orleans (now the State of Louisiana) was surveyed in 1806, presumably along the 33d parallel, from the west bank of the Mississippi River to the east bank of the Red River, a reported distance of 147 miles 49 chains. Most of the marks were blazed trees. This location of the line was accepted in 1841 as the State boundary. From mile 101 to the Red River this line was resurveyed and re-marked in 1841. Other parts of the line have been resurveyed as part of the regular work of the General Land Office. West of the Red River the line was surveyed in 1839. The western 6 miles was resurveyed in 1895, and a stone post 48 inches long and 10 inches square was placed on the Texas line to mark the northwest corner of the State.

The Geological Survey has located points on this line as follows: Near east end of line, lat 33°00′16.5" N., long 91°13′21.2" W.; near Arkana, lat 33°01′11.0" N., long 93°40′24.7" W.; 15 miles east of the northwest corner of the State, lat 33°01′09.7'' N., long 94°01′18.6'' W. For reference to the survey of the west boundary, see Texas, page 197.

ALABAMA

On March 3, 1817, by an act of Congress, Alabama Territory was formed from the eastern part of Mississippi Territory. Alabama was admitted into the Union by resolution dated December 14, 1819. The enabling act of March 2, 1819 (3 Stat. L. 490), describes the boundaries as follows:

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beginning at the point where the line of the thirty-first degree of north latitude intersects the Perdido river; thence east to the western boundary line of the state of Georgia; thence along said line to the southern boundary line of the state of Tennessee; thence west along said boundary line to the Tennessee river; thence up the same to the mouth of Bear creek; thence by a direct line to the northwest corner of Washington county; thence due south to the Gulf of Mexico; thence eastwardly, including all the islands within six leagues of the shore, to the Perdido river; and thence up the same to the beginning. Section 3 of the enabling act provided that

it shall be the duty of the surveyor of the lands of the United States south of the state of Tennessee, and the surveyor of the public lands in the Alabama territory, to run and cut out the line of demarcation, between the state of Mississippi and the state to be formed of the Alabama territory; and if it should

The western crossing of the Tennessee River is intended.

appear to said surveyors, that so much of said line designated in the preceding section, running due south, from the north-west corner of Washington county to the Gulf of Mexico, will encroach on the counties of Wayne, Green, or Jackson, in said state of Mississippi, then the same shall be so altered as to run in a direct line from the north-west corner of Washington county to a point on the Gulf of Mexico, ten miles east of the mouth of the river Pascagola.

That part of the Alabama-Mississippi boundary from the mouth of Bear Creek, on the Tennessee River, southerly to the northwest corner of what was then Washington County, Ala., was surveyed by James W. Exum, U.S. deputy surveyor, in 1820 under the direction of John Coffee and Thomas Freeman. The field notes and plats of this survey, which were approved by John Coffee on October 12, 1820, are filed in the Records of the General Land Office, now in the custody of the National Archives and Records Service. A trial line was run northerly from the stump of an oak tree 20 feet tall which marked the corner of the county. The true bearing of this part of the boundary was found to be N. 2°08′ E. The final line was run on that course, and posts were established at each mile, the measured distance being 204 miles 30 chains.

The part of the boundary between the line described above and the Gulf of Mexico was also surveyed in 1820 under the direction of Thomas Freeman.26 From this survey it was found that

the experimental line encroached on the Counties of Wayne, Green and Jackson in the State of Mississippi & *** falls on the Gulf of Mexico six miles, 22 chains & 54 links East of the Mouth of the river or Bay of Pascagola *** we have determined to alter said line to a point on the Gulf of Mexico three miles, 57 chains & 46 links East of the experimental line, * * * which will be ten miles east of the mouth of the river or Bay of Pascagola, and there fix permanently the termination of the boundary line between the States of Mississippi & Alabama.

The final line was run and marked as above described for a distance of a little more than 102 miles, and a terminal mound was established about 3 miles from the Gulf, further progress being prevented by swamps. The entire line was cleared, all nearby trees were blazed, posts were set at each mile, and at important points mounds of earth 12 feet at the base and 5 feet high were erected.

The boundary between Alabama and Mississippi is described as follows (Whitefield, 1906, p. 244):

[Beginning at] a point on the west bank of the Tennessee river, six fourpole chains south of and above the mouth of Yellow creek; thence up the said river to the mouth of Bear creek; thence by a direct line to what was formerly the northwest corner of the county of Washington, (Ala.); thence in a direct

26 See unpublished report by John Coffee and Thomas Freeman, dated May 29, 1820, and field notes on file in the records of the General Land Office.

line to a point ten miles east of the Pascagoula river, on the Gulf of Mexico: The boundary between Alabama and Tennessee is by statute the 35th parallel of north latitude (see North Carolina, p. 153); from Nickajack (see Georgia, p. 165) the line runs (Keys and Wood, 1877, p. 189)

west along the southern boundary line of the state of Tennessee crossing the Tennessee river, and on to second intersection of said river by said line.

In October, 1807, Thomas Freeman made sextant observations for latitude a short distance east of the Elk River, near long 87° W. He marked a point which he estimated was on the 35th parallel, the north boundary of the area then called the Mississippi Territory, and ran the line between the Elk River and the old Cherokee line, a distance of about 30 miles. In 1817 the line was extended westward to the Tennessee River, a measured distance of a little more than 712 miles. Between 1822 and 1839 this boundary line was run eastward as far as the northwest corner of Georgia. The notes of these surveys are in the Alabama field notebooks of the General Land Office.

For the history of the boundary between Alabama and Georgia, see Georgia, pages 165–166; and for the history of the boundary between Alabama and Florida, see Florida, pages 167-168.

The northeast corner of Alabama, as now marked, is more than a mile south of the 35th parallel. The north boundary crosses the 35th parallel near long 87°20′ W. and at the northwest corner of the State it is about half a mile north of its proper position as defined by statute. The latitude and longitude of a number of points on the western part of the north boundary are given in U.S. Geological Survey Bulletins 216, 276, 440, and 551 (Gannett, 1903, 1905; R. B. Marshall, 1910, 1914).

TENNESSEE

Tennessee was originally a part of North Carolina. In 1784 the Legislature of North Carolina passed an act of cession to the United States of its western counties. Although the act was soon afterward repealed, the people of Greene, Sullivan, and Washington Counties (now eastern Tennessee), believing themselves to be without proper government and inadequately defended against the Indians, revolted in 1785 and proceeded to organize an independent State to be called Franklin. A constitution was adopted, and a governor and a legislature were elected. It was planned to invite the inhabitants of adjoining areas now forming parts of Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama to join the movement and thus create a large State; but the continued opposition of North Carolina finally prevailed, and in 1788 North Carolina again gained control. (Haywood, 1823, p. 142–175; Am. Hist. Rev., 1903, v. 8, p. 271–293.)

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