Excerpt from The Writings of Thomas Jefferson, Vol. 3: Containing His Autobiography, Notes on Virginia, Parliamentary Manual, Official Papers, Messages and Addresses, and Other Writings, Official and Private, Now Collected and Published in Their Entirety for the First Time Ohio to the Gulf. Spain held New Orleans and com rnanded the mouth of the Mississippi. If she was to remain there she must grant unrestricted privileges. As early as 1790, when Jefierson was Secretary of State under Washington, he demanded unhamijered transit. He saw as no other man so clearly saw at that time, the tremendous significance of that question. Through his efforts the free use of the port of New Orleans was granted. After that all went well until a few years later the right of deposit on the wharves andinthe warehouses at New Orleans was withdrawn. Then the West was instantly aflame and it became apparent that there could be no sure and lasting peace until the control of the Mississippi was so fixed that the United States would not be dependent upon any foreign power for its absolutely free navigation. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.