Hand Colored.; Letters of Aranda and Franklin printed in facsimile in the left border reflect the official use of the map in establishing United States boundaries.; Reprint of map published in 1792 by Le Rouge, Paris.; Third impression of the 3d French ed.; Relief shown pictorially.; Includes text and inset "Nouvelle carte de la Baye dH́udson et de Labrador selon las dernieres cartes levées sur les lieux."; In upper border: The United States of America, showing the boundaries fixed in 1782 five years before the ratification of the Constitution, from a contemporary copy of Benjamin Franklin's red-line map identified in Spain by the Library of Congress at Washington, issued by the United States Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission.; "The two letters printed in facsimile near the western border of this map ... demonstrate the official quality of the red line which shows our original external boundary. The letter from Franklin to Vergennes is taken from French archives ... Franklin and Jay were then members of our peace commission at Paris, Vergennes was the foreign minister of France, Aranda was the Spanish minister at Paris, and Floridablanca was the foreign minister of Spain. In free translation with explanatory clauses added, Aranda's letter of Jan. 1, 1785 [to Floridablanca] may be rendered as follows 'I now send you a map just like the one I sent you on Aug. 10, 1782, when I began negociating with John Jay concerning the boundary between the United States and the Spanish possessions in North America. It is marked in accordance with the boundary articles of the treaty of Nov. 30, 1782, between the United States and England. The boundaries upon this map are copied from the very map upon which Benjamin Franklin marked the boundaries for Monsieur de Vergennes less than four weeks ago on Dec. 6, 1782.'"; "This map is one of a series of similar colored maps, depicting the 13 original states from New Hampshire to Georgia at the time formation of the Constitution."; Also available online.
U.S. Geological Survey (publisher)
Mitchell, John, 1711-1768. (creator)
Hawkins.; Franklin, Benjamin, 1706-1790.; Le Rouge, Georges-Louis.; Geological Survey (U.S.); United States. Constitution Sesquicentennial Commission. (contributor)
1938