Ellicott, Andrew:

$6,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

THE JOURNAL OF ANDREW ELLICOTT LATE COMMISSIONER ON BEHALF OF THE UNITED STATES DURING PART OF THE YEAR 1796, THE YEARS 1797, 1798, 1799, AND PART OF THE YEAR 1800: FOR DETERMINING THE BOUNDARY ... At the end of the 18th century, Andrew Ellicott was one of the most experienced surveyors in the United States. Following the Revolution, he worked with David Rittenhouse and Bishop James Madison to extend the survey of the Mason-Dixon line through the Ohio country, what would become the old Northwest Territory. Ellicott was tasked, after Alexander Hamilton's Compromise of 1790 created a new U.S. capital, with accomplishing the surveys and laying out the plans for Washington, D.C. As the new nation grew, attention turned to its southernmost border. Thomas Pinckney's 1796 treaty with Spain defined that border between the United States and Spanish Florida, guaranteed United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River and ended the West Florida conflict. Ellicott was appointed commissioner to determine the new boundary between the U.S. and Spain, and his four-year travels for that purpose are detailed in the text of this work. The account was available in Philadelphia in the Fall of 1803, at a price of $5 (or $6 bound), and proved popular and influential, particularly on his pupil: a young Meriwether Lewis, who likely carried a copy with him on his famous expedition. The maps show the border and the region in far more detail than they had been illustrated previously.The first th

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