hey can spread out all over this country and grow to
be as big as England herself; and of course anybody can see that that is
impossible. I'll just put up a net along the Mississippi River, and
prevent them crossing over it. That will be the only way to keep them
within bounds."

And so France held the Mississippi, and from there back to the Rocky
Mountains, and whenever the United States citizen desired to go west of
the Mississippi, France said: "No, dear child. Stay within your own yard
and play, like a good little boy," or something to that effect.

Now the United States citizen didn't like this at all; he had pushed his
way with much trouble and expense and hard work through bands of Indians
and through forests and over rivers and mountains, into Wisconsin and
Illinois, and he wished to go farther. And, besides, he wanted to have
the right to sail up and down the Mississippi, and so save himself the
trouble of walking over the land and cutting out his own roads as he
went. So when France said, "No, dear," and told him to "be a good
little boy and not tease," the United States citizen very naturally
rebelled.

Mr. Jefferson was President of the United States at that time, and he
was a man who hated war of any description. He certainly did not wish to
fight with his own countrymen, and he as certainly did not wish to fight
with any other nation, so he searched around for some sort of a
compromise. He thought that if America could own even one port on this
useful river and had the right of Mississippi navigation, the matter
would be settled with satisfaction to all parties. So he sent James
Monroe over to Paris to join our minister, Mr. Livingston, and see if
the two of them together could not persuade France to sell them the
island of New Orleans, on which was the city of the same name.

Now Napoleon was the ruler of France, and he was dreaming dreams and
seeing visions in which France was the most important power in America,
because she owned this wonderful Mississippi River and all this
"Louisiana" which stretched back from the river to the Rockies. He
already held forts along the river, and he was planning to strengthen
these and build some new ones. But you know what happens to the plans of
mice and men sometimes. Napoleon was depending upon his army to help
him out on these plans, but his armies in San Domingo were swept away by
war and sickness, so that on the day he had set for them to move up into
Louisia