Feet rooted right here behind his podium. Which is against my nature. Its going to extraordinarily difficult for me to stay planted but if you see me wandering stage right, wave your hands, make some signal and i will return to the podium as quickly as i can. I also, i have some incredibly interesting and amazing videos in which we were panning and zooming about the globe. I can promise you will not see those. Tonight apparently they did not have the latest version of powerpoint in 1719. So well see some stills nonetheless, which i hope will keep your attention. So were going to talk about 1776, and this was a trying year for revolutionaries and the 13 british mainland colonies. The ragtag Continental Army scored a victory in march of 1776 when the british withdrew from boston, but the success was shortlived. An invasion of canada ended in disaster largely because a smallpox epidemic that eventually crossed the continent. And then the british drove washingtons troops from new york. In the final three months of the year, the red coats chase the Continental Army south to new jersey and on several occasions just missed destroying it for good and ending the revolutionary cause. By december washington had a mere 7000 troops under his command. He was against the british, 30,000 british troops in north america alone, and the most powerful navy in the world. Then on christmas washington turned back into new jersey, across the Delaware River on a cold snowy night and early the next morning the troops converged on clinton new jersey where the mercenaries were sleeping off a night of festivities. After brief battle the Continental Army captured near the entire regiment to it was a stunning victory that raised morale at a critical time for the colonists. So you know this story already, right . You all learned this in school. Most of you have read David Mcculloughs wonderful account of 1776, which is certainly a page turner. Youve probably seen this iconic painting. This was done by emmanuel in the 1850s. So this is a story we know. It holds it is been retold many times. Today i want to disk explore the other continent of 70 took sick. Why is this a case . I growth in San Francisco. This is 2500 miles from boston. San francisco did not even exist when british soldiers and american minutemen met in battle at lexington and concord in april 1775. In late june 1776 a week before Congress Approved the declaration of independence, they built a small shelter branches on the banks of the lagoon on the San Francisco peninsula. This is now were all the employees of facebook and google live in the mission district. The site became the first colonial settlement in San Francisco. As a child i was ignorant of the early history of the Pacific Coast, and i will give you a couple of examples of this. I attended a summer music camp on the Russian River north of the city. For far too long, im embarrassed to admit, i puzzled over the need to was this a rushing river, fastmoving water, or was it the Russian River as in the evil empire were fighting in 1970s and 1980s and conjured up images of some of you probably remember, huge eyebrows. So as far as i understood the russians had nothing to do with california, the place i was growing up in. It seemed implausible for a second reason, and that is that although it sounded like adults said russian, as in russia, and not rushing, it made perfect sense to drop the final g. And thats because i look at this critical detail. This was a child camp at the time i model myself after miles davis or i was a trumpet player. Still am. I loved his first great quintet and, therefore, lps. Here you see the classic album cover. Size used to dropping my final gs. I was mistaken about this. The Russian River passes by the fort, the southernmost russian outpost in north america which was established in 1812. The second piece of evidence in favor of my ignorance, when i was eight and the bicentennial of the United States rolled around i was delighted to go on a field trip to see the World Largest birthday cake which was illustrated with scenes from the American Revolution and had been trucked across the continent to San Francisco where i was going to get an opportunity to eat a piece of this cake. Thats how remember. Weeding through the historical record i find a different count of festivities. My memory did not exaggerate the size of this cake. In fact, it was even larger and more impressive. As i recall it was a three tiered, you wont believe it until you see it. Three tiered, six sided, rises 30 feet high. Thats not counting the phoenix you might get when i got at the very, very tough. The phoenix is an added five feet symbolizing San Francisco rising out of the ashes of the 1906 earthquake. It weighed 20 times. So you can see why this would make a deep impression on the mind of an eight year old, 20ton cake. But this monstrosity never crossed the continent, and its 18 panels did not illustrate the revolution, as i had remembered. The cake was the day by local bakery shop and it is september events from the citys history. Beginning with francis drake, the discovery of the day including the arrival of the spanish and russians. San franciscos history was at such odds with the narrative being celebrated for the National Bicentennial that my fourth grade and imagination turned the cake into tribute to events on the east coast, and boston, philadelphia and elsewhere. So these misconceptions, retrospectively this is embarrassing for me, but it suggests i didnt pay enough attention in school at the time. But its also symptomatic of a broader phenomenon. We are generally unfamiliar with the early history of this continent, he on the 13 british colonies that formed the United States. So it is high time to head west, where events were occurring all across the continent in the 1770s, not just along the eastern seaboard. So were going to start what is a highly selective tour here, and this was one of those amazing animated videos i was describing, but you wont see any animation. We are actually hear of the seine river, thats paris, probably 30,000 feet high. And it was here in the hotel where diplomats from france, britain and spain signed the 1763 treaty of paris, ending the seven years war. This is the location where they signed this treaty. So among the numerous stipulations in this treaty was one that divided north america down the Mississippi River, giving the western half to france and the eastern half to britain, and france in turn immediately ceded its claim to the western half of the continent to spain. So the effect of this is that the continent was divided in the mississippi with britain Holding Title at least as far as european powers were concerned, britain Holding Title to the entire eastern half, spain Holding Title to the entire western half. And you can see the line here i believe okay. Lets see here. So this little slide is paris. Maybe you can make out the spain, red line. That is the mississippi. This is the border. What i like about this illustration is that you really get a sense of just how remote paris is from the mississippi, and it was far more remote in the 18th century than it is today. It suggests to us, which is, in fact, the case, that these diplomats were working in ignorance. They knew next to nothing about the terrain. Or about the people who lived there. They had never been there before. George iii famously confused the Mississippi River with the ganges, and as i write to point out he was right about one thing. They are indians on the banks of both rivers of. They had all kinds of problems. The british thought by making such a clear line right down the middle of this enormous river that the border would forestall all disputes. So were not going to able to even see the. I have a massive photograph your defaults in closeups of the Mississippi River and just how serpentine it is today. I had a massive photograph showing that, which you wont see because of the animation. But he was even more serpentine in 18th century. This is after century of the army corps of engineers and 20th century trying to straighten out the mississippi. In 18th century it was a complete mess. As mark twain once observed, the river plays havoc with boundary lines and jurisdiction. If you can avoid to divide the continent in half. On the face of it the claims of the monarchs to the domains were absurd. As even some colonists recognized. Britain said one had no more right or times of the continent any add to the empire of china. Nonetheless for local residents and a massive land transaction had very will consequences. With complex and varying ramification that unfolded in the 1770s. The fortunes of native people along the Mississippi River rose and fell as a result of Land Transfers negotiated by in different aristocrats in faraway paris your so this is a book which is officially being published on monday, but it is available now in the back of the room. In this book, west of the revolution, i described how this line, this border, flooded the canadian prairies with traders, greedy for beaver first. This is why think we cultivate an emerging market written burnet title ii this past new france, this as part of the continent that it hadnt been able to work in at all until 1763 but it was his emerging market, all kind of opportunity and it was suddenly flooded with traders in search of beaver. Beaver i want a colleges called ecosystem engineers. Or geomorphic agents. That is because the rodents, and thats what they are, rodents, the rodents create, destroy and modified habitat. Want a colleges has actually made the point that until relatively recently about 10,000 years ago the changes on the earth rocked by beaver surpassed those produced by humans. And, in fact, entire valley floors have been raised by beaver activity. So if you exterminate them come if you overhunting and exterminate them, as happened with this region, north of the great lakes was flooded with british traders in the 1770s, entire forests are transformed in ways that are truly revolutionary. I wont go into any further detail here, but i do describe this transformation in the book. I also explored in the book how the border enriched the osh indians who built an empire south of the Missouri River, based largely on hunter been trade across the mississippi. This was truly an empire as Thomas Jefferson who observed in 1804. He was writing a letter to his secretary of the navy. He said the truth is they are the great nation south of the missouri. Along with a supermajority explained we must stand well because we are miserably week. I also describe how the line push the muscogee of creek indians in the deep south to see the lights with the spanish in cuba and this was exactly at the same time as Benjamin Frank was undertaking ever known Diplomatic Mission to paris on behalf of the 13 british colonies. The critics who live in presentday georgia and alabama sailed to havana to meet with the spanish captain get a and they had this incredibly forwardlooking proposal. Asked the captain general to give them a schooner with which they would navigate between the gulf coast and havana to carry on trade come in with the profits of the trade they would pay back the captain general. And in turn they would supply cuba is growing slave plantations with beef and salted fish, which they had in plenty. I have a cherokee friend who always laughs at the store because you point out that greeks were not the seafaring people. They knew nothing about crossing the strait between florida and cuba. How were they going to navigate ask the courts will never know because they did have the opportunity. But for a brief moment it appeared that do become the purveyors to the Fastest Growing slave colony in the world, which raises all kinds of interesting what is questions. So lets look in more detail at a fourth consequence of this treaty, that is the discovery of the black hills by the dakota people. Discovery, i use that word because thats the word they used. At least they use it in this winter count. They kept records of the history with pneumonic come with these calendars the cold winter count in english. It was a series of mnemonic devices marking each year, marking the passage of time. They were painted on hide originally and then later on paper. So this is winter count capped by a lakota named american horse, and he wrote this down in the 1880s at the request of an American Army officer. At some later date the army officer, someone else can win back and start with the most recent illustration which you dont see here, and just started counting backwards marking the years, and when he got back to year one, the beginning of this particular lakota, at least, 17751776. This is when washington capture boston, when thomas paine wrote common sense, when Congress Declared independence as we know. It is also when standing bowl discovered the black hills. The two nations were born that year. So what the diplomats intercepted do with it. Britain recall was sudden and possession of a vast swath of the continent, at least on paper. Northwest to north detroit, garrison began to treat local indians like subordinates. One flag waver wrote british had carried victory wherever they danced their standards. They have driven the armies of both the french and natives before them. So every British Imperialist was convinced that britain to have its way with the indians who remained. Intensive conclude theyre being treated like dogs, and this is a word they use over and over again. We are being treated like dogs. They joined together in 1763 to expel the british and a war became known as pontiacs rebellion. Poor jeffrey amherst, commander of the British Forces who was stationed by the way of your blocks from us in the battery, struggled to understand events unfolding in ohio country. This is a man who had never been further west than new york. Here he is trying to figure out what on earth is going on in ohio country. He had his disdain, even contempt for americans. It didnt matter whether they were native americans or callers who had moved here from britain. He detested them. When one army officer, one of his subordinates suggested using dogs to hud down the vermin by which he meant native people, amherst responded and instead advise the blankets infested with smallpox might be more effective. He said try and the other method to extricate this race. The war dragged on for some years and disrupted trade networks across ohio country well into the 1770s, and it left many native people, including the lakota is, the rest of european manufacture, textiles, firearms, and the like. So one solution to this dilemma was to redouble efforts to reconnect the atlantic with a light agree. Some in fact do this. There was a dakota leader, this was of the three subdivisions, the dakotas on the easternmost, a dakota leader who journeyed all the way to montreal in 1776 where he met with the british governor and enjoyed a state dinner. This is part of the effort to reconnect with the trade networks. But there was a second solution and this was the one pursued by the dakotas. This was the westernmost of the three divisions. So they turned away from trade and began to move west. They were originally based, in the early 18th century, they were living in present day western minnesota. We associate them today with the black hills but they migrated there. So are the course of the 18th century to begin moving westward. First into the grasslands, east of the Missouri River, then they crossed the Missouri River and then west of the Missouri River encountered huge, huge bison herds that were sent to extend for hundreds and hundreds of miles. Now, there were many push and pull factors involved in this great migration, no doubt, but certainly one very important factor was the unreliability of atlantic trade, first with the seven years war and then with this treaty in 1763, which in turn caused pontiacs war and disrupted trade into the 1770s. So then as we know in 17751776 they reached, discovered the black hills. This is a map of rainfall in the great plains, and the darker areas here received more rainfall and the lighter areas received less rainfall, and you can see this obvious pattern. As you move west there is less rain. Rain is directly correlated with short grass production, which is in turn directly correlated with the bison pics of the more rain, the more short grass, the more bison but if you go to for east, around here you get tall grasses and bison dont like those. So if youre going to be looking for bison at least in 18th century, look at this always is in the great plains, the black hills. White ranchers recognized this value as well later in the 19th century. They said there is more gold one of their expressions theres more gold in the roots on up. In other words, forget about the gold were mining in the black hills. This forage is extraordinarily valuable. It was valuable to the lakotas as well. So its no wonder the black hills, the lakotas called the black hills to meet back. There were lots and lots of bison in 18th century. Later, the black hills became sacred to the lakotas, the first place created on the worlds surface, they say. And the point from which the lakotas people emerged. In 1876, so a century after the lakotas discovered it, the training seize control of the black hills. And then in early 20th century the lakotas sued, and there was an extended lawsuit. They were eventually successful in 1980. They were awarded by the Supreme Court 102 million for the black hills. But this sits untouched to this day and interestbearing account. It is now worth well over 1 billion. But standing bull descendents wont touch it but holding out for the return of the black hills themselves. So this is a legacy of 1776, which is still with us today. Here is this massive photograph i described to you earlier. You can see how serpentine this is one section. This is where the Arkansas River interest the mississippi, and you can just see how serpentine it is, and when there are floods you get these other waterways that fill up. Its certainly not a clear border. Its not a good way to divide the continent and have. But we are going to zoom out now from the Mississippi River, at least we would have, and move further west back were getting ahead of ourselves. We are not going to be able to see it. We are going to move further west. I will leave you with this cute picture of sea otters. He which we could use a map because were going to so far were going to be hovering over the Pacific Ocean now. We left north america behind. You can see the Aleutian Islands, alaska and northeastern corner of the globe. And then on the western side, you see siberia and the deepest freshwater lake in the world and at the southern tip you see which you can find on google earth today. It is today on the border between russia and mongolia and theres very little there. There some crumbling monuments to liv live in. As if ive been torn down by now from Russian Orthodox churches, very little there. Its remote, dusty, but in 18th century this was an extraordinarily important place. By the terms of a 1727 treaty trade between the russian and chinese empire, had to pass through this tiny little town. And china had an insatiable appetite for first. By the mid seven hundreds russian trappers headhunter that most of severe intimate away to the eastern coast of siberia and then crossed over the Bering Strait in the 1730s and early 17 40s and discovered, reached the Aleutian Islands. That they also found sea otters. Beautiful animals that you see here, and they referred to them as soft gold because their pelts were so valuable, in demand by royalty in the Chinese Court. Sea otters possess the densest fur of any mammal. 18 times that of your pet dog. So by coercing the hunters, the native people, they slaughtered these beautiful animals by the tens of thousands and ship them across the Pacific Ocean on the eastern edge of siberia and then carted them overland to the river and then went up river to the lake and eventually put them in warehouses and sold them to traders who in turn brought them to the Chinese Court were eventually they line the roads of chinese royalty. This will help orient us here. Well, so you can see this trade network. So youre the allusions. Heres the river. Amazingly this trade was not sufficient to meet chinese demand. So there is a separate new world, american trade network, originating 3000 miles to the east that carried beaver furs. We are briefly other to this earlier, across the atlantic. So starting in the prairies in the forests of canada to the indians hunted of these animals, sold them to british traders who brought them to your port and other place on hudson but or to montreal or new york. Eventually are packed and shipped abroad to london and then and basil in a at its peak some 30,000 of these furs were exported to st. Petersburg, put on sleds, carried all the way across siberia and put in the same very warehouses with their new world cousins, the sea otter. This amazes me every time ive done this. It amazes me every time i described. Its an astounding example of International Trade in 18th century. So the profits from this trade led traders up the peninsula to an alaska. I think the largest of the Aleutian Islands which they reached in the 1770s. The russian present an alaska set off alarm bells to european capital. They have a very this is an understatement, a very murky understanding of what the pacific looked like any 18th century. They are we are. This is now originally dating to 1758, but this was printed in the 1784. This was about the best intelligence europeans had to work with in the 1780s. Its possible the Russian Court almost certainly the Russian Court knew better than this. But photography, the geographic secrets were as closely guarded as Nuclear Secrets are today, so the russians certainly were holding this information close. And in spain and in england, this is what they had to work with. So captain kuchta, james cook when it exported as part of the world on his third voyage, this is a map yet with the minister and figure where he was going. Its almost comically bad. In fact, cook is famous reserve if you read through the journals, this one moment in thousands and thousands of pages, lost his to do. He said this map, whoever made, totally useless. Look at this thing. They did know what exactly did alaska look like. They knew there were lots of others but where were they. No one knew for sure. So they were ignorant, but they had these stories, russian for summer in alaska. What did that mean . It threaten spanish possession in the pacific . Rumors started flooding into the court, spanish court. A number of these were pinned by count lacey, irish extraction but born and raised in barcelona i believe and became spains ambassador to russia. Said he was stationed in st. Petersburg, and he possessed this wonderfully fervent imagination which aided him in exaggerating the russian threat. He would send back these reports saying that theyd been standing with one of her admirals before a map of the world and was pointing to russia, are rather pointing to alaska and said that we are going to conquer north america. Were going to cross into alaska and conquer north america. He sent other reports saying the russian fleet is going around the cape of good hope, crossed through polynesia and then the pacific and take spanish possessions that way. Then he said there was another possibility which is gradually work their way down to west coast of north america and then reach one of those mini great rivers that originates in the southwest, new mexico or northern mexico, and discharge its waters into the Pacific Ocean. You know this great river . No, because they dont exist. But the spanish didnt know that. So unfortunately for spanish officials there inside was proportional to their ignorance. Someone wrote in and said that he had spotted strangers in baja, california. They were speaking a language that sounded slavic and they were wearing russian close. Oh, my goodness, they traveled from alaska all the way down to baja, california. They hadnt but it gives you a sense of their anxiety. They describe as a result of the perceived rush and the Pacific Coast was transform in the 1770s. It now seems imperative to spain to colonize out to californias foster baja, california, with their presence. Of that is presentday california. The first step occurred in 1769 when the spanish established a foothold in california. They built a mission and a fort on san diego river. In november 1775, the local people banded together to expel the invaders. Spanish invaders. They burned down the nation, bludgeoned to death one of the missionaries and killed several spaniards but this war for independence was a lost cause. The spanish spend the next year arresting and torturing the suspects. One of the more remarkable figures in this, i describe in some detail in the book and was a young man who was the first person baptized in Mission San Diego and was given the name diego. He was accused by the spanish of using his fluency in the Spanish Language to aid the revolutionaries. So the spanish imprisoned him, interrogated him and even tortured him. But to the and he never confessed exactly what his role is in this failed revolution. The franciscan missionary who oversaw this enterprise in california wrote in a letter, he said at the beginning diego nunes been a faithful and a special favorite of mine, but he turned traitor in the revolution. By fall of 1770 diego was too sick to walk and near death, and he died in september of that year and was buried in the church cemetery. He was 25 at the time. So this is step one in the transformation of the Pacific Coast took a few years later the spanish explorers stumbled across a great river that fed into San Francisco bay. And they concluded that it probably had its waters in new mexico. They were, again, badly mistaken. But this was enough to prompt spanish colonization of the San Francisco bay. So in june 1776 they erected builtins and set up a portable altar not far from the Geographic Center of San Francisco. The impact on local residents was tremendous to described in the world, local peoples coast, they needed to borrow words from the colonists language. Drunkards, devils, fever, work, rifle and soldiers. This is another station of the city of San Francisco from 1816. Heres the presidio in the background to the Golden Gate Bridge would be right here. And this gives a sense of just how the world was transformed. You can see here a number of native people being parched off to work in the fields under the eye of a mounted spanish soldier. The impact on local residents was tremendous. And it set off a demographic cataclysm that radiated across the land wiping out the closest villages first, and then order a distance destroying those farther away. The russian threat resonated england as well. Spain had to supply its new Pacific Coast, so monterrey, San Francisco, san diego individual los angeles. One possibility was to sail up the coast from mexico, but that pitted spanish ships against prevailing winds and currents. This was a battle they often lost. So sometime in retrospect its comical but if you are on one of the ships it surely wasnt. They would spend several weeks heading up to monterey and then be unable to into the bay against the prevailing winds and eventually they would give up and slipped all the way back to baja, california. So the solution, it was decided, to blaze a trail from santa fe, new mexico, overland to monterey, california. Thats 1000 miles away. So they would have to traverse rugged highlands, rugged highlands of the colorado plateau, across the vast veterans of the great basin, scale and ascend the sierra nevadas, and finally reach their destination on the Pacific Coast. The problem was not a single one of these geographical features appeared on the map and effect and no european had ever set foot in this area. That is until this extraordinary mission. These are the precursors really to lewis and clark. So not surprisingly they didnt reach their intended destination, but nonetheless undertook a safety net or mile journey. That left july 1776 and arrived act in santa fe, so basically the four Corners Region of the United States, arrived across the colorado river, the grand canyon, arrived back in santa fe about six months later right at the end of 1776. This journey had long lasting consequences for the nation born that same year in philadelphia. One of the people on this expedition was a man and barnardo who was an artist and cartographer and he produced this stunningly beautiful map. Its about three feet wide and two feet high and is bursting with all kinds of information and illustrations. So its a work of art, but it contains some serious geographic errors that the guy old white americans are generations. The guy old. At two large rivers on an alleged from utah, one of them trained the great salt lake, lets in utah, presume let all the way to the Pacific Coast. So this finally counties where the rivers the colonists had been looking for for generations and generations because now they could go up the Mississippi River, enter the red river or the Arkansas River, head west and then there would be some small overland area, eventually they could get into the headwaters of these rivers and then get all the way to the Pacific Coast, facilitating that eastwest Atlantic Pacific trade. Eventually well build the panama canal t to the site the trade but back in 18th century, colonists were desperately looking for some kind of passageway so here they were, these rivers have been on this map and these rivers were copied by american cartographers in the 1780s and 90s, in the first decade of the 19th century. They appear on american maps into the 1840s. So as a result when the first wagon train set out for california in 1841, the immigrants were advised to bring tools to construct canoes. If the going got rough, they were told, they could always descend one of these rivers to the california coast. So lets return now to the allusions and to the sea otter traitors that set off this great Chain Reaction that transformed the west coast. Hunting sea otters demands extraordinary skill and specialist technology. And russians possess neither. So that the the seafaring expertise of the local residents was indispensable. Most of us would call this a kayak. That reflected an astonishing array of skills and technology that allowed them to put down the sea otters. So this is just one of many, many examples i could give you, but just notice this has the power which is split that allows to move much faster through waters than it otherwise would. They developed this innovation. They were the first people to do so. You can find the same thing on container ships today, that every that sticks out at the sea level but if youve seen container ships. The russian traders seize hostages and the necessary destroyed their towns but i follow the story of one russian traitor in my book. He was renowned for his brutality and theres one story that the practice is cruel extreme and. He lined them up and shot the first one to see how many bodies the bullet would pass through. By the time he left the islands return to siberian 1775, this was a month after the shot heard around the world marched the beginning of the American Revolution, he had only partially conquered the people by continuing pressure by outside made it impossible for islanders to retain their independence for much longer period when captain james cook arrived on the island in 1778 on his third and final voyage, one of his crew observed the russian traders denounced the americans, the word he used, denounced the americans as savage and sad fellows for defending themselves and driving off the invader of the country and preserving their native the freedom. He could not resist a job at british compatriots. By this you will see that efforts for liberty are not confined totally to the eastside of the continent. Okay, let me just spend a couple seconds reflecting briefly on america west of the revolution. From the aleutian archipelago to the Mississippi River as well as in britains will export atlantic coast, 18th century americans confronted revolutionary challenges. These were sometimes diffuse forces but they were always powerful, unmanageable, and often beyond the comprehension of participants. The fortunes of americans across the continent depended on International Trade networks on trading partners halfway across the world and often these trading partners on opposite ends of the supply chain had no knowledge of each other. And you can think of the example of the alan woods and royalty in the Chinese Courts. Likewise, the struggle to manage environmental change, vanishing Food Supplies in california, dwindling beaver in the canadian prairie, which set off a cascade of ecological consequences. And everywhere, foreign microbes. So these challenges resonate powerfully in the 21st century. The Founding Fathers courageously declared their independence in 1776, but we recognize today that we are not independent, but are unavoidably and always interdependent as for our north american forebearers. Our fortunes depend on distant markets. Our health on a profusion of microscopic biota. Our Food Security on climate change. Those forces and a multitude of others shape our lives in profound and unpredictable ways. On a much larger scale we face today with north americans west of the revolution faced in the 1770s. So let me stop there, and i look forward to taking your questions. [applause] yes . The treaty with the british and the spanish, why did the west coast in the with summit. Right. The question was in the treaty of 1763, one of the many trees of paris, why did the spanish end up with this area west of the Mississippi River . Well, france, it was frances by the terms of this treaty, but as i said france may be separate treaty immediately, actually even before signing the treaty of paris, to separate treaty with spain to see that there possession. The reason they thought this land was a problem. Not only was it not profitable, it was quite gaza. A train the french treasury. That in their experience with louisiana over the previous several decades. Site think they wanted to cut their losses. Then those also i think a sense that they needed a carrot in order to prompt thing to go along with this treaty in the first place. But at the time in the 1770s they were not giving up land that was worth much at all. As a followup counted have any idea how [inaudible] thats a great question, and some of you probably read this book on longitude and the difficulty that not just europeans but everyone had measuring longitude until well into the late 18th century. So they didnt have a sense of how much land was out there. Youre absolutely right about that. They did know how extensive it was noted in a what kind of features would be found there, whether its fertile land. Where the rivers . With the great lakes . With a Giant Mountains as a point of . The spanish had no idea the sierra nevadas were there. So they were largely clueless and, of course, in retrospect, napoleon, for example, later developed plans to develop this part of the world, and it didnt go well for him. But in retrospect im sure they regretted it. Could you go into more how the developments affected the American Revolution . The American Revolution is to separate. Thats what so interesting about this to me is that, so the american colonies, the Populated Areas of the american colonies occupy the vote 4 of the continent, about 8 of what are now the lower 48 states. And i sit Populated Areas because some of these have expansive claims. You may have seen these maps where virginia runs the line all the way to the Pacific Coast. They dont even know where the Pacific Coast is but they just draw a straight line, this line of latitude and to let bumps into the Pacific Ocean. In practice, the American Revolution is affecting a tiny fraction of the continent and other presentation and eight, and thats whats fascinating to me. So youve got, surely we have these events we all know so well occurring on the east coast with these colonists who were pressed really against the atlantic seaboard, and all these other fastening things going on separate from the American Revolution. Yes . Are those whalebone piercings in the gentleman . That is a good question, and i would say they must either be whale bones or perhaps some other, perhaps and daughter or otter or sea lion but i cant say for sure. [inaudible] they had these beautifully handcrafted visors. Part of the technology that they developed, so they have these waterproof, and had these visors which protected their eyes from the mist so they could see when youre hunting and from the suns glare. Theyre painted come you dont get a sense from this village session, but theyre painted just beautifully to represent sometimes birds of prey are work is, and thats orchids. Some sort of sea creature. Yes . Im curious whether the inner relation with the spanish getting the land west of the mississippi, so the treaty, the spanish had to give it back to the french and then [inaudible] 1803. That relation of that and also with the spanish in the southeast United States and trying to figure out where the boundary is and how theyre going to contain the spanish there isnt like theres a connection there. Southwest and the mixing of people [inaudible] creating of georgia, the 13th colony of georgia. Yours this last english you know, it wasnt all west of mississippi. Right. And, in fact, this is an excellent point. One of the chapters in the book is not truly west of the mississippi. I mentioned the creeks or muskogee people or in present alabama or georgia. I say present georgia, it is just a long the Savanna River and look at a long the coast. There is a miniscule fraction of presentday georgia. The rest of georgia is greek country. It is owned by native people. And then you have the spanish president s. You are right about that. That raises all kinds of interesting dynamics. So what happens in 1763 is that the spanish are pushed they lose their foothold temporarily for about 20 years, because this changes after the close of the American Revolution but to lose their foothold in the southeast and that changes the economic equation for native people. Because now they only have one trading partner. In the past they have the french and the spanish and the bridge, and thats a good place to be if youre in the business of selling your scans. But post 1763 you just have the british, and they recognize what a threat this is to their independence. They are now so dependent on one european power. What do you do about that . In the case of the creeks take it on a schooner and go to dana with the spanish are and say look, we need to reestablish connection. One thing i like to point out within about the history of the south, the first thing americans think of when i say deep south its going to be slave conditions, and about slavery and the civil war. Right . But most of the deep south was Indian Country. Up to about 40 years, even 40 years before the outbreak of the civil war, its Indian Country. Montgomery, alabama, is Indian Country in 1820. And so, you know, ill history when we start to think of our American History in the south, and this is to really ever but when you think about in the south, it doesnt have much depth to it. So youre absolutely right about that. [inaudible] they did come into contact with each other eventually, and there are even accounts, because the russians again are depending on their skill. They bring them all the way down to San Francisco in the early, i think the count article is maybe 1804. So here are the spanish discussed in the presidio watching these people slide by in darkness insurgency auditor is extraordinary. And the fact they show up even further south. They go as far south as baja, california. The invasion of candidate come when did that happen and whos idea was it . This is in 1776. And yes, its a little bit of a well, they could not have anticipated the smallpox epidemic, which really devastated american troops. This is interesting story in and of itself. Theres a great book about this written by my friend elizabeth called pox americana, and i recommend it to you. Putting aside military strategy and the strength of its troops and supply lines and the rest of it, the smallpox epidemic, when they march north they brought this virus with them, and when they were camped, just the virus wipes them out. So theres this critical moment in the war were George Washington makes this decision to vaccinate, to inoculate his troops. And it is it probably saves the cost of the war. It was highly risky because when you and i could youre not using a dead virus. And if someone who is suffering from a mild form of this illness, which you get when youre inoculated, usually, not always, but if you come down with a mild form, youre contagious. And if you spread it to someone, they dont catch the mild form. They catch the virulent. So we had to make this decision, extraordinary risky, he and i could is troops. For chile that didnt lead to a widespread outbreak in the Continental Army and eventually gave him immunity to the disease. So thats a whole other story, interesting. And i recommend her book on this subject. Thank you very much. This was possible. This man was capable of not just caring about his family but also caring about the other families. He understood he could not say they dont care. They dont feel as deeply as we do. He knew that they cared. They were upset, they are trying. Crying. He avoids them. He would not go down to the slave quarters. He sent agents down there to pull out the people. Is kind of hiding behind the curtains looking as they leave on the boat. So he cared about them in that sense, but he sold them. And just interestingly after the war, his handwritten journals are in an archive in charleston, and to look at the journals and after the war he went back and he wrote in the margins some significant points. So the journal is already full. He wants to make some commentary on what has been happening. And at that point what he was talking about selling people and feeling so badly, you know, people will laugh at me and think that im not in control. And then he writes, if i had realized how ungrateful the negroes would be and that they would leave us when they got the chance, i wouldnt have cared about them. I wouldve put them all in my pocket, meaning i wouldve sold them. You can can watch this and other programs online at booktv. Org. Heres a look at some books that are being published this week. Next up on our tour on ces on the hil is clearview audio, and we are talking to gene dovidio. I understand this is best in
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