4834. LOUISIANA, Government for.—[further continued] .
The inhabited part of
Louisiana, from Point Coupée to the sea,
will of course be immediately a territorial
government, and soon a State. But above
that, the best use we can make of the country
for some time, will be to give establishments
in it to the Indians on the East side of the
Mississippi, in exchange for their present
country, and open land offices in the last, and
thus make this acquisition the means of filling
up the eastern side, instead of drawing
off its population. When we shall be full
on this side, we may lay off a range of
States on the western bank from the head to
the mouth, and so, range after range, advancing
compactly as we multiply.—
To John C. Breckenridge. Washington ed. iv, 500.
Ford ed., viii, 244.
(M.
Aug. 1803)
