Biology Forums - Study Force

52) Explain the source of the territorial dispute between Spain and the United States in the years after the Revolutionary War.
 
  What will be an ideal response?

Answer: The ideal answer should include:

• 
  By 1783, Spain had control of Louisiana, West Florida, and East Florida.
  


• 
  Because Spain controlled both banks of the lower Mississippi, the Spanish determined who could use the river for trade.
  


• 
  Since 1763, the Spanish had let British subjects navigate freely on the Mississippi.
  


• 
  Nonetheless, Spanish authorities feared American expansion into the Mississippi Valley.
  


• 
  A 1783 treaty between Britain and the United States established the thirty-first parallel as the southern boundary of the United States.
  


• 
  The same treaty also gave Americans the right to navigate on the Mississippi.
  


• 
  The Spanish believed that West Florida stretched above the thirty-first parallel and that they alone should grant navigation rights on the Mississippi.