Western Boundary of the US

by Betty Hill
(Norwalk, Iowa)

What was the western boundary of the United States after the Revolutionary War?

The Minuteman's Response: The 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the war ceded all land east of the Mississippi River and south of the Great Lakes to the United States, except for Florida which Great Britain gave to Spain later that year. Florida was later acquired from Spain by the US.

The map above shows the colonies in 1775 in dark pink. It still gives you an idea of the area after the Revolution though - everything east of the Mississippi and south of the Great Lakes, excluding Florida.