Monette, John W. History of the Discovery and Settlement of the Valley of the Mississippi, by the Three Great European Powers, Spain, France and Great Britain, and the Subsequent Occupation, Settlement, and Extension of Civil Government by the United States, Until the Year 1846, in two volumes, Volume II . New York: Harper and Brothers, Publishers, 1846. [format: book], [genre: history]. Permission: Schingoethe Center for Native American Cultures, Aurora University
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to the Spanish dominion in the West, that neither Governor Shelby nor the Legislature of Kentucky took any measures to interrupt the unlawful enterprise; ²⁰⁴ and such was the state of public feeling in Kentucky, that on the 14th of May following, a numerous and respectable public meeting was held at Lexington, at which resolutions of the most violent character were adopted, expressive of the severest censure upon the administration of President Washington, in condemnation for all the difficulties, perplexities, and disasters of the Indian war, and the British occupancy of the northwestern posts, and the procrastination of arrangements with Spain for the free navigation of the Mississippi. The virtuous and patriotic John Jay was denounced as the enemy of the West for his failure to secure greater advantages to the western people in his treaty with England and Spain, ²⁰⁵ A convention was likewise invited, "for the purpose of deliberating on the steps which will be most expedient for the attainment and security of our just rights." ²⁰⁶

The enterprise of Genet was wholly frustrated by the recall of the French minister, and the active efforts of the Federal authorities in suppressing any attempt to continue his schemes. Thus ended the exciting period of French intrigue in the West. The people of Kentucky, and of the West generally, were soon afterward officially informed that the Federal government had opened an active and pressing negotiation with the Spanish minister for the speedy adjustment of existing difficulties relative to the free navigation of the Mississippi. With this assurance of the energetic action of the Federal government in their behalf, the public mind became quieted, and harmony was restored to the country. ²⁰⁷

In the mean time, the population of Kentucky had continued to increase rapidly under the new state government; the people were making rapid advances in wealth, manufactures, and commerce, no less than in arts, sciences, and intellectual refinement. The new state, which had been the theatre of strife and discord, now rose proudly in her station as the first independent state in the Valley of the Mississippi, the foster-mother of the rising empire of the West.