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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other stipulations, the Choctâs consent to the exploration and opening of a convenient wagon-road through their country, from the vicinity of "Fort Adams" to the Chickasâ boundary near the Yazoo River. The old British boundary, extending from the Tickfaw northwest to the Yazoo, was confirmed and marked anew as the proper boundary between the white settlements and the Indian territory. ⁴⁰⁴ This road, communicating with the Chickasâ trace, opened the first direct communication between the settlements on the Lower Mississippi and those of Cumberland, near Nashville.

In the mean time, Thomas Jefferson, having succeeded as President of the United States, early in his administration appointed William C. C. Claiborne, ⁴⁰⁵ of East Tennessee, governor of the Mississippi Territory, and Cato West secretary. Governor Sargent retired from office, and was not again called into public service during his subsequent life.

A corresponding change was made in the territorial authorities, when those who adhered to the late administration were superseded by those attached to the Republican party, which had become predominant.

Since the first organization of the American government in the territory, the population had been greatly increased by emigration. The census of 1800 gave the aggregate of the white inhabitants at eight thousand eight hundred and fifty persons, exclusive of about two thousand slaves. In January, 1802, the entire population was probably not less than twelve thousand souls.

Governor Claiborne entered upon the duties of his office with zeal and patriotic devotion. Although a man of strict integrity, and an undoubted patriot, yet, possessing all the graces of a polished courtier, he delighted more in the pomp and display of military parade than was congenial with the plain, unaffected simplicity of many of his associates.