A Map of the United States of North America

This spectacular piece though already incredibly rare is made more so by the later manuscript and colour embellishments. First printed in 1796 and reprinted with additions in 1802, the geography of the map has been later, and professionally, updated.

The immense state of Georgia has been divided up to include the boundaries of Alabama and Mississippi, which both joined the union in 1817. Additions have also been made to the mid-west, incorporating the borders of Illinois and Indiana. The Illinois Territory was created in 1809, the proposed northern boundary of the state was moved twice. Encouraged by the effective northern extension of Indiana to reach the shoreline of Lake Michigan; the delegate Nathaniel Pope, succeeded in shifting the border of Illinois north. In 1818 he gained nearly 50 miles of Lake Michigan shoreline and the Chicago River for the state. The second border is the one that we see coloured upon this map.

It is most likely that these changes have been commissioned by the owner of the map, or that the borders had been updated for sale purposes by the publishing house.

Published by Aaron Arrowsmith  in London, c.1822.