The Mississippi River and the American Founding

In 1784, Spain closed the Mississippi River to American trade, setting off a crisis for the new United States. Without access to the Mississippi, western land prices declined by 80%; western settlers contemplated whether remaining part of the United States was worth the threat to their economic well-being. Touching on the writing of the Constitution, the relationship between the states and the federal government, westward expansion and the rise of US cotton culture, this talk examines how the nation navigated the reopening the river between 1784 and 1803.

Speakers Expertise:

Dr. Susan Gaunt Stearns is an associate professor of history at the University of Mississippi. She currently teaches courses on US history, the history of the colonial and Revolutionary era America, the history of Mississippi, as well as graduate courses on historical methods and teaching history. Her research focuses on western expansion and its relationship to the creation of the United States and the development of the American and global economies. Her book, Empire of Commerce: The Closing of the Mississippi and the Opening of Atlantic Trade, received Southern Methodist University’s Center for Presidential History’s book prize for 2024. She is currently working on a book examining the history of Memphis from pre-history to the American Revolution.