The United States of North America

Following the Treaty of Paris, American territorial ambitions bumped up against the realities of North American geography. In this map, sharply defined state boundaries along the Atlantic coast gradually dissolve into more speculative geography in the west, where Indigenous lands and contested frontiers created uncertain borders. The map emphasizes natural boundaries—the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico—that would shape American expansion in the decades ahead. Maps like this one reveal both the limits and aspirations of the geographical knowledge and territorial reach of a new nation, one which was still referred to here as the “United States of North America.”