Alexander Hamilton: Letter to Harrison Gray Otis on Westward Expansion

( 1799 ) Commentary by Michael J. O'Neal, Ph.D.

Glossary

the Floridas and Louisiana present-day Florida, at that time divided into the provinces of East and West Florida, and the entire territory later included in the Louisiana Purchase
on foot in progress
reconcile … to the last extremity prepare for the worst-case scenario
reveries excessive or unfounded enthusiasm
Spain, which is only the channel through which … conveyed to France reference to the fact that though it retained some of its colonies in the New World, Spain at that time was under the virtual control of France
universal empire world conquest

Alexander Hamilton (Library of Congress)

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