Knox estimates that in order to defend the Creek borders against intruders and there are thousands of them pouring over from Georgia would take about 50,000 troops. The state government of Georgia is encouraging this because Georgia claims to actually own all the land from its current Eastern borders to Mississippi. And Washington regards this as the largest failure of his presidency. That he thinks that just settlement with the Native Americans is in keeping with the revolutionary principles that he fought for.
Joseph Ellis, of Mt. Holyoke College and author of American Creation, talks about the triumphs and tragedies of the founding of the United States. His goal in the book and in this podcast is to tell a story for grownups rather than for children, where the Founders are neither saints nor evil white, patriarchal slave-holding demons. It is a nuanced story of triumph--a military victory over a seemingly unbeatable vastly more experienced army, the creation of the first geographically large republic, a nation without a state religion, a nation that creates a party system with a loyal opposition, a Constitution with the virtues of ambiguous sovereignty, and tragedy--the failure to resolve the slavery issue, and the tragic conflict with the Native Americans. Some of these outcomes were intended by the Founders, others emerged unintended.