Abel Buell, A New and Correct Map of the United States of North America (1784)

Abel Buell, an engraver from Connecticut, published this map in 1784, six months after American and British representatives signed the Treaty of Paris of 1783, which formally concluded the American Revolution and recognized the United States as an independent nation. Buell's map is significant in that it is the first map of the newly independent United States compiled, printed, and published in America by an American. It is also the first map copyrighted in the United States. Its unusual, extended boundaries reflect a unique time in the nation's history when the bonds among the former British colonies were fragile. Until the U.S. Constitution was ratified, the federal government could not establish internal boundaries between the states nor force the surrender or sale of western lands claimed by some of the states under their original charters. As a result, many of the state boundaries on the 1784 map extend west from the Atlantic Coast to the Mississippi River. In addition, the western boundaries of Pennsylvania and Virginia were not formally established and the final boundaries for the state of Connecticut had not been resolved.