“On September 3, 1783, American and British representatives signed the Treaty of Paris that formally concluded the American Revolution and recognized the United States as an independent nation. In March 1784, only six months later, Abel Buell (1742–1822), an engraver from Connecticut, produced his New and Correct Map of the United States of North America, which, among other things, has been recognized as the very first map of the newly independent United States compiled, printed, and published in America by an American. Additionally, the 1784 publication is the first map to be copyrighted in the United States, registered under the auspices of the Connecticut State Assembly. Buell’s wall map, unusually large for an engraving at that time, contains a beautifully designed cartouche, rich in symbolism of the emerging new nation. However, the map, derived from other published sources, contains no original cartographic material. The other maps included in this exhibition may have served as sources for Buell’s 1784 map. Also on display is a map of the country by William McMurray, which is the second map published in the United States.  Abel Buell’s map documents a unique time when the social and political fabric binding the former British colonies was very fragile. Until the adoption of the U.S. Constitution in 1787, 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; the western boundaries of Pennsylvania and Virginia are not formally established; and the final boundaries for the state of Connecticut had not been resolved.”