Jackson Pearson will examine the outbreak of heightened geopolitical tensions between Spain and the United States after the Louisiana Purchase at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, June 16, the Allen Public Library. A free live event, the program will also be shared virtually at  allentx.swagit.com

These tensions led to the Neutral Ground Agreement of 1806 negotiated by American James Wilkinson and Spanish Lt. Col. Simón de Herrera. The agreement declared the region between the Sabine River and Arroyo Hondo as outside the sovereign control of either Spain or the United States pending an international agreement between their respective diplomatic officials. The birth of the Neutral Ground coincided with the development of a robust commerce and trade between the Spanish Texas and American Louisiana.   

Commercial trade between these two entities symbolized the strengthening of a regional economy that would only grow larger and more intertwined over time. The downside was that it also attracted bandits who manipulated the physical environment to prey on caravans. Undermining the Spanish authority in Texas, these attacks were a prelude to the Magee-Gutierrez expedition, an 1812–1813 joint filibustering expedition by Mexico and the United States against Spanish Texas during the early years of the Mexican War of Independence.

A PhD candidate at Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, Jackson Pearson earned his degree in Secondary Education and an M.A. in History from Jacksonville State University in Jacksonville, Alabama. In particular, he examines how commerce and the environment influenced the geopolitical competition between Spain and the United States to exert sovereignty in the region. Jackson has presented parts of his project for the American Philosophical Society, Louisiana Historical Association, Society of Historians of the Early American Republic, University of Seville in Seville, Spain, and the Texas General Land Office.

The library is located at 300 N. Allen Dr.  Call 214-509-4911 for additional information.