In the late 1700's, world events set the stage for one of the most intriguing swindles in the annals of history. The fledgling United States, fresh from the War of Colonial Aggression against Great Britain, was running out of room for expansion in its original 13 colonies on the eastern seaboard of America, and even in the nearer Northwest Territories, which had been ceded by the British Crown. Still, the colonial cowards were not strong enough to face their former masters in a second war over Canada, nor could they challenge the empire of Spain for the land called Texas to the southwest. This left the United States with a large problem: how to obtain much needed land without fighting for it?