 In the earlier part of the 19th century the area which is today Minnesota was not recognized as a single entity . The Mississippi River had divided the eastern British / French lands of North America from the western Spanish lands and even after the Louisiana Purchase this was for a time seen as a separation between territories . The division between the U.S. territories in the region and the British territories remained ambiguous until the Anglo @-@ American Convention of 1818 , which set the border with British North America at the 49th parallel west of the Lake of the Woods ( except for a small chunk of land now dubbed the Northwest Angle ) . Border disputes east of the Lake of the Woods continued until the Webster @-@ Ashburton Treaty of 1842 . 
 In the earlier part of the 19th century the area which <a href='drop_aux' title='1'><mark>is</mark></a>today Minnesota was not recognized as a single entity . The Mississippi River <a href='been_done' title='2'><mark>had</mark></a> divided the eastern British / French lands of North America from the western Spanish lands and even after the Louisiana Purchase this was for a time seen as a separation between territories . The division between the U.S. territories in the region and the British territories remained ambiguous until the Anglo @-@ American Convention of 1818 , which set the border with British North America at the 49th parallel west of the Lake of the Woods ( except for a small chunk of land now dubbed the Northwest Angle ) . Border <a href='uninflect' title='3'><mark>disputes</mark></a> east of the Lake of the Woods continued until the Webster @-@ Ashburton Treaty of 1842 . 
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