Reid's map of North America is significant due to its inclusion in the second domestically produced atlas in the United States.


Geographically, the map is based on John Russell's map of the same continent first issued in 1785 with updates to include the newly admitted states of the former independent Republic of Vermont and the newly created state of Kentucky as the fourteenth and fifteenth states respectively. One of the more interesting aspects of this map is its lack of firm borders between the newly independent United States and other areas of North America, at this time still in the possessions of other European powers such as Mexico and Florida, both under Spain. The western side of the continent has been left deliberately open, due to a lack of knowledge both geographical and diplomatic. Mexico and the United Kingdom never openly agreed to a border between their possessions on the Western side of North America, nor was there an agreement on the border between British Canada and the Russian possessions in Alaska.[AMER2348]