 Since Canada was still developing its federal power and the Saskatchewan Valley still belonged in Rupert's Land, Ramsey saw this as the perfect chance for the United States to sneak into a political unstable country and gain the prairies.Taylor spent two years with his ear to the ground reporting back to Ramsey about the political situation in Red River.By 1869, Hamilton Fish, the Secretary of State to President Ulysses S. Grant, sent Taylor to Fort Garry, present day Winnipeg, "to investigate and report full details of the revolt as well as all aspects of the territory and its inhabitants."