boundary-line between the possessions of the two nations was fixed at the 49th parallel, thus settling a controversy which had lasted several years, and which, at one time, threatened to produce a war between the two countries. The region thus finally yielded to the United States, was first organized as a territory, under the name of Oregon (admitted in 1859); but now includes the State of Oregon, and the Territories of Washington and Idaho. 10. Texas.—This State was once a part of the Republic of Mexico; but, becoming dissatisfied with the Mexican rulers, the people revolted, and, in 1836, set up an independent government. In 1845, Texas was annexed to the United States. 11. California.-The war with Mexico gave to the United States a vast region between Texas and the Pacific Ocean, which had previously belonged to the Mexican Republic. The conquest of this region having been effected during the war, its possession was confirmed by the treaty of Guadaloupe Hidalgo, made in 1848, as well as by a subsequent treaty, known as the "Gadsden Treaty," made in 1853. By the terms of the first treaty, the United States agreed to pay to Mexico $15,000,000, and to assume debts due from her to American citizens to the amount of $3,000,000. By the terms of the second treaty, the United States paid an addi-` tional sum of $10,000,000, in order to secure a more southerly boundary. From the region thus acquired from Mexico have been formed the States of California (1850) and Nevada (1864), and the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and Utah. 12. Alaska.-The Territory of Alaska, formerly known as Russian America, was ceded to the United States, by Russia, in 1867, for $7,200,- 000. The name of Alaska having been given to it in the treaty, it has since retained it. 13. Thus has the national domain increased from time to time, spreading from one ocean to the other, and gradually enfolding within its embrace every district of country that lay as an obstacle to the mighty march of its destiny. That "league of love" which first only clasped within its folds an empire of thirteen sister States, with an area of 800,000 square miles, has been found sufficiently expansive to permit the embrace of a vast realm of thirty-seven States, and ten Territories; including altogether an area of more than 3,000,000 square miles. "O God! look down upon the land which thou hast loved so well, And grant that in unbroken truth her children still may dwell; Nor while the grass grows on the hill, and streams flow through the vale, May they forget their fathers' faith, or in their covenant fail! Civil Progress of the Nation. 1. Population.-The first Census,—that of 1790,-showed a total population in the thirteen States, and the territory on each side of the Ohio River, of less than four millions (3,921,326). In the Northwest Territory the population was so small that no return was made; in the territory south of the Ohio, the number of inhabitants was about 37,000. The city of Philadelphia, then the largest city of the Union, contained only a population of 43,525, that of New York being more than 10,000 less (33,131); Cincinnati, settled in 1788, was but a small hamlet (in 1805 its population was only 500); Boston contained only about 18,000 inhabitants; and New Orleans, then a French settlement, less than 8,000. The great western cities of the present day were scarcely dreamed of. 2. The population of the Union, as shown by the Census of 1870, is nearly forty millions (38,617,949). There are fourteen cities, the population of each of which exceeds 100,000, and seven in which the population is in excess of 250,000. The Metropolis contains nearly one million of inhabitants, having grown, during our national existence, to that astonishing figure, from the small number mentioned above; while Cincinnati has grown from 500, in 1805, to more than 216,000. Chicago, which, in 1831, contained only about a dozen families, before the great fire of 1871 had a population of 298,000. St. Louis, a small trading-village in 1803, when it came under the United States Government, now contains about 313,000 people, and is the fourth city of the Union, being exceeded only by New York, Philadelphia, and Brooklyn. 3. Commerce.-The commercial progress of the country has kept pace with the vast increase in its population, and the amazing growth of its cities. In 1790, the total exports from all the ports of the United States amounted to about twenty millions of dollars, and the imports somewhat less; in 1870, the amount of exports was over five hundred millions; and the imports amounted to about six millions more than the exports. About two-thirds of all the imports of the United States arrive in New York, and about forty per cent. of all the exports are shipped from that port. 4. The tonnage of the United States has increased from 274,377, in 1790, to 4,253,149, in 1870; while the number of American vessels (registered or enrolled) has increased during the same period to 29,015, of which about 3,500 were steam-vessels. This is considerably less than the number reported previous to the Civil War, the total tonnage in 1862–3 being more than 5,000,000. The vast increase in population on the borders of the Great Lakes, and along the great navigable rivers, has led to the establishment of an inland and domestic trade, of greater proportions than the foreign commerce immense as that is. The chief items of this trade are coal and lumber; but the cereals also constitute a considerable part. 5. Manufactures.-During the Colonial period, the manufacturing industry of the American people was repressed by penal statutes, the selfish policy of the British government dictating agricultural pursuits for the purpose of benefiting the commerce of the mother-country. Hence, a free market was opened to all the agricultural products, including the raw materials of manufacture; and sometimes bounties were offered to stimulate still further their production. This policy was peculiarly fitted to increase the prosperity of the Southern Colonies, while those of the North were scarcely able to subsist. 6. When, therefore, the nation commenced its existence, the manufacturing interests were of very little importance; indeed, they had scarcely commenced to be developed. Before the war of 1812, nothing was accomplished on a great scale in this direction; the embargo, however, gave a great stimulus to this interest. Since that period, an amazing expansion has been reached in every department of manufactures, but especially in those of cottons, woollens, and iron, the three great staples, in the first of which this country is now exceeded by Great Britain alone. The principal seats of this manufacture are in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and New York. 7. The general use of furnaces, stoves, etc., for heating purposes, the innumerable applications of machinery, as a substitute for human labor, and for the propulsion of land-carriages, as well as for the purposes of navigation, render the iron manufacture of great importance in this country; and, accordingly, it has developed into vast proportions. Its kindred department, mining-particularly of coal and iron-has, of course, kept equal pace with it. 8. Ship-building.—The first vessel built in New England was built in Medford, Massachusetts, for Governor Winthrop. She was launched on the fourth of July, 1631, and was called the "Blessing of the Bay,"'—a name which indicated, in anticipation, the great benefits which that section of our country was to experience from this department of industry. Up to the commencement of the Civil War (1861) this branch of labor was among the most flourishing in the country; but the operations of Confederate cruisers, aided, as they were, by British influence and support, had the effect to paralyze this, as well as every other branch of industry dependent upon navigation. 9. Printing and Book-publishing.—Under our system of free government and free schools, the various pursuits connected with the printing and publication of newspapers, books, etc., have reached a condition of great activity and extent. The wide-spread demand for informa tion has stimulated the application of science and art to this branch of industry to the highest degree. The processes in use for the purpose a century ago would be, at the present time, comparatively valueless. One of the earliest inventions for improving the old printing-press was the Columbian press, invented by George Clymer of Philadelphia, in 1818; and, more recently, the powerful cylinder presses constructed by Richard M. Hoe, of New York, have rendered it possible to keep pace with the daily demand for newspapers and books. By the cylinder press worked by steam, in connection with the stereotype process, as many as 40,000 impressions of a newspaper can be taken in an hour. 10. Agriculture.—This, the leading pursuit of our country during its entire history, has made vast and rapid strides, both in processes and results, since the commencement of our national union. The great demand for labor has furnished very strong inducements for the invention and use of labor-saving machinery and implements, and the ingenuity of the American people has been strikingly illustrated by its innumerable achievements in this direction. Of these, the cultivator, the mowing machine, the reaper, the horse rake, the threshing machine, etc., are examples. Steam has been applied to the working of many of these implements; and, in this way, the work of one man is often made more effective than that of a hundred a century ago. 11. In the northern sections of the country, the chief staples are the cereal grains, maize, wheat, rye, oats, barley, etc., together with potatoes and hay; in the South, cotton, rice, sugar, and tobacco take the lead. The increase in the production of these various articles since the formation of our government has been amazing. In 1790, the cotton raised amounted to less than 250,000 pounds; while in 1860, just previous to the great Civil War, the quantity cultivated reached the extraordinary amount of more than 2,000,000,000 pounds, or nearly 4,000,000 of bales. In 1870, the crop amounted to a little over one billion and three quarters of pounds (1,767,000,000 lbs.). Mississippi occupies the first place as a cotton-growing State. 12. Canals.-In 1827, Edward Everett thus spoke of the internal improvements of that period : " A system of internal improvements has been commenced, which will have the effect, when a little further developed, of crowding within a few years the progress of generations. Already, Lake Champlain from the north and Lake Erie from the west have been connected with Albany. The Delaware and Chesapeake Bays have been united. A canal is nearly finished in the upper part of New Jersey, from the Delaware to the Hudson, by which coal is already dispatched to our market. Another route is laid out, across the same State, to connect New York by a railroad with Philadelphia. A water communication has been opened, by canals, half way from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. Considerable progress is made, both on the railroad and the canal, which are to unite Baltimore and Washington with the Ohio River. A canal of sixty miles in length is open, from Cincinnati to Dayton, in the State of Ohio; and another, of more than three hundred miles in extent, to connect Lake Erie with the Ohio, is two-thirds completed." 13. The various enterprises here alluded to have all been completed. The Grand Erie Canal, in the State of New York, was opened in 1824 but not entirely completed till 1825. This magnificent public improvement owed its success to the genius of De Witt Clinton,* and contributed in a very great degree to make New York city what it is at present-the great emporium of the country. It is 363 miles in length, and was first estimated to cost $5,000,000. Since its completion, in 1825, it has been considerably enlarged. The total length of canals in the United States, in 1854, was nearly 5,000 miles; but since that period few undertakings of this kind, of any magnitude, have been commenced, their use as a means of communication having been superseded by the construction of railroads. Extensive river improvements have also been accomplished in many parts of the country. 14. Railroads. The first great internal improvement in this country was the Philadelphia and Pittsburg Turnpike, which was completed near the close of the last century. The Cumberland Road, subsequently called the Great National Road, had its origin in an appropriation of $30,000 by Congress, in 1806, for the construction of a road over the Alleghany mountains, from Cumberland, in Maryland, to the Ohio River. Other appropriations for the construction of this road were made from time to time; and in 1820 it had been completed to Wheeling, at an expense of $1,700,000. Subsequently it was extended to Springfield, Ohio, and partially undertaken in Indiana and Illinois; but being superseded by railways, it was never completed to the extent at one time contemplated. 15. The first railroads constructed in the United States were the Quincy Railroad, used to transport granite from the quarries of Quincy, Massachusetts (1826), and the Mauch Chunk Railroad, for the conveyance of coal from the mines at that place to the Lehigh River in Pennsylvania (1827). The rapid construction of railroads in every part of the country since that time presents a very striking evidence of the activity and enterprise of the people, and the civil progress of the nation. 16. In 1848, the number of miles of completed railways amounted to 6,000; in 1860, this had increased to nearly 31,000, the construction and * De Witt Clinton was born in March, 1769, and was the son of General James Clinton, of Orange County, New York. He was mayor of the city of New York ten years; and was elected governor of the State in 1817, and again in 1820 and 1826. His death occurred in February, 1828. |