The Judicial Department
This is the third Branch of the government, as determined by the Constitution, and is of supreme importance and dignity. Its sphere is to interpret the Constitution, to decide controversies, to try offenders and to pronounce sentence on them, to enforce rights, and to keep the whole organism of the government in proper place and proportion. It is attached to the governmental machinery as a Regulator. Without it the other Departments must be the judges of the extent of their own powers; the Constitution would be practically inoperative to prevent inharmonious or mischievous legislation; and the executive would possess the authority to try as well as punish offenses.
The officers of this Department of the government are expected to be men of much weight and dignity of character, of wide legal culture, and are selected for, and continued in, office under such circumstances as to guarantee, to a fair extent, the requisite distinction and impartiality.
All this we shall see as we proceed to analyze its different branches. These consist of the United States Supreme Court, the Circuit Courts, the District Courts, and the Court of Claims. The local courts in the District of Columbia, and the Territorial Courts, though similar to the State Judiciaries, are connected, by their relations to the General Government, with this Department.
The importance of this branch of the government has become more evident as time has passed, and the conflict of parties has put the whole to test. The acrimonious party spirit of our early post revolutionary history, which continued into Monroe’s administration, was, in great part, the result of a want of due confidence in, and respect for, the judiciary. Experience showed that our people were law abiding, and that the Legislative and Executive powers, equally with the people, were willing to submit to the official interpretation of the Constitution, and all ready to join hands to maintain its authority.
Chapter LVII — The Supreme Court
1. This is the highest tribunal in the United States. If the whole government be figuratively regarded as an arch this is the “Key Stone of the Arch” without which the whole structure would crumble and fall. In all cases of dispute as to the meaning of the Constitution and the range of powers it confers, or implies, it has sovereign power to decide; and from that decision there is no appeal. Its declaration, as to the meaning and application of the Constitution and the body of statutes enacted under it, becomes the law of the land. It is the great bulwark against tyrannical use of power, and conflicting enactments, whether by National or State Legislatures.
2. This court has one Chief Justice and nine Associate Justices, all appointed by the President, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate. They are appointed for life, or during good behavior; they may be impeached for bribery or other high crimes, and then removed from office. They may also resign; but if they conduct themselves properly and choose to retain their offices, there is no power by which they can be removed, except the power of death. The Constitution itself makes this provision, in order that the judges may be removed as far as possible from the influence of party politics. It is therefore expected that their decisions will not be biased by party or political considerations; and it may not be amiss to say that the provisions for keeping the judges of the United States Courts in office for life, meets with almost universal approbation; and has caused many to hope that the States would alter their Constitutions and adopt the same plan; believing it to be the surest way of preserving a pure and independent Judiciary, on which depend the rights and liberties of every citizen of the commonwealth.
3. This court holds but one term in a year, which commences on the first Monday of December, and sits until it has disposed of the business before it. Its sessions are always held at Washington, the capital of the nation; there it has access to the Congressional and Law Libraries, and to all the departments and records of the government when necessary.
There is a class of causes which may be commenced in this court. In these cases it has original jurisdiction. They are such as affect ambassadors, other public ministers, and consuls; and those in which a State shall be a party. In other cases it has only appellate jurisdiction. The greater part of its business is to hear and determine appeals from inferior courts, mainly from the United States Circuit Courts; and in some instances from the highest State courts.
4. It has not only original, but exclusive jurisdiction in causes where a State is a party, and when proceedings or suits against ambassadors, or other public ministers or their servants, are instituted. Its power to try appeals from lower courts, called appellate jurisdiction, gives it the position of the highest court in the nation.
It has power also to restrain or to prohibit proceedings in the United States District Courts, when acting as courts of Admiralty; or in cases of maritime jurisdiction. The judges of this court hold the Circuit Courts, and allot themselves among the judicial circuits.
The practice and rules of procedure in this court are very similar to those of the Courts of Chancery and King’s Bench, in England. Issues of fact are tried by jury, the same as in other courts.
Officers of the Court
5. The officers of this tribunal are the Judges, the Attorney General, a clerk, a crier, and a reporter. The three last named are appointed by the court. It is the duty of the Marshal of the District of Columbia to attend this court, and to serve process issuing from it.
An Attorney or Counsellor-at-Law, to be admitted to practice in this court, must have been a practitioner in the Supreme Court of the State where he lives.
6. The following are the names of all the Chief Justices of the Supreme Court of the United States, from its establishment to the present time; with the dates of their appointments, and the States from which they were appointed:
John Jay, N. Y., Sept. 26, 1789.
John Rutledge, S. C., July 1, 1795.
William Cushing, Mass., Jan. 27, 1796.
Oliver Ellsworth, Ct., March 4, 1796.
John Jay, N. Y., Dec. 19, 1800.
John Marshall, Va., Jan. 27, 1801.
Roger B. Taney, Md., Dec. 28, 1835.
Salmon P. Chase, O., Dec. 1864.
Morrison R. Waite, O., Jan. 21, 1874.
7. The following are the names of the Associate Justices with the dates of their appointment and the States from which they were appointed:
John Rutledge, S. C., 1789.
William Cushing, Mass., 1789.
Robert H. Harrison, Md., 1789.
James Wilson, Pa., 1789.
John Blair, Va., 1789.
James Iredell, N. C., 1790.
Thomas Johnson, Md., 1791.
William Paterson, N. J., 1793.
Samuel Chase, Md., 1796.
Bushrod Washington, Va., 1798.
Alfred Moore, N. C., 1799.
William Johnson, S. C., 1804.
Brockholst Livingston, N. Y., 1807.
Thomas Todd, Va., 1807.
Gabriel Duvall, Md., 1811.
Joseph Story, Mass., 1811.
Smith Thompson, N. Y., 1823.
Robert Trimble, Ky., 1823.
John McLean, O., 1829.
Henry Baldwin, Pa., 1830.
James M. Wayne, Ga., 1835.
Philip P. Barbour, Va., 1836.
John McKinley, Ala., 1837.
John Catron, Tenn., 1837.
Peter V. Daniel, Va., 1841.
Samuel Nelson, N. Y., 1845.
Levi Woodbury, N. H., 1845.
Robert C. Grier, Pa., 1846.
Benjamin R. Curtis, Mass., 1851.
James A. Campbell, Ala., 1853.
Nathan Clifford, Me., 1858.
Noah H. Swayne, O., 1862.
Samuel F. Miller, Iowa, 1862.
Stephen J. Field, Cal.
David Davis, Ill., 1862.
William Strong, Pa., 1870.
Joseph P. Bradley, N. J., 1870.
Ward Hunt, N. Y., 1873.
Chapter LVIII — Circuit Courts
The next in dignity, power, and jurisdiction are the United States Circuit Courts. While the Supreme Court is always held in Washington, these are held in every State at such times and places as special law of Congress directs. These are often changed so as to accommodate both the people in the States and the judges of the Court. As now arranged, the whole Union is divided into nine circuits, each circuit comprising several States, according to the size and population of the States. The places are arranged with reference to convenience of access by all the people in the circuit.
This Court is similar in design and authority to the Supreme Court; indeed it is but a branch of it; the same officers presiding, and the same class of questions being adjudicated by it, viz.: those involving Constitutional Law; and this authority, so important to uniformity of interpretation of constitutional provisions, and to the enjoyment of rights guaranteed by that instrument to citizens of all the States, is made pervading—is carried within the reach of all.
2. The Circuit Courts are held by the Judges of the Supreme Court, who allot the circuits among themselves, and then travel each through his own circuit, until he has visited and held a session in every State which lies within it. A Judge of the Supreme Court is the presiding and supreme magistrate in every Circuit Court, but the Judge of the District Court of the district in which the Circuit is held, sits with the Judge of the Supreme Court, as Associate Justice.
Jurisdiction
3. These Courts have both original and appellate jurisdiction. Causes may be appealed from the District Courts to the Circuit. They also have concurrent jurisdiction with the State courts, where the matter in dispute exceeds the sum of $500, and the United States are plaintiffs; or where an alien is a party, or where the suit is between citizens of different States. They have exclusive jurisdiction in all cases of crimes against the United States, except where the law especially confers the power on other courts. It extends to all cases under the revenue laws of the United States.
4. There is also a certain class of cases (too tedious to be described here in detail,) which may be removed from State and from District Courts, into these courts, and be tried and determined in the same manner as if they had been commenced here.
The officers of Circuit Courts are, first, the Judges; second, the District Attorney of the district in which the court is held; third, the Marshal of the district; and fourth, a Clerk, who is appointed by the court.
5. It may be interesting, and perhaps useful to know how the different circuits are formed, and what States lie in each. They have been from time to time increased in number, as the number of the States increased. In some cases States have been at first placed in one circuit, and afterwards detached and placed in another.
6. By the Acts of 1862 and 1863, the circuits were arranged as follows:
First Circuit—Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine and New Hampshire (by Act of 1820).
Second Circuit—Vermont, Connecticut, New York (Act of 1837).
Third Circuit—New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
Fourth Circuit—Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and North Carolina.
Fifth Circuit—South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
Sixth Circuit—Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee.
Seventh Circuit—Ohio and Indiana.
Eighth Circuit—Michigan and Illinois.
Ninth Circuit—Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa and Minnesota.
Tenth Circuit—California and Oregon.
But in 1866 this arrangement of the circuits was again changed; and this was done, we suppose, to make the circuits approximate nearer to the number of Associate Justices, as reduced from nine to six by the same act; for, it was then enacted that hereafter there should be no more Associate Justices of the Supreme Court appointed, until they were reduced (by death or resignation), to six.
7. The circuits by this last act were reduced to nine, and were arranged as follows:
First and Second Circuits to remain as before.
The Third was made up of the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware.
The Fourth, of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.
The Fifth, of Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.
The Sixth, of Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee.
The Seventh, of Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.
The Eighth, of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas.
The Ninth, of California, Oregon and Nevada.
We have inserted both of these circuit arrangements, because one new State (Nebraska), has been admitted since the act passed. Others will soon come in, and very probably the old number of circuits and judges will be restored.
Chapter LIX — District Courts
1. We come now to the lowest grade of United States courts, excepting the local courts in the District of Columbia, and the Territorial Courts. A United States District Court is held by a District Judge in every district. Every State constitutes at least one district, several of the larger States are divided into two, and some into three. There are at the present time fifty-nine Judicial Districts, and consequently the same number of District Judges, District Attorneys, District Clerks and Marshals. The Judges, Attorneys and Marshals are all appointed by the President and Senate; the Clerks by the respective courts.
Terms
2. By the law of 1789 every District Judge was required to hold four sessions a year, at such times and in such places as Congress directed. This is done to this day in a great majority of the States; but by later laws, in some of the districts only two or three sessions a year are required.
Jurisdiction
3. These courts have exclusive jurisdiction in all admiralty and maritime causes. These relate to maritime contracts, and to crimes against the laws of the United States, committed on the sea and on navigable lakes and rivers. It embraces in this country all contracts respecting vessels and navigation; such as chartering, repairing, and fitting them out, seamen’s wages, &c. They have in some cases concurrent jurisdiction with the Circuit Courts, as in cases of piracy, and exclusive cognizance of cases where seizures are made for a violation of the revenue laws, or laws relating to imports and navigation; and causes against consuls and vice consuls where the amount claimed does not exceed $100. In short, they have concurrent jurisdiction with the Circuit Courts, of all crimes against the laws of the United States, the punishment of which is not capital. The trial of issues of fact in all causes except civil causes of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, must be by jury.
4. Appeals are taken from these courts to the Circuit Courts. The judges are appointed like those of the Supreme Court, for life, or during good behavior, and receive various amounts as salary, some more and some less, according to the amount of services to be performed in their respective districts.
5. When vessels are captured in time of war, either by the public armed vessels or by private armed ships, the facts and circumstances of the capture must be brought before a United States Circuit or District Court for adjudication; when the vessel and cargo are either condemned as a prize, or restored to their owners. When either of these courts adjudicate such cases, it is called a Prize Court.
We give the number of Judicial Districts in each State as they now exist, and the total number in all the States. They are as follows:
Alabama, 3.
Arkansas, 2.
California, 2.
Connecticut, 1.
Mississippi, 2.
Missouri, 2.
Nevada, 1.
New Hampshire, 1.
Delaware, 1.
Florida, 2.
Georgia, 2.
Illinois, 2.
Indiana, 1.
Iowa, 1.
Kansas, 1.
Kentucky, 1.
Louisiana, 2.
Maine, 1.
Maryland, 1.
Massachusetts, 1.
Michigan, 2.
Minnesota, 1.
District of Columbia, 1.
New Jersey, 1.
New York, 3.
North Carolina, 3.
Nebraska, 1.
Ohio, 2.
Oregon, 1.
Pennsylvania, 2.
Rhode Island, 1.
South Carolina, 2.
Tennessee, 3.
Texas, 2.
Vermont, 1.
Virginia, 1.
West Virginia, 1.
Wisconsin, 1.
Total, 59.
Chapter LX — Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction
In ancient times—and long before this government existed—civilized and commercial nations had codes or laws which related especially to transactions upon the sea. Those respecting ships of war and warlike operations at sea were called the laws of Admiralty; those respecting vessels engaged in commercial affairs were called Maritime laws; and the courts empowered with jurisdiction to hear and try causes, or to take any judicial proceedings in those cases, were styled Courts of Admiralty and Maritime Jurisdiction. These laws, in many respects, differed so materially from the laws relating to affairs on land, that the authority and power to take proceedings in and adjudicate upon them was conferred upon a particular class of courts. Hence we see the origin of the names of such tribunals.
In this country the United States District Courts have been designated by the laws as the courts which shall have original and exclusive authority to adjudicate this class of causes; yet an appeal from the District to the Circuit Courts may be taken.
Kind of Cases
The word Maritime designates that which relates to the sea. Yet, in the United States, cases which come within Admiralty and Maritime jurisdiction are not restricted to the sea, or to transactions relating to business or crimes done on it, but are made to embrace those which occur on navigable lakes and rivers, and include seizures made for the violation of the laws of impost, navigation, or trade, suits for the recovery of seamen’s wages, contracts for building, repairing or fitting out vessels, and, briefly, all contracts where the subject-matter relates to the navigation of the sea. The District Courts have Admiralty and Maritime jurisdiction in all these cases, without regard to the amount claimed, and in criminal as well as in civil suits.
The foregoing remarks show the workings of our judicial system, as it applies to business done, and crimes committed upon the high seas.
Chapter LXI — Court of Claims
1. This court was established by act of Congress in 1855. The law reads thus: “A court shall be established to be called the Court of Claims, to consist of three judges, to be appointed by the President and Senate, and to hold their offices during good behavior; and the said court shall hear and determine all claims founded upon any law of Congress, or upon any regulation of an Executive department, or upon any contract express or implied, with the government of the United States; which may be suggested to it by a petition filed therein; and also all claims which may be referred to said court by either house of Congress.”
2. On the third of March, 1863, the jurisdiction of this court was enlarged, and two additional judges appointed (making five), from the whole number of which the President was authorized to appoint one a Chief Justice for said court.
3. The mode of commencing proceeding before this tribunal is by petition; in which the claimant must fully set forth his claim, how it arose, its amount, and the parties interested therein. After the case has been heard and determined, the court reports to Congress what its decision is, and if favorable to the claimant, a bill is passed for his relief.
4. It holds one session a year, in Washington, commencing on the first Monday in October, and continuing as long as the business before it requires. It not only tries claims against the government, but by its enlarged jurisdiction, conferred in 1863, it also tries counter claims and set-offs which the United States may have against the claimant. Appeals are taken from the Court of Claims to the Supreme Court of the United States, when the amount in controversy exceeds $3,000.
5. Before the establishment of this court, the only remedy persons having claims upon the government had, was by petitioning to Congress for relief; which experience proved to be a long, tedious, and expensive mode of obtaining their dues. The petition now goes to this court, where it is heard and adjudicated in the same form, and by the same rules of procedure which are observed in other courts; for Congress has conferred upon it all the powers commonly possessed by other courts of law. It also has a seal.
6. It has greatly facilitated the settlement of claims against the government, and has relieved Congress of a great amount of labor, which was urgently pressed upon it at every session.
7. In addition to the five judges, it has a Solicitor, an Assistant Solicitor, and a Deputy Solicitor, all of whom are appointed by the President and Senate; and are officers of the court, whose duty it is faithfully to defend the United States in all matters and claims before this court.
A bailiff, a clerk, a crier and messenger, all of whom are appointed by the court, make up the remaining officials.
The claimants stand in the relation of plaintiffs, and the government in that of defendant.
Chapter LXII — District Attorneys
These officers are next in rank to the Judges of the Circuit and District Courts with which their duties are connected. Their relation to the government, in the class of cases that come before those courts, is the same as that of the Attorney General in the Supreme Court. They are its official legal counselors in all cases involving the interests of the General Government before the Circuit and District Courts in their several districts. They are appointed in the same manner; that is, nominated by the President, and confirmed by the Senate. It is their duty “to prosecute in such district all delinquents for crimes and offences cognizable under the authority of the United States, and all civil actions in which the United States shall be concerned.” They are his clients, and he must enforce their rights, and defend them, in the same manner that any attorney protects and defends his client in any of the State courts. In case of necessity, he may appoint a substitute to act in his place. All fees over and above what he is allowed as compensation for his services, he must report and pay into the United States Treasury.
3. He must defend collectors of the customs and other revenue officers in his district, when suits are brought against them in their official capacity, and must report to the Solicitor of the Treasury the number of suits determined and pending in his district. And when prize cases have been determined, or are pending in the District Court of his district, he must report the state and condition of each case to the Secretary of the Navy.
District Attorneys are appointed for four years, but may be removed at the pleasure of the President. Their compensation depends on the amount of business to be done in their respective districts. When important ports of entry, such as New York or Boston, lie in their districts, their duties are very numerous, and they receive a corresponding compensation.
Chapter LXIII — United States Marshals
1. United States Marshals are the ministerial officers of the United States courts. Their duties and responsibilities are very similar, and nearly identical with the duties and responsibilities of sheriffs in the courts of the several States. They are appointed by the President and Senate, for a term of four years. They appoint their own deputies, and their compensation consists of fees instead of a salary; and depends entirely upon the amount of business they have to transact. There is a Marshal in every Judicial District in the United States, and there are fifty-nine of these districts in all. Every State forms at least one district, while the larger States are divided into two or three.
2. A District Court is held in every district; and it is the Marshal’s duty to attend the sittings of these courts, and also those of the United States Circuit Courts, when they happen to sit in his district. The Marshal for the District of Columbia must also attend the sittings of the Supreme Court, and execute its precepts. We have said that they are the ministerial officers of the United States courts; for it is their duty to serve all writs and precepts emanating from them, whether of a civil or criminal character; and to execute the judgments and decrees of these tribunals; and for this purpose they are authorized by law, (if necessary,) to command such assistance as they may need in the execution of their duties. Before they enter upon the duties of their office, they must be bound to the United States for the faithful performance of them, and must solemnly swear to do them, without malice or partiality; and that they will take only lawful fees. They are also held answerable for the delivery to their successors of all prisoners who may be in their custody at the time of their removal, or at the expiration of their term of office.
3. They also have the custody of all vessels and goods seized by any officer of the revenue. It is their duty also to summon, and to pay jurors and witnesses in behalf of any prisoner to be tried for a capital offense, under the laws of the United States. In the remarks made under the head “Census,” we stated that it was made the duty of the Marshals to superintend and direct the enumeration of the people; and to collect such statistical facts as the law requires. This they do through deputies, whom they appoint for that special purpose.
The United States Marshal is also required, on the first day of January and July of each year, to make a return of all the fees and emoluments of his office to the Secretary of the Interior; and if they amount to more than $6,000 per year, he must pay the surplus into the Treasury of the United States.
Chapter LXIV — Grand Jury
1. By turning to the fifth article of the amendments to the Constitution, you will find these words: “No person shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury; except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service, in time of war or public danger.” This constitutional provision makes a Grand Jury a very important agent or instrumentality in the execution of the laws, and also a safeguard of the liberties and rights of the people. It secures every person from the expense and disgrace of a trial for infamous crimes, unless a Grand Jury of his countrymen shall find upon inquiry and investigation, that there are good reasons for believing that the person so charged has committed the alleged offense.
2. This provision not only protects those who are charged with these crimes against the laws of the United States, but those also who may be charged with such offenses against the laws of any State; for no State can arrest and try any person for a capital or infamous crime without these preliminary proceedings of a Grand Jury; and should it do so, the United States Supreme Court would set its laws aside, as contrary to the Constitution of the United States. Here we see that the government is just as careful to protect its citizens from injustice by hasty judicial proceedings as it is to punish them after a fair and impartial trial.
3. A Grand Jury, when called to take cognizance of violations of the laws of the United States, to find indictments against those who are charged with them, is summoned by a judge of a United States court in the circuit or district where the alleged crime has been perpetrated; and it must take notice of all crimes against the laws of the United States, which may be brought to its knowledge, within the circuit or district in which it sits. Hence, if ordered by a Circuit Judge, its powers extend over all those States which lie in that circuit. But when ordered by a District Judge, its powers extend only to that district in which it sits, and a district never embraces more than one State, and in many cases a State is divided into two or three districts.
4. This shows us how much more extensive is the jurisdiction of a Grand Jury, when acting under the laws of the United States, than when acting under State laws. In the former it extends generally all over a State, and sometimes over several States. But in the latter it is confined to the county in which it sits.
Grand and Petit Juries
A Grand Jury never acts but in criminal cases. A Petit Jury acts in both criminal and civil cases. The finding or conclusion arrived at by a Grand Jury is called a presentment, or an indictment. The finding of a Petit Jury is called its verdict.
5. Second, a Grand Jury sits alone (not in the presence of the court), and deliberates upon such matters of a criminal character as it possesses knowledge of, or which may be brought to its notice by the court or by other persons; and when it finds that great evils exist, and wrongs have been perpetrated, it presents them to the court, and calls the attention of the law officers to them; which is equivalent to a recommendation that judicial proceedings should be commenced to abate the evil, or to punish the wrong-doer. This is called a presentment of the Grand Jury.
And when they find, upon such evidence as they have, that a great crime has been perpetrated, or that they have good reason so to believe, and that it has been perpetrated by some person specified, they report their finding or conclusion to the Court. This is called an indictment by the Grand Jury; after which the person so charged is arrested, if at large, and can be found, and is either imprisoned or held to bail for his appearance at court to stand trial.
6. A Grand Jury never tries a case. It only says to the court by its presentment or indictment, that the case presented, or the person indicted, ought to be brought before the court, and tried for the alleged wrong or crime.
A Petit Jury sits with the court, hears the pleadings and arguments of counsel on both sides, listens to the evidence of witnesses; and then hears the charge of the judge, as to the law applicable to the case; after which they withdraw and deliberate alone upon the case, and if they agree in a criminal case, their verdict is “Guilty,” or “Not Guilty;” if in a civil suit, they say how much one party is indebted (if any), to the other.
7. The object aimed at in that article of the Constitution which stands at the head of this chapter, is to protect persons from false charges of crime, and hasty adjudication of such charges; for it substantially amounts to a declaration that no person shall be punished for a capital or infamous crime, unless one jury, before trial, shall, upon information and belief, charge him with the offense; and another, after trial, shall find him guilty of the alleged crime.
The above remarks are as applicable to Grand and Petit Juries, acting under State, as those which act under the United States laws.
Chapter LXV — Local Governments
1. The Supreme power in the United States is lodged in the general government, with its three branches: Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The authority of this government, however, is restricted to the powers expressly conferred on it by the Constitution; all other power being reserved to the States, or the people. The States also are sovereign in their own limits, over all questions not expressly assigned to the General Government. Instead of conflict of authority there is true harmony. The people elect the members of both the classes of legislators and executives, and both are equally employed in attending to the interests of the people confided to their care; the first to General, the second to Local interests. All the members and officers of each are the servants of the Sovereign People.
2. As soon as the general government was organized under the Constitution, there arose two parties. One wished to render the General Government prominent in order to secure concentration of strength and vigor of action; the other desired to exalt the State governments in the fear that the general government might prove ambitious of too much power, and disregard the welfare of the people. As in almost all party platforms, both these seemed to take too narrow a view. Washington was held to sympathize more with the first, Jefferson was the acknowledged leader of the second. Together they secured a very fair mingling of both these principles in the administration and general policy of the country. A strict adherence to the meaning and spirit of the Constitution would not seem to give special favor to either, or allow a conflict of interests.
3. The Supreme Court, or the Judiciary, is the regulating, or reconciling element, which the Constitution set over the whole to see that no undue or improper action should defeat its purposes, and that no collisions of authority should occur. Its decision is final, it being the last resort in cases of appeal; and, as the only final and authoritative interpreter of Constitutional Law, it may revise the action of all other branches of both general and local government, and put them in harmony.
4. It is plain that the authors of the Constitution intended to fuse the separate elements, or States, into one whole, where general matters were concerned; and to leave those elements perfectly free and absolute control of all questions involving only their separate and local concerns. The People, and their welfare, are the aim and end of both organizations. The possession of power for ambitious ends by general, State, or municipal organizations, or by individuals, was apparently as foreign to the thought of the whole Constitutional convention of 1787 as it seems always to have been to the mind of Washington. That great man was the leader of clear-sighted and pure-minded statesmen, and whatever weaknesses and faults have existed at any time (and there have always been an abundance of them, as there were in the times of Washington) among political leaders, it must be allowed that the Fathers had worthy sons who knew how to work correctly the problems left them by their predecessors. A single question proved quite unmanageable to the sons, as it had before to the fathers, and had to be settled by an appeal to arms; but it demonstrated the strength of the people and the ability of our institutions to withstand the severest shocks.
5. The original States adopted the Constitution after deliberate study, and all the States since admitted virtually do the same. Their general structure in their legislative, executive, and judicial arrangements is substantially the same as that of the General Government. The State Legislatures consist of two Houses, chosen in different ways, and for different terms; the relations between them being similar to those of Congress. Every State has a governor, answering to the President of the United States, who is the executive officer of the State government. The courts in all are organized on the same principle as the Supreme Court of the general government. Although there are small variations from the model, in various States, they do not affect the general resemblance; and, due allowance being made for the different subjects to be treated, the analysis of the general, or of any of State governments, will give a sufficiently correct view of all.
6. A State cannot make treaties with a foreign power, nor declare war against it. It cannot raise a revenue by duties on imports, nor control the postal service, or matters involving the interests of other States. It has therefore no Department for Foreign relations, its Secretary of State dealing only with State affairs. It has no Department of War, or Navy, and no Postmaster General. The Governor’s signature is necessary to the validity of laws passed by the two branches of the legislature, and in most of the States he has a veto power similar to that of the President. He has an executive council answering to the Cabinet. The courts are more numerous than those of the general government, to meet the wants of all classes of the people; ranging from a Supreme or Constitutional court, whose office it is to interpret and apply the constitution of the State; through all grades, of Common Pleas, Circuit, District, Police, and Recorder’s courts down to neighborhood courts held by Justices of the Peace, or Aldermen. There are various others in different States for special purposes.
7. States are subdivided for purposes of local government into counties and towns; and these into smaller portions for educational and other purposes.
Thus the whole is like an extensive system of machinery, wheel being fitted to wheel. From the lowest to the highest the people of each local division have entire control over the subjects in which they only are interested; and there is very little opportunity for the exercise of arbitrary power. Executive officers may be changed by election, or impeachment, if they do not give satisfaction, or prove unfaithful; and as many securities as it is possible to devise are provided against abuses, or, if a majority in any State (or the United States) believe that an improvement can be made, there are constitutional and legal methods for securing it.
Thus our country is insured against serious discontents for which no remedy is at hand; and from the revolutions and internal disturbances that interrupt the progress, and destroy the resources of so many other countries. It is a government of, for, and by the people. The value of any institution or office in the United States, from the school district and director to State legislature, Congress, governor, or President, is determined by the relation it bears to the Public Welfare; and when it ceases to be useful there are, as there ought to be, legal means for laying it aside.
Chapter LXVI — Individual States
The original thirteen States are here arranged in the order of size—the one having the largest area being placed first. They are ranked according to their present area, the claims of some of them at first extending to territory since erected into States; and one, Virginia, has been divided. Her former area would have ranked her as first.
The States that follow are placed in the order of their admission into the Union.
Georgia
This State was the last settled of the original thirteen. It was founded in the benevolent anxiety of Gen. James Oglethorpe and others to relieve the distresses of the poor in England. Those imprisoned for debt were sent out in large numbers. With this object was connected the desire to prevent the extension of the Spanish settlements in Florida, and the English government favored the undertaking. This class of settlers proving indolent and improvident, a better was attracted by laying off many towns, in the best locations, and offering fifty acres free to every actual settler. Many Scotch and German emigrants improved this opportunity, to the great advantage of the colony.
Gen. Oglethorpe imitated the wise conduct of Penn, in his treaties with the Indians.
He commenced his settlement at Savannah, in 1733, cheerfully assisted by the South Carolinians, who were pleased to see a barrier placed between them and the Spaniards. Oglethorpe had several conflicts with them, and succeeded in protecting his colony. The introduction of slaves was at first forbidden; but, as the colony seemed to fall behind the neighboring provinces for want of laborers, the restriction was removed. In 1752 the company gave up their charter, and Georgia became a royal province. It took part with the other colonies in resistance to the aggressions of the English ministry, at the Revolutionary period, and its condition during the war was similar to that of North and South Carolina. Being new, and on the frontier, it was not conspicuous.
The northern part of the State is uneven, the central and lower sections productive under a wise and careful culture, but easily exhausted under bad management. She has long navigable rivers, and her manufacturing and commercial capabilities are excellent. The system of slave-labor and the misfortunes of the Civil War have embarrassed her progress, but the energy of her people is fast raising her to her proper rank as a flourishing State.
Georgia has an area of 52,009 square miles, equal to 33,285,760 acres. She was named after George II.
The population in 1870 was 1,200,000, which entitles her to nine Representatives in Congress.
The State lies in the fifth judicial circuit, and has two judicial districts; also four ports of entry—Savannah, Brunswick, St. Mary’s, and Hardwicke; and two ports of delivery—Augusta and Sunbury.
The capital is Atlanta. The State election is held on the first Tuesday in August. The Legislature meets on the second Wednesday in January.
The enacting clause of her laws is: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Georgia in General Assembly met; and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same.”
United States Senators
| William Few, | from | 1789 | to | 1793. | |
| James Gunn, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1801. | |
| James Jackson, | ″ | { | 1793 | ″ | 1795. |
| 1801 | ″ | 1806. | |||
| George Walton, | ″ | 1795 | ″ | 1796. | |
| Josiah Tatnall, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1799. | |
| A. Baldwin, | ″ | { | 1796 | ″ | 1805. |
| 1805 | ″ | 1807. | |||
| J. Melledge, | ″ | 1806 | ″ | 1809. | |
| George Jones, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1807. | |
| W. H. Crawford, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1813. | |
| Charles Tait, | ″ | { | 1809 | ″ | 1813. |
| 1813 | ″ | 1819. | |||
| W. B. Bullock, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1813. | |
| William W. Bibb, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1816. | |
| G. M. Troup, | ″ | { | 1815 | ″ | 1818. |
| 1829 | ″ | 1833. | |||
| John Forsyth, | ″ | { | 1819 | ″ | 1819. |
| 1829 | ″ | 1837. | |||
| F. Walker, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1821. | |
| John Elliot, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1821. | |
| Nicholas Ware, | ″ | 1821 | ″ | 1823. | |
| T. W. Cobb, | ″ | 1824 | ″ | 1828. | |
| O. H. Prince, | ″ | 1828 | ″ | 1829. | |
| John P. King, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1837. | |
| W. Lumpkin, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1841. | |
| J. M. Berrien, | ″ | { | 1825 | ″ | 1829. |
| 1841 | ″ | 1851. | |||
| A. Cuthbert, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1843. | |
| W. T. Colquitt, | ″ | 1843 | ″ | 1849. | |
| H. V. Johnson, | ″ | 1848 | ″ | 1849. | |
| W. C. Dawson, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Robert Toombs, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1861. | |
| R. M. Charleton, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1853. | |
| Alfred Iverson, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Joshua Hill, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1873. | |
| Foster Blodgett, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Thomas M. Norwood, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| John B. Gordon, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. |
North Carolina
A Florentine navigator, sent out by Francis I., King of France, first published an account of this region. He visited it in 1524. Ribault, a French protestant, sent out with a colony by Admiral Coligni, in 1564, named the southern coast Carolina, from Charles IX. (in Latin Carolus), King of France. The colony was not permanent. In 1585 Sir Walter Raleigh made an unsuccessful attempt to establish a colony on Roanoke Island. Some fifty years later the colonists of Virginia made a settlement in the limits of this State, called Albemarle. This territory was patented to a company of noblemen. The first colony, founded before this patent was issued, and enjoying entire liberty, became an asylum from the religious intolerance, almost universal at that time. In 1666 they numbered 800.
Many French Huguenots, attracted by this freedom and the mild climate and extreme fertility of the soil, settled here and added greatly to the industrious and virtuous elements of the population. The revolutionary struggle was singularly bitter and bloody in this State and South Carolina, from the number and sanguinary character of the royalists and tories, and from the partisan or guerrilla mode of warfare adopted.
The majority were, however, determined and valiant patriots, and rendered it impossible for the British to establish a firm control over this part of the country.
The eastern surface is low, the western mountainous, and much of the midland is covered with pine forests which produce large quantities of turpentine. The soil is favorable to agriculture. Yams, rice, and cotton, in addition to the cereals, are raised with success. The fisheries in Albemarle Sound are an important source of wealth. A large number of minerals are found in the State. Like most of the Southern States, its resources have been but partially developed.
This is one of the original thirteen States, and has an area of 50,704 square miles, equal to 32,450,560 acres, with a population of 1,069,614 (one-third colored), and entitled to eight members of Congress. North Carolina, by act of 1866, was located in the fourth judicial circuit, which is composed of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina; and is divided into three judicial districts, called the districts of Albemarle, Pamlico, and Cape Fear. The collection districts, and the ports of entry and delivery in this State have been so often modified and discontinued that there is some uncertainty as to the number. There are, as near as we can determine, ten districts, ten ports of entry, and nine ports of delivery.
Raleigh is the capital. There the Legislature meets biennially on the first Monday in November. The State election is held on the first Thursday in August.
The enacting clause of the laws is as follows: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of North Carolina, and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same.”
United States Senators
| Samuel Johnson, | from | 1789 | to | 1793. | |
| Benjamin Hawkins, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1795. | |
| Alexander Martin, | ″ | 1793 | ″ | 1799. | |
| Timothy Bloodworth, | ″ | 1795 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Jesse Franklin | ″ | { | 1799 | ″ | 1805. |
| 1807 | ″ | 1813. | |||
| David Stone, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1813. | |
| James Turner, | ″ | 1805 | ″ | 1816. | |
| Nathaniel Macon, | ″ | 1815 | ″ | 1828. | |
| James Iredell, | ″ | 1828 | ″ | 1831. | |
| Montford Stokes, | ″ | 1816 | ″ | 1823. | |
| John Branch, | ″ | 1823 | ″ | 1829. | |
| Bedford Brown, | ″ | 1829 | ″ | 1840. | |
| Willie P. Mangum, | ″ | { | 1840 | ″ | 1853. |
| 1831 | ″ | 1836. | |||
| Robert Strange, | ″ | 1836 | ″ | 1840. | |
| William A. Graham, | ″ | 1840 | ″ | 1843. | |
| William H. Haywood, | ″ | 1843 | ″ | 1846. | |
| George E. Badger, | ″ | 1846 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Asa Biggs, | ″ | 1854 | ″ | 1858. | |
| David S. Reed, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1859. | |
| Thomas L. Clingman, | ″ | 1858 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Thomas Bragg, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Joseph C. Abbott, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1871. | |
| John Pool, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1873. | |
| Zebulon B. Vance, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1873. | |
| Matthew W. Ransom, | ″ | —— | ″ | 1877. | |
| Augustus S. Merriman, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. |
New York
The “Empire State” is very fortunately situated for the promotion of all the interests that form the basis of prosperity of a Nation. It contains the commercial metropolis of the country, which is connected, by its great navigable river, the Hudson, and the Erie canal, with the fertile interior and the commerce of the chain of great lakes in the west; while Lakes Ontario and Champlain furnish the means of profitable trade with Canada on the north. As its natural commercial facilities are unrivaled, so also, every auxiliary that can be furnished by art is employed to develop its resources and to attract trade and manufactures.
Its river was discovered by the celebrated navigator, Captain Henry Hudson, in 1609, and he gave it his name. He was employed, at this time by the Dutch, who claimed and settled the territory in the following year. They established posts on Manhattan Island, where New York now stands, and at Albany—calling the country in general, New Netherlands. They held it until 1644; laying claim, also, to Connecticut and New Jersey. Their rule was despotic, and when the Duke of York, afterward James II., King of England, sent a squadron to enforce English claims to it, the inhabitants declined to resist, and it became an English colony without a struggle. The city and colony received the name of New York and continued henceforth in English hands. Its position favored a steady-growth in population and wealth; and it took an active part in the Revolution. Its central position made it the pivot of the war, the leading struggles taking place in or near it. New York city was held by the British during most of the war, but the skillful strategy and watchfulness of Washington, and the valor of his officers and troops preserved the river in American hands throughout. It ratified the Constitution July 26th, 1788, and soon outstripped every State in all things, except education, no State being able to compare with Massachusetts in that respect.
New York is the largest and richest city in the Union. The State abounds in salt and mineral springs, and its central and western parts are unexcelled for agriculture; while the eastern, more mountainous, but nearer to markets, and more abundant in water power, is equally favorable to grazing and manufactures.
Its area is 47,000 square miles, equal to 30,080,000 acres. The population in 1870 was larger than that of any other State, being officially stated at 4,364,411. It has thirty-three Members of Congress.
It forms part of the second judicial circuit, and has three judicial districts; eleven ports of entry, and fourteen ports of delivery, with the privilege of eight or nine others if the President of the United States deems them necessary.
The Capital is Albany. The State elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and the Legislature meets on the first Tuesday in January in each year. The style of the enacting clause is: “Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York represented in Senate and Assembly.”
United States Senators
| Philip Schuyler, | from | 1789 | to | 1791. | |
| Rufus King, | ″ | { | 1789 | ″ | 1796. |
| 1813 | ″ | 1825. | |||
| Aaron Burr, | ″ | 1791 | ″ | 1797. | |
| John Lawrence, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1800. | |
| John S. Hobart, | ″ | 1798 | ″ | 1798. | |
| William North, | ″ | 1798 | ″ | 1798. | |
| James Watson, | ″ | 1798 | Resigned. | ||
| Governeur Morris, | ″ | 1800 | ″ | 1803. | |
| John Armstrong, | ″ | { | 1800 | ″ | 1802. |
| 1803 | ″ | 1804. | |||
| DeWitt Clinton, | ″ | 1802 | ″ | 1803. | |
| Theodore Bailey, | ″ | 1803 | ″ | 1804. | |
| Samuel L. Mitchell, | ″ | 1804 | ″ | 1809. | |
| John Smith, | ″ | 1804 | ″ | 1813. | |
| Obadiah German, | ″ | 1809 | ″ | 1815. | |
| Nathan Sanford, | ″ | { | 1815 | ″ | 1821. |
| 1825 | ″ | 1831. | |||
| Martin Van Buren, | ″ | 1821 | ″ | 1829. | |
| Charles Dudley, | ″ | 1829 | ″ | 1833. | |
| William L. Marcy, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1833. | |
| Nath’l P. Tallmadge, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1844. | |
| Silas Wright, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1844. | |
| Daniel S. Dickinson, | ″ | 1844 | ″ | 1851. | |
| Henry A. Foster, | ″ | 1844 | ″ | 1845. | |
| John A. Dix, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1849. | |
| William H. Seward, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Hamilton Fish, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Preston King, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1863. | |
| Ira Harris, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1867. | |
| Edwin D. Morgan, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Roscoe Conkling, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1879. | |
| Reuben E. Fenton, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Francis Kernan, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. | |
Pennsylvania
“The Keystone State” has been eminently fortunate in three various ways. Its founder, William Penn, happily united benevolence and high political wisdom, with a thrifty and prudent economy, and possessed sufficient influence and tact to infuse his colony with his own qualities to a large degree, and the advantages acquired in the beginning, have shed their favoring influence on all its future, to the present time.
Penn, as proprietor of his province, had almost kingly power; yet, as a law-giver, he acknowledged the liberties of the people, and accustomed them to many of the forms of self-government afterward incorporated into the Constitution of the United States. His just and conciliatory conduct toward the Indians, and the exemption of Pennsylvania from barbarous Indian wars, in consequence, proves the utility of the practice of unvarying justice and kindness toward them; and stands in strong and significant contrast with the opposite course, so often pursued, and with results so distressing.
A colony was established by Penn in the southeastern part of the State, in the year 1682. The government was conducted by a governor, a council of three, and a House of Delegates, chosen by the people. The largest religious liberty was allowed, and punishment of crime was mitigated from the severity, customary in those times, to something like the mildness now practiced among us.
The colony enjoyed seventy years of enlightened government, and prospered greatly. A large immigration of hardy and thrifty Germans and Swedes spread over the State and supplied, in Revolutionary times, the “fighting material” which the religious principles of the Quakers forbade them to furnish.
The second eminent advantage of the State, was in its central position, the facilities furnished to commerce and trade by the Delaware river on its eastern boundary, and the Ohio, on the west, connecting it with the valley of the Mississippi.
The third superiority, later in development in some of its features, relates to its wealth of resources. Lying midway between north and south, its climate is temperate and mild. Its soil on the eastern border and along the valleys of its numerous rivers is of great fertility; while its inexhaustible coal deposits are far more valuable in promoting the steady growth of her citizens in wealth than mines of gold. Iron, copper, zinc, marble and slate are, apparently, inexhaustible. Her railroads and canals furnish a suitable means for the development of these resources, and the transportation for all her valuable commodities to profitable markets, and prove her later citizens to have inherited the economic wisdom and thrift of the founder of their State.
Pennsylvania valiantly bore the share in the struggles and sacrifices of the Revolution to which her position, her wealth and numbers, called her. Philadelphia—“The City of Brotherly Love” (the name means this,) was the first capital of the Republic. It was there that the Declaration of Independence was originated and signed.
Its area is 46,000 square miles, equal to 29,440,000 acres. The population in 1870 was 3,515,993, entitling her to twenty-seven Representatives in Congress.
It is in the third judicial circuit; and forms two judicial districts. There are two ports of entry, and two collection districts. Harrisburg is the capital; the Legislature assembling on the first Tuesday in January, the State elections being held the second Tuesday in October.
The enacting clause of her laws is: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly met; and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same.”
United States Senators
| William Maclay, | from | 1789 | to | 1791. | |
| Robert Morris, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1795. | |
| Albert Gallatin, | ″ | 1793 | ″ | 1794. | |
| James Ross, | ″ | 1794 | ″ | 1803. | |
| William Bingham, | ″ | 1795 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Peter Muhlenburgh, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1802. | |
| Samuel Maclay, | ″ | 1803 | ″ | 1808. | |
| Michael Leib, | ″ | 1808 | ″ | 1814. | |
| Andrew Gregg, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1813. | |
| Abner Lacock, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1819. | |
| Jonathan Roberts, | ″ | 1814 | ″ | 1821. | |
| Walter Lawrie, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1825. | |
| William Findlay, | ″ | 1821 | ″ | 1827. | |
| William Marks, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1831. | |
| Isaac D. Barnard, | ″ | 1827 | ″ | 1831. | |
| George M. Dallas, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1833. | |
| William Wilkins, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1834. | |
| Samuel McKean, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1839. | |
| James Buchanan, | ″ | 1834 | ″ | 1845. | |
| Daniel Sturgeon, | ″ | { | 1839 | ″ | 1851. |
| 1845 | ″ | 1849. | |||
| Simon Cameron, | ″ | { | 1857 | ″ | 1861. |
| 1867 | ″ | 1873. | |||
| James Cooper, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Charles E. Buckalew, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Richard Broadhead, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1857. | |
| William Bigler, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Edgar Cowan, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1867. | |
| David Wilmot, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1863. | |
| John Scott, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Simon Cameron, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. | |
| Wm. A. Wallace, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Virginia
“The Old Dominion,” as this State has been called, in familiar style, has certain high claims to such a distinctive appellation. It was the colony in which the first permanent settlement was made, and for fourteen years before the perils of the wilderness were encountered by the Puritan Fathers of New England, it confronted famine and Indian hostility. Its people were quite different in character from those of most of the other colonies. While many were from the lowest classes, a goodly number of the gentry and nobility of England were transplanted to this colony. Some were men of wealth, character and influence; and the hereditary value of that element became conspicuous when revolutionary times came, and the colonial government, which had been from the first, kept closely dependent on the royal will, being set aside, permitted to this class a free field of action. None were more eloquent, more zealous, more valiant or wise, during the “time that tried men’s souls.” The talents, patriotism, and wisdom of Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, and many others almost equally useful, attest the quality of the Virginian stock of patriots, and shed honor on their native State.
It was settled in 1607, at Jamestown. The infant colony was long exposed to danger of destruction by Indian hostility; but, favored by circumstances, grew up to strength, and became a protection to others. An almost constant struggle was maintained with the royal governors, who were disposed to encroach on their liberties. Notwithstanding the number of decayed and worthless gentlemen, and the dregs of the English populace, who entered as components into her population, as a whole, they proved worthy of the republic they so largely helped to rear. Their best blood was spilled in its cause, and their material support was never withheld in time of need.
This State is much varied in surface. In the southeast it is low and level; in the west and northwest mountainous, with numerous large streams and fertile vallies, and a charming climate. Its mineral wealth of coal, iron and salt is very great; its water power for manufacturing purposes unsurpassed; and its commercial position everything to be desired. None of these advantages have been more than partially improved; and the future of the State is destined to be exceedingly brilliant. Old and nourishing colleges testify to the interest taken in education; and railroads and other means of internal development have already prepared the way for its greatness. She exports tobacco, flour, oysters, and cotton, and her agricultural wealth is constantly improving.
Virginia is also one of the original thirteen States, and had an area previous to the division in 1862, of 61,352 square miles, equal to 39,265,280 acres; but after West Virginia was set off as a separate State, there were but 38,352 square miles left of this once great State, equal to 24,545,280 acres.
The population in 1860 amounted to 1,596,318, which entitles the State to nine Members of Congress. By the division the number of Representatives was cut down to nine; the new State receiving three out of the twelve. Population in 1870, 1,224,830.
Virginia lies in the fourth judicial circuit, which by the act of 1866, was composed of this State, Maryland, West Virginia, and North Carolina and South Carolina. There were two judicial districts in this State, anterior to the division; the Eastern and the Western. There is now but one.
There were also twelve collection districts in this State, and twelve ports of entry, all of which remain the same as they were before West Virginia was cut off, for they were all located on the Atlantic coast, or on the bays and rivers running into the Atlantic Ocean; there are also ten ports of delivery.
Richmond is the capital. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Legislature meets on the first Monday in December.
The enacting clause of the laws of Virginia is: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly.”
United States Senators
| William Grayson, | from | 1789 | to | 1790. | |
| Richard H. Lee, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1792. | |
| John Walker, | ″ | 1790 | ″ | 1790. | |
| James Monroe, | ″ | { | 1790 | ″ | 1794. |
| 1792 | ″ | 1794. | |||
| John Taylor, | ″ | { | 1803 | ″ | 1805. |
| 1822 | ″ | 1824. | |||
| Stephen T. Mason, | ″ | 1794 | ″ | 1803. | |
| John Tazewell, | ″ | 1794 | ″ | 1799. | |
| Wilson C. Nichols, | ″ | 1799 | ″ | 1804. | |
| Abraham B. Venable, | ″ | 1803 | ″ | 1804. | |
| William B. Giles, | ″ | 1804 | ″ | 1815. | |
| Andrew Moore, | ″ | 1804 | ″ | 1809. | |
| Richard Brent, | ″ | 1809 | ″ | 1815. | |
| James Barbour, | ″ | 1815 | ″ | 1825. | |
| Armistead T. Mason, | ″ | 1816 | ″ | 1817. | |
| John W. Eppes, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1819. | |
| James Pleasant, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1822. | |
| John Randolph, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1827. | |
| Littleton W. Tazewell, | ″ | 1824 | ″ | 1832. | |
| John Tyler, | ″ | 1827 | ″ | 1836. | |
| William C. Rives, | ″ | { | 1832 | ″ | 1834. |
| 1836 | ″ | 1845. | |||
| Benjamin W. Leigh, | ″ | 1834 | ″ | 1836. | |
| Richard E. Parker, | ″ | 1836 | ″ | 1837. | |
| William H. Roane, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1841. | |
| William S. Archer, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Isaac S. Pennybacker, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1847. | |
| James M. Mason, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1861. | |
| R. M. T. Hunter, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1861. | |
| John W. Johnston, | ″ | 1870 | ″ | 1877. | |
| John F. Lewis, | ″ | 1870 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Robert E. Withers, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
South Carolina
The first permanent settlement in this State was made in 1670, at Port Royal, where the French Huguenots had failed three-quarters of a century before. The noble company who had received a charter for the settlement and government of the Carolinas employed the celebrated philosopher, John Locke, to draw up a philosophical plan of government, which they attempted to carry into effect to the great annoyance of the colonists. It proved impracticable, and was finally abandoned.
The French introduced the culture of the vine with success, and rice was brought at an early day from Madagascar, the cultivation of which became extensive.
Many vexations were endured by the colonists by the injudicious management of the proprietary government, and at length they, by petition, obtained a revocation of the charter, receiving, in 1720, a governor appointed by the crown. They endured for many years all the horrors of warfare with the Tuscarora Indians, whom they finally defeated and expelled. Rutledge, Sumpter, and Marion were distinguished leaders of the patriots during the occupation of the State by the British forces; employing with success a partisan warfare, and defying the efforts of a superior British force to hold the State in subjection.
The climate has been likened to that of Italy, and the products of the north and of the tropics are equally cultivated. The State abounds in agricultural and manufacturing resources, and has a fine commercial position.
South Carolina is one of the original thirteen States, and has an area of 29,385 square miles, making 18,806,400 acres, with a population, in 1870, of 728,000, (over half colored,) which gives her five Members of Congress.
By an act of 1866, South Carolina was located in the fourth judicial circuit; it is divided into two judicial districts, called the Eastern and Western.
There are three collection districts in this State, and four ports of entry, to-wit: Georgetown, Charleston, Beaufort and Port Royal; but no ports of delivery.
The capital is Columbia. The State elections are held on the fourth Monday in November. The Legislature meets on the third Wednesday in October.
The enacting clause of the laws is as follows: “Be it enacted by the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives, now met and sitting in General Assembly, and by authority of the same.”
United States Senators
| Pierce Butler, | from | { | 1790 | to | 1796. |
| 1802 | ″ | 1804. | |||
| Ralph Izard, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1795. | |
| Jacob Read, | ″ | 1795 | ″ | 1801. | |
| John Hunter, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1798. | |
| Charles Pinckney, | ″ | 1798 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Thomas Sumpter, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1810. | |
| John E. Calhoun, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1802. | |
| John Gaillard, | ″ | 1804 | ″ | 1826. | |
| John Taylor, | ″ | 1810 | ″ | 1816. | |
| William Smith, | ″ | { | 1816 | ″ | 1823. |
| 1826 | ″ | 1831. | |||
| William Harper, | ″ | 1826 | ″ | 1826. | |
| Robert J. Hane, | ″ | 1823 | ″ | 1832. | |
| Stephen D. Miller, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1833. | |
| John C. Calhoun, | ″ | { | 1832 | ″ | 1842. |
| 1845 | ″ | 1850. | |||
| William C. Preston, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1842. | |
| Daniel E. Huger, | ″ | 1842 | ″ | 1845. | |
| George McDuffie, | ″ | 1842 | ″ | 1846. | |
| Andrew P. Butler, | ″ | 1846 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Franklin H. Elmore, | ″ | 1850 | ″ | 1850. | |
| Robert W. Barnwell, | ″ | 1850 | ″ | 1852. | |
| William Desaussure, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1852. | |
| Josiah Evans, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1858. | |
| James H. Hammond, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1860. | |
| James Chestnut, | ″ | 1858 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Arthur P. Hayne, | ″ | 1858. | |||
| Thomas J. Robertson, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Frederick A. Sawyer, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1873. | |
| John J. Patterson, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. |
Maryland
This territory at first was included in the patent to the Virginia colony; but was, in 1632, re-patented to Lord Baltimore, an English nobleman, who had embraced the catholic faith, and sought, in the American wilderness, an asylum where he and his co-religionists might enjoy the freedom from persecution denied them in England. It was called Maryland from the queen of Charles I., King of England. A part of this patent was covered by that subsequently made to William Penn, and produced much trouble between the descendants of these men, and their respective colonies. A settlement was commenced, mainly by catholic gentlemen, in 1634, and called St. Mary’s, on a branch of the Potomac.
The wise liberality that distinguished the settlement of Pennsylvania marked all the earlier history of Maryland. They cultivated friendly relations with the natives and with their neighbors. Lord Baltimore was liberal in his expenditures for the growing colony, and gave them a liberal government. When the civil war commenced in England, resulting in the death of Charles I. and the rise of Cromwell to power, the first troubles of the colonists of Maryland began, and continued until 1716, when the heirs of the original proprietor resumed their rights and maintained them until the Revolution.
This State was one of the original thirteen, and gave a hearty support to the patriot side during the war for freedom.
The surface of the country is, in great part, low and sandy; the climate agreeable and the soil favorable to agricultural pursuits. Her commercial position is excellent, being situated on either side of Chesapeake bay and bounded by the Potomac river on the west. The District of Columbia, containing the National Capital, was located on the last named river within her limits.
Maryland has an area of 11,124 square miles—equal to 7,119,360 acres. The population in 1870 was 780,806, which gives her six Representatives in Congress. By an act of Congress, passed in 1866, this State was put in the fourth judicial circuit, which is composed of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North and South Carolina. Maryland constitutes one judicial district; has ten ports of entry, viz.: Baltimore, Chester, Oxford, Vienna, Snow-Hill, Annapolis, Nottingham, St. Mary’s, Georgetown, and Havre de Grace; and twelve ports of delivery.
Annapolis is the capital. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Legislature meets on the first Wednesday in January.
The enacting clause of the laws is as follows: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Maryland.”
United States Senators
| Charles Carroll, (of Carrollton) | from | 1789 | to | 1793. | |
| John Henry, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1797. | |
| Richard Potts, | ″ | 1793 | ″ | 1796. | |
| John E. Howard, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1803. | |
| James Lloyd, | ″ | 1797 | ″ | 1800. | |
| William Hindman, | ″ | 1800 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Robert Wright, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1806. | |
| Samuel Smith, | ″ | { | 1803 | ″ | 1815. |
| 1822 | ″ | 1833. | |||
| Philip Reed, | ″ | 1806 | ″ | 1813. | |
| R. H. Goldsborough, | ″ | { | 1813 | ″ | 1819. |
| 1835 | ″ | 1836. | |||
| Robert G. Harper, | ″ | 1816 | ″ | 1816. | |
| Alexander C. Hanson, | ″ | 1816 | ″ | 1819. | |
| William Pinckney, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1822. | |
| Edward Lloyd, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1826. | |
| Ezekiel F. Chambers, | ″ | 1826 | ″ | 1835. | |
| Joseph Kent, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1838. | |
| John S. Spence, | ″ | 1836 | ″ | 1841. | |
| William D. Merrick, | ″ | 1838 | ″ | 1845. | |
| John Leidsker, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1843. | |
| James A. Pearce, | ″ | 1843 | ″ | 1862. | |
| Reverdy Johnson, | ″ | { | 1845 | ″ | 1851. |
| 1863 | ″ | 1868. | |||
| David Stuart, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1850. | |
| Thomas G. Pratt, | ″ | 1850 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Anthony Kennedy, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1863. | |
| Thomas H. Hicks, | ″ | 1862 | ″ | 1864. | |
| John A. J. Cresswell, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1867. | |
| Philip F. Thomas, | ″ | —— | ″ | 1867. | |
| George Vickers, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1873. | |
| William T. Hamilton, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| George R. Dennis, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. | |
| Wm. Pinckney Wythe, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
New Hampshire
This State is often called “The Old Granite State,” as well from its mountainous character as the resolute spirit of its inhabitants. It is small, having an area of only 9,280 square miles, which make 5,939,200 acres. Its population in 1870 was 318,300, entitling it to three Representatives in Congress.
The first settlement was founded at Dover, in 1624, by the English. It suffered much from Indian wars, and its growth was slow. It was made a separate province in 1680, having previously been under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts. It was one of the original thirteen States, and took an active and vigorous part in the Revolutionary War.
Its soil is light and unfavorable to agriculture, but furnishes good pasturage and produces fine cattle. It contains the White Mountains, the highest in New England. Its streams are utilized for manufacturing purposes. Quarries of marble and granite abound. Minerals, and precious stones of several varieties are found in various parts of the State. The hardy and enterprising sons to whom it has given birth are to be found in every State in the Union.
It lies in the first judicial circuit; constitutes one judicial district; and is embraced in one collection district, and therefore has but one port of entry. There are three ports of delivery.
The capital is Concord. The Legislature assembles on the first Monday in June, the State election being held the second Tuesday in March.
The enacting clause of the laws runs thus: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened.”
United States Senators
| Paine Wingate, | from | 1789 | to | 1793. | |
| John Langdon, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Samuel Livermore, | ″ | 1793 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Simeon Olcott, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1805. | |
| James Sheafe, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1802. | |
| William Plummer, | ″ | 1802 | ″ | 1807. | |
| Nicholas Gilman, | ″ | 1805 | ″ | 1814. | |
| Nahum Parker, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1810. | |
| Charles Cutts, | ″ | 1810 | ″ | 1813. | |
| Jeremiah Mason, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1817. | |
| Thomas W. Thompson, | ″ | 1814 | ″ | 1817. | |
| David L. Morrill, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1823. | |
| Clement Storer, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1819. | |
| John F. Parrott, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1825. | |
| Samuel Bell, | ″ | 1823 | ″ | 1835. | |
| Levi Woodbury, | ″ | { | 1825 | ″ | 1831. |
| 1841 | ″ | 1845. | |||
| Isaac Hill, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1835. | |
| Henry Hubbard, | ″ | 1835 | ″ | 1841. | |
| John Page, | ″ | 1836 | ″ | 1837. | |
| Franklin Pierce, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1842. | |
| Leonard Wilcox, | ″ | 1842 | ″ | 1842. | |
| Charles G. Atherson, | ″ | { | 1843 | ″ | 1849. |
| 1852 | ″ | 1853. | |||
| Benning W. Jenness, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1846. | |
| Joseph Cilley, | ″ | 1846 | ″ | 1847. | |
| John P. Hale, | ″ | { | 1847 | ″ | 1853. |
| 1855 | ″ | 1865. | |||
| Moses Norris, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Jared W. Williams, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1854. | |
| John S. Wells, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1855. | |
| James Bell, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Daniel Clark, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1866. | |
| George C. Fogg, | ″ | 1866 | ″ | 1867. | |
| James W. Paterson, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1873. | |
| Aaron H. Cragin, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Bainbridge Wadleigh, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. |
New Jersey
This State was first settled at Bergen by the Swedes sent over by the Christian hero-king, Gustavus Adolphus, in the year 1638. They, however, soon fell under the control of the Dutch, who claimed the territory. The next settlement was made at Elizabethtown, from Long Island, in 1664. New Jersey came into the hands of the English along with New Netherlands, but soon became an independent province; Philip Carteret becoming its first governor, in 1665. It was for some time under the control of the celebrated Quaker, William Penn, received a liberal form of government, and, not suffering from the Indians enjoyed prosperity for many years. Afterwards it passed through various vicissitudes in its government, was for a time joined to New York, but recovered its independent existence in 1738; and was one of the original thirteen States, taking a very prominent part in the Revolution. Its territory, lying between New York and Philadelphia, was the field on which the hostile armies fought and manouvered, for some years. It ratified the Constitution unanimously, December 18th, 1787. It has been rewarded for its patriotism and devotion to liberty by unbroken prosperity. Its manufactures are in a flourishing state. Its vicinity to the great commercial centres of the Atlantic coast; the mildness of its climate, and the adaptation of its soil to the growth of fruit and vegetables have made it the Garden State of the Union. Its agricultural wealth is much increased by its abundant beds of marl and peat. The extreme north is hilly and the extreme south low and sandy. Education receives much attention.
It has an area of 8,320 square miles, or 5,324,800 acres. The population, by the census of 1870, was 905,794, which gives her seven Representatives in Congress.
This State lies in the third judicial circuit, and forms one judicial district. There are six ports of entry, and as many collection districts; and also eight ports of delivery.
Its capital is Trenton. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and the Legislature assembles the second Tuesday in January.
The form of the enacting clause is as follows: “Be it enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey.”
United States Senators
| Jonathan Elmer, | from | 1789 | to | 1791. | |
| William Patterson, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1790. | |
| Philemon Dickerson, | ″ | 1790 | ″ | 1793. | |
| John Rutherford, | ″ | 1791 | ″ | 1798. | |
| Fred’k Frelinghuysen, | ″ | 1793 | ″ | 1796. | |
| Richard Stockton, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1799. | |
| Franklin Davenport, | ″ | 1798 | ″ | 1799. | |
| James Schureman, | ″ | 1799 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Jonathan Dayton, | ″ | 1799 | ″ | 1805. | |
| Aaron Ogden, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1803. | |
| John Condit, | ″ | 1803 | ″ | 1811. | |
| Aaron Kitchell, | ″ | 1805 | ″ | 1809. | |
| John Lambert, | ″ | 1809 | ″ | 1815. | |
| Mahlon Dickerson, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1833. | |
| James J. Wilson, | ″ | 1815 | ″ | 1821. | |
| Samuel L. Southard, | ″ | { | 1821 | ″ | 1823. |
| 1833 | ″ | 1841. | |||
| Joseph McIlvaine, | ″ | 1823 | ″ | 1826. | |
| Thos. Frelinghuysen, | ″ | 1829 | ″ | 1835. | |
| Ephraim Bateman, | ″ | 1826 | ″ | 1829. | |
| Garret D. Wall, | ″ | 1835 | ″ | 1841. | |
| Jacob Miller, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1853. | |
| William L. Dayton, | ″ | 1842 | ″ | 1851. | |
| John B. Thompson, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1863. | |
| William Pennington, | ″ | 1858 | ″ | 1858. | |
| William Wright, | ″ | { | 1853 | ″ | 1859. |
| 1863 | ″ | 1866. | |||
| Robert F. Stockton, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1853. | |
| John C. Ten Eyck, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1865. | |
| Richard S. Field, | ″ | 1862 | ″ | 1863. | |
| James W. Wall, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1863. | |
| John P. Stockton, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1866. | |
| F. T. Frelinghuysen, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Alexander G. Cattell, | ″ | 1866 | ″ | 1871. | |
| John P. Stockton, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| F. T. Frelinghuysen, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Thos. F. Randolph, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Massachusetts
The “Bay State,” so named from the deep encroachments of the sea on her eastern border, was settled in 1620, at Plymouth, by English Puritans; a class of sternly pious men, who abandoned England to find freedom of worship in the savage wilds of America. They were men of great resolution and intelligence, and succeeded in imbuing the new colony with a fair degree of their own virtue. They suffered much, at first, from deprivation of the comforts they had left in England, and from the hostility of the Indians. They were too much in earnest to be tolerant, and persecutions of pretended witches, of Quakers and Baptists, have given them an unenviable notoriety.
This State was a leading one among the original thirteen, and the first to take up arms and to be invaded by the British forces at the commencement of the War of the Revolution. Her influence on the national character has been great.
This State is the first in the Union for cotton and woolen manufactures, its cotton mills alone employing about twenty-five thousand hands. In extent of all its manufactures it is third in the Union. The soil is sterile in great part, but the energy of the people finds abundant other sources of wealth. Commerce and fisheries receive much attention, and produce much wealth.
Education is carefully attended to, and its public school system a model for other States. She has an area of 7,800 square miles. Her population in 1870 was 1,457,351, and entitles her to eleven Members of Congress. It is in the first judicial circuit, and forms one judicial district. There are fourteen ports of entry, and twenty-five ports of delivery in this State.
Boston is the Capital, the metropolis of New England, and an important center of intellectual and business energy. The Legislature meets on the first Wednesday in January, and the State elections are held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in January.
The enacting clause is: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:”
United States Senators
| Tristram Dalton, | from | 1789 | to | 1791. | |
| Caleb Strong, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1796. | |
| George Cabot, | ″ | 1791 | ″ | 1796. | |
| Theo. Sedgewick, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1799. | |
| Benj. Goodhue, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1800. | |
| Samuel Dexter, | ″ | 1799 | ″ | 1800. | |
| Dwight Foster, | ″ | 1800 | ″ | 1803. | |
| Jonathan Mason, | ″ | 1800 | ″ | 1803. | |
| John Q. Adams, | ″ | 1803 | ″ | 1808. | |
| Timothy Pickering, | ″ | 1803 | ″ | 1811. | |
| James Lloyd, | ″ | { | 1808 | ″ | 1813. |
| 1822 | ″ | 1826. | |||
| Joseph B. Varnum, | ″ | 1811 | ″ | 1817. | |
| Christopher Gore, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1816. | |
| Eli P. Ashmun, | ″ | 1816 | ″ | 1818. | |
| Harrison Gray Otis, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1822. | |
| Prentiss Mellen, | ″ | 1818 | ″ | 1820. | |
| Elijah H. Mills, | ″ | 1820 | ″ | 1827. | |
| Nathaniel Silsbee, | ″ | 1826 | ″ | 1835. | |
| Daniel Webster, | ″ | { | 1827 | ″ | 1841. |
| 1845 | ″ | 1850. | |||
| Rufus Choate, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1845. | |
| John Davis, | ″ | { | 1835 | ″ | 1841. |
| 1845 | ″ | 1853. | |||
| Isaac C. Bates, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1845. | |
| Robert C. Winthrop, | ″ | 1850 | ″ | 1851. | |
| Robert Rantoul, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1851. | |
| Edward Everett, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1854. | |
| Julius Rockwell, | ″ | 1854 | ″ | 1855. | |
| 2Henry Wilson, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1873. | |
| Charles Sumner, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1874. | |
| George S. Boutwell, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1877. | |
| William Washburn, | ″ | 1874 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Henry L. Dawes, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Connecticut
This State takes its name from its principal river, which, entering from the north, runs through the State nearly in the center. It was settled in 1633 from Massachusetts, the fertility of the valley of the Connecticut attracting them to brave the perils of conflict with the Indians, and with the Dutch, settled where New York now stands, who laid claim to it. The Dutch withdrew, the Indians were subdued in many bloody battles, and a Puritan State—exceeding, if possible, the religious strictness of the Massachusetts colony, and not behind her in energy, in virtue, in attention to education, and love of liberty—soon grew up to wealth and prosperity.
A decisive battle in 1636, on the Mystic river, annihilated the Pequod Indians.
Connecticut, in 1700, followed the example set by Massachusetts in 1638, by founding Yale college, which, to this day, very fairly rivals Harvard in the former State. Both have contributed largely to the intelligence and culture of the American people. It took a leading part in the Revolution; ratified the constitution June 9th, 1788; and has displayed the zeal in promoting the public good that has been so prominent in the cultivation of her educational and material interests.
The surface of the State is uneven and rocky. Manufactures and commerce are the leading interests, although agriculture is not neglected. It is rich in minerals. Gold, silver, lead, iron, copper and bismuth are found, while marble, of fine quality, and granite abound.
Its area is small, embracing only 4,674 square miles, or 2,991,360 acres. It has four representatives in Congress. The population in 1870 was 537,418. It is part of the second judicial circuit, and constitutes one judicial district. She has five ports of entry, and five collection districts, with twenty-two ports of delivery.
It has had two capitals ever since the first two colonies, established at Hartford and New Haven, were united; and holds her State election on the first Monday in April. The Legislature meets the first Wednesday in May.
The enacting clause runs thus: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Assembly convened.”
United States Senators
| Oliver Ellsworth, | from | 1789 | to | 1796. | |
| William S. Johnson, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1791. | |
| Roger Sherman, | ″ | 1791 | ″ | 1793. | |
| S. M. Mitchell, | ″ | 1793 | ″ | 1795. | |
| Jonathan Trumbull, | ″ | 1795 | ″ | 1796. | |
| Uriah Tracey, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1807. | |
| J. Hillhouse, | ″ | 1796 | ″ | 1810. | |
| C. Goodrich, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1813. | |
| S. W. Dana, | ″ | 1810 | ″ | 1821. | |
| David Doggett, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1819. | |
| James Lanman, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1825. | |
| E. Boardman, | ″ | 1821 | ″ | 1823. | |
| H. W. Edwards, | ″ | 1823 | ″ | 1827. | |
| Calvin Willey, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1831. | |
| Samuel A. Foot, | ″ | 1827 | ″ | 1833. | |
| G. Tomlinson, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1837. | |
| Nathan Smith, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1835. | |
| John M. Niles, | ″ | { | 1835 | ″ | 1839. |
| 1843 | ″ | 1849. | |||
| Perry Smith, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1843. | |
| Thaddeus Betts, | ″ | 1839 | ″ | 1840. | |
| J. W. Huntington, | ″ | 1840 | ″ | 1847. | |
| R. S. Baldwin, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1851. | |
| Truman Smith, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Isaac Toucey, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Francis Gillette, | ″ | 1854 | ″ | 1856. | |
| L. S. Foster, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1867. | |
| James Dixon, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Orris S. Ferry, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1879. | |
| W. A. Buckingham, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Wm. W. Eaton, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Delaware
The first settlement of Delaware was made by the Swedes, in pursuance of the policy of the valiant Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden. European wars, in which he was engaged, and in which he lost his life in 1633, deferred the project, but it was carried into effect in 1638, near the present city of Wilmington. They extended their settlements from the entrance of Delaware bay far up the river, until the Dutch, from New Netherlands, who claimed the country, attacked and reduced them to submission, uniting New Sweden, as it had been called, to their own colony, in the year 1655. It fell, with that colony, into the hands of the English in 1664. It was included in the grant made to William Penn, in 1692. It was long attached to Pennsylvania, but in 1703 received permission to form a separate government, on the wise and liberal plan pursued by Penn. This form of government continued through the Revolutionary war.
The surface of the State is level, or gently undulating, the climate is agreeable, except that, in winter, the sea breeze is somewhat harsh; the soil is sandy but fertile. Grain and fruit are raised, peaches being produced in great profusion. Her commercial and manufacturing business is limited, and she is destitute of mineral wealth.
It is next to Rhode Island in size, containing the small area of 2,120 square miles, or 1,356,800 acres. Population 125,015.
United States Senators
| George Read, | from | 1789 | to | 1793. | |
| R. Bassett, | ″ | 1789 | ″ | 1793. | |
| John Vining, | ″ | 1793 | ″ | 1798. | |
| Kensey Johns, | ″ | 1794 | ″ | 1795. | |
| Henry Latimer, | ″ | 1795 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Joshua Clayton, | ″ | 1798 | ″ | 1799. | |
| W. H. Wells, | ″ | { | 1799 | ″ | 1804. |
| 1813 | ″ | 1817. | |||
| Samuel White, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1810. | |
| J. A. Bayard, | ″ | 1804 | ″ | 1813. | |
| O. Horsey, | ″ | 1810 | ″ | 1821. | |
| N. Van Dyke, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1826. | |
| C. A. Rodney, | ″ | 1822 | ″ | 1823. | |
| T. Clayton, | ″ | { | 1824 | ″ | 1827. |
| 1837 | ″ | 1847. | |||
| D. Rodney, | ″ | 1826 | ″ | 1827. | |
| H. Ridgely, | ″ | 1827 | ″ | 1829. | |
| L. McLane, | ″ | 1827 | ″ | 1829. | |
| J. M. Clayton, | ″ | { | 1829 | ″ | 1837. |
| 1845 | ″ | 1849. | |||
| A. Naudain, | ″ | 1830 | ″ | 1836. | |
| R. H. Bayard, | ″ | 1836 | ″ | 1845. | |
| P. Spruance, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1853. | |
| John Wales, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1851. | |
| J. A. Bayard, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1864. | |
| M. W. Bates, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1859. | |
| J. P. Comeygs, | ″ | 1856 | ″ | 1857. | |
| W. Saulsbury, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1871. | |
| G. R. Riddle, | ″ | 1864 | ″ | 1867. | |
| J. A. Bayard, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Thomas F. Bayard, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1881. | |
| Eli Saulsbury, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. |
Rhode Island
This is the smallest of the States, having an area of but 1,306 square miles, or 835,840 acres.
It was settled in 1636 by Roger Williams, and became an avowed place of refuge for persecuted christians of all names, but especially for Baptists, among whom Mr. Williams was a leader. It was chartered as a separate colony in 1644, and the excellent constitution framed under it lasted until 1818. It was one of the original thirteen States and took an earnest share in the struggles of the revolution, though it was not represented in the convention that framed the Constitution, and did not ratify it until 1790.
Its citizens are mainly engaged in the manufacturing and commercial pursuits for which their excellent harbors and streams furnish eminent facilities. It has always been prosperous, its people being distinguished for industry and activity. Its population was, in 1870, 217,356.
Rhode Island forms part of the first judicial circuit; constitutes one judicial district; and has three ports of entry, and seven of delivery. It has two capitals, having been originally formed of two separate colonies. These are Providence and Newport. The election for State officers is held on the first Wednesday in April. The Legislature is held twice in the year, in May and January. The style of her enacting clause is: “It is enacted by the General Assembly, as follows.”
United States Senators
| Theodore Foster, | from | 1790 | to | 1803. | |
| Joseph Stanton, | ″ | 1790 | ″ | 1793. | |
| William Bradford, | ″ | 1793 | ″ | 1797. | |
| Ray Green, | ″ | 1797 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Charles Ellery, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1805. | |
| Samuel L. Potter, | ″ | 1803 | ″ | 1804. | |
| Benjamin Howland, | ″ | 1804 | ″ | 1809. | |
| James Fenner, | ″ | 1805 | ″ | 1807. | |
| Elisha Matthewson, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1811. | |
| Francis Malbone, | ″ | 1809 | ″ | 1809. | |
| C. G. Champlin, | ″ | 1809 | ″ | 1811. | |
| Jeremiah B. Howell, | ″ | 1811 | ″ | 1817. | |
| William Hunter, | ″ | 1811 | ″ | 1831. | |
| James Burrill, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1821. | |
| James D’Wolf, | ″ | 1821 | ″ | 1825. | |
| Nehemiah R. Knight, | ″ | 1821 | ″ | 1841. | |
| Asher Robbins, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1839. | |
| Nathan F. Dixon, | ″ | 1839 | ″ | 1842. | |
| James F. Simmons, | ″ | { | 1841 | ″ | 1847. |
| 1857 | ″ | 1862. | |||
| William Sprague, | ″ | 1842 | ″ | 1844. | |
| John B. Francis, | ″ | 1844 | ″ | 1845. | |
| Albert C. Green, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1851. | |
| John H. Clarke, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1853. | |
| Charles T. James, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Philip Allen, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1859. | |
| Samuel G. Arnold, | ″ | 1862 | ″ | 1863. | |
| Henry B. Anthony, | ″ | { | 1859 | ″ | 1865. |
| 1865 | ″ | 1877. | |||
| William Sprague, | ″ | 1862 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Ambrose E. Burnside, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Vermont
This State received its name from the French name of its range of mountains, (“verd mont” meaning “Green Mountain.”) It was settled in 1731, and was at first considered part of New Hampshire, and afterwards claimed by New York. These claims were vigorously resisted, but it had no organized government until 1777. It did good service in the Revolution; but was not admitted into the Union until 1791, making the fourteenth State. Col. Ethan Allen at the head of 270 “Green Mountain Boys” took possession of Forts Ticonderoga and Crown Point in the name of the Continental Congress, in 1775, and thus assured the northern water communication with Canada to the Americans.
The climate of Vermont though cold, is pleasant and even, the soil fertile in the valleys, and the streams supply excellent water power, which, however, is little used. Maple sugar is produced in abundance, while its facilities for raising stock are equal to those of New Hampshire. Granite, marble of fine quality, and slate quarries abound. Its provision for education is very liberal.
It has three representatives in Congress; forms part of the second judicial circuit, and constitutes one judicial district. One port of entry and two of delivery are authorized to be named by the President of the United States.
Montpelier is the capital. The State election is held on the first Tuesday in September, and the Legislature meets on the first Wednesday in October.
The enacting clause begins: “It is hereby enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Vermont.”
United States Senators
| Moses Robinson, | from | 1791 | to | 1796. | |
| Stephen R. Bradley, | ″ | { | 1791 | ″ | 1795. |
| 1801 | ″ | 1813. | |||
| Elijah Paine, | ″ | 1795 | ″ | 1801. | |
| Isaac Tichenor, | ″ | { | 1796 | ″ | 1797. |
| 1815 | ″ | 1821. | |||
| Nathaniel Chipman, | ″ | 1797 | ″ | 1803. | |
| Israel Smith, | ″ | 1803 | ″ | 1807. | |
| Jonathan Robinson, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1815. | |
| Dudley Chase, | ″ | { | 1813 | ″ | 1817. |
| 1825 | ″ | 1831. | |||
| James Fisk, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1818. | |
| William A. Palmer, | ″ | 1818 | ″ | 1825. | |
| Horatio Seymour, | ″ | 1821 | ″ | 1833. | |
| Samuel Prentiss, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1842. | |
| Benjamin Swift, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1839. | |
| Samuel S. Phelps, | ″ | 1839 | ″ | 1851. | |
| Samuel C. Crafts, | ″ | 1842 | ″ | 1843. | |
| William Upham, | ″ | 1843 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Solomon Foote, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1866. | |
| Samuel S. Phelps, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1854. | |
| Lawrence Brainard, | ″ | 1854 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Jacob Collamer, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1865. | |
| Luke P. Poland, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1867. | |
| George F. Edmunds, | ″ | 1866 | ″ | 1881. | |
| Justin S. Morrill, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1879. |
Kentucky
Kentucky was formed from the territory of Virginia, and in point of seniority is the fifteenth State of the American Union, having been admitted on the first of June, 1792.
The sobriquet of “dark and bloody ground” applied to Kentucky is very suggestive of the sanguinary conflicts of her pioneer population with the aboriginal lords of the soil. The celebrated Daniel Boone was among the first white men to explore the wilderness of Kentucky. The first white settlement was commenced at Boonesborough, about the year 1769. The area of the State is 37,680 square miles, equal to 24,115,200 acres.
The climate is mild, and adapted to the production of cereals, grapes, and fruits. The soil is very fertile. The surface presents a varied aspect in its several portions. The southeastern part of the State is mountainous, the central and northern portions are undulating, sometimes hilly. The river bottoms are very productive. The State is well timbered. Apple, pear, peach, plum and various other fruit trees are cultivated with great success. The staple products are corn, tobacco and hemp. Horses, mules and cattle are raised. Kentucky abounds in bituminous coal, lead, iron pyrites, marble, freestone, gypsum, and cliff limestone.
The population in 1870 was 1,321,000. She is entitled to ten representatives in Congress, is in the sixth judicial circuit and forms one judicial district, has one port of entry, Louisville, and two ports of delivery, viz.: Paducah and Columbus. Frankfort is the capital.
The State elections are held on the first Monday in August. The Legislature meets on the first Monday in December, and is composed of two houses—the Senate consisting of 38 members elected for four years; and a House of Representatives elected for two years. The enacting clause of the laws is: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.”
United States Senators
| John Brown, | from | 1792 | to | 1805. | |
| John Edwards, | ″ | 1792 | ″ | 1795. | |
| Humphrey Marshall, | ″ | 1795 | ″ | 1801. | |
| John Breckenridge, | ″ | 1801 | ″ | 1805. | |
| Buckner Thurston, | ″ | 1805 | ″ | 1810. | |
| John Adair, | ″ | { | 1805 | ″ | 1806. |
| 1806 | ″ | 1807. | |||
| 1810 | ″ | 1811. | |||
| Henry Clay, | ″ | { | 1831 | ″ | 1842. |
| 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |||
| John Pope, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1813. | |
| George M. Bibb, | ″ | { | 1811 | ″ | 1814. |
| 1829 | ″ | 1835. | |||
| Jessie Bledsoe, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1815. | |
| George Walker, | ″ | 1814 | ″ | 1814. | |
| William T. Barry, | ″ | 1814 | ″ | 1816. | |
| Isham Talbot, | ″ | { | 1815 | ″ | 1819. |
| 1820 | ″ | 1825. | |||
| Martin D. Hardin, | ″ | { | 1816 | ″ | 1817. |
| 1817 | ″ | 1819. | |||
| 1835 | ″ | 1841. | |||
| John J. Crittenden, | ″ | { | 1842 | ″ | 1849. |
| 1855 | ″ | 1861. | |||
| Richard M. Johnson, | ″ | { | 1819 | ″ | 1823. |
| 1823 | ″ | 1829. | |||
| William Logan, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1820. | |
| John Rowan, | ″ | 1826 | ″ | 1831. | |
| James T. Moorehead, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Jos’h R. Underwood, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1853. | |
| Thomas Metcalf, | ″ | 1848 | ″ | 1849. | |
| Archibald Dixon, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1855. | |
| David Meriwether, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1852. | |
| J. B. Thompson, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1859. | |
| Lazarus W. Powell, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1865. | |
| J. C. Breckenridge, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Garrett Davis, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1873. | |
| James Guthrie, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1868. | |
| Thomas C. McCreery, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1879. | |
| John W. Stevenson, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. |
Tennessee
Tennessee belonged to the territory of North Carolina while a colony, and was settled by emigrants from it in 1757. They built Fort Loudon in East Tennessee, but were destroyed, or driven away, by the Indians, in 1760. Settlement was soon resumed, but continually harrassed by Indian attacks. In 1774 Col. Lewis and Capt. Shelby attacked and defeated them. They remained quiet until after the Declaration of Independence, when the Cherokees were stirred up by British emissaries. From 1776 to 1779 three several expeditions were made against them, the Indians being decisively defeated each time. The Cherokees and Shawnees were warlike tribes, and continued, for some years, to make occasional attacks on the settlements, which did not, however, prevent their steady growth.
In 1789 North Carolina renounced her claim to the territory, and in 1790 it became a separate province, being admitted into the Union as a Sovereign State in 1796, making the sixteenth, or the third admitted after the Revolutionary war—Vermont, in 1791, being the first; and Kentucky, in 1792, the second.
This State has an area of 45,600 square miles, or 29,184,000 acres. It had a population in 1870 of 1,257,983.
Tennessee is very agreeably diversified with mountain, hill and dale, containing within its limits fertility of soil, beauty of scenery, and a delightfully temperate climate. The State is generally healthy. The soil in the main is good, and while among the mountains it is not arable, it is favorable for grazing, and stock is largely exported.
Indian corn, tobacco, and cotton are the great staples.
Gold has been found in the south-east portion of the State. Among the other minerals found here are iron in abundance, some lead, silver, zinc, marble of very fine quality, and various others. The State is entitled to ten Representatives in Congress; is in the sixth judicial circuit; has three judicial districts; and has two ports of delivery—Memphis and Knoxville.
Nashville is the capital. The State election is held on the first Monday in August, and the Legislature meets on the first Monday in October, once in two years. The Legislature consists of a Senate of twenty-five members, and a House of Representatives of seventy-five members.
The enacting clause of the laws of this State is: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee.”
United States Senators
| William Blount, | from | 1796 | to | 1797. | |
| William Cocke, | ″ | { | 1796 | ″ | 1797. |
| 1799 | ″ | 1805. | |||
| Andrew Jackson, | ″ | { | 1797 | ″ | 1798. |
| 1823 | ″ | 1825. | |||
| Joseph Anderson, | ″ | 1797 | ″ | 1815. | |
| Daniel Smith, | ″ | 1797 | ″ | 1809. | |
| Jenkin Whiteside, | ″ | 1809 | ″ | 1811. | |
| George W. Campbell, | ″ | 1811 | ″ | 1818. | |
| Jesse Wharton, | ″ | 1814 | ″ | 1815. | |
| John Williams, | ″ | 1815 | ″ | 1823. | |
| John H. Eaton, | ″ | 1818 | ″ | 1829. | |
| Hugh L. White, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1840. | |
| Felix Grundy, | ″ | 1829 | ″ | 1840. | |
| Ephraim H. Foster, | ″ | { | 1838 | ″ | 1839. |
| 1843 | ″ | 1845. | |||
| A. O. P. Nicholson, | ″ | 1840 | ″ | 1843. | |
| Alexander Anderson, | ″ | 1840 | ″ | 1841. | |
| Spencer Jarnagin, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Hopkins L. Turney, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1851. | |
| John Bell, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1853. | |
| James C. Jones, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Andrew Johnson, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1863. | |
| David T. Patterson, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1869. | |
| J. S. Fowler, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1871. | |
| William G. Brownlow, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Henry Cooper, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Andrew Johnson, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Ohio
The first permanent settlement in this important State was made on the 7th day of April, 1788. Though this fine territory lay nearest to the most populous and enterprising of the original States, the intrigues of the French before the Revolution, the hostility to which they excited the Indians, and the difficulties arising from the various claims of different States to the lands, which rendered titles insecure, prevented any permanent settlement until about the time when the present Constitution of the United States was originated. All these difficulties were now removed, and emigration, long restrained, rushed like a flood down the Ohio. 20,000 persons, during this year (1788), passed down the river in pursuit of new homes. Cincinnati and many other places were settled about this time. From 1790 to 1795 there was much suffering from the hostility of the Indians; but this period having passed, the settlements multiplied and grew apace.
The settlers were, in large part, from New England; accustomed to wring a thrifty living from a rocky soil; and their industry soon brought great results from this more generous field. The population increased rapidly. In 14 years it amounted to 72,000; and was admitted into the Union with that number Nov. 29th, 1802.
The climate is healthy and mild, the soil generally very fertile, and her inhabitants have made the most of it. Coal, iron, and marble are very abundant. Manufactures have not been much developed in this State, but they are steadily growing. The lake on the north, and the river on the south, with more than 5,000 miles of railway and canals, furnish all the elements of a great and steady growth.
It was, on its admission, the seventeenth State in the Union.
It has an area of 39,964 square miles, equal to 25,576,960 acres. The population in 1870 was 2,622,214, entitling her to twenty Members of Congress.
It is in the sixth judicial circuit, and forms two judicial districts, the Northern and Southern.
This State has three ports of entry—Cleveland, Toledo, and Portland; and four ports of delivery, to be located where the President directs.
The capital of this State is Columbus. The State election is now held on the second Tuesday of October. The Legislature meets on the first Monday of January, biennially.
The enacting clause of the laws is as follows: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Ohio.”
United States Senators
| John Smith, | from | 1803 | to | 1808. | |
| Thos. Worthington, | ″ | { | 1803 | ″ | 1807. |
| 1810 | ″ | 1814. | |||
| Edward Tiffin, | ″ | 1807 | ″ | 1809. | |
| Return J. Meigs, | ″ | 1808 | ″ | 1810. | |
| Stanley Griswold, | ″ | 1809 | ″ | 1809. | |
| Alexander Campbell, | ″ | 1809 | ″ | 1813. | |
| Jeremiah Morrow, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1819. | |
| Joseph Kerr, | ″ | 1814 | ″ | 1815. | |
| Benjamin Ruggles, | ″ | 1815 | ″ | 1833. | |
| William A. Trimble, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1821. | |
| Ethan A. Brown, | ″ | 1822 | ″ | 1825. | |
| Wm. Henry Harrison, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1828. | |
| Jacob Burnett, | ″ | 1828 | ″ | 1831. | |
| Thomas Ewing, | ″ | { | 1831 | ″ | 1837. |
| 1850 | ″ | 1851. | |||
| Thomas Morris, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1839. | |
| William Allen, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1849. | |
| Benjamin Tappan, | ″ | 1839 | ″ | 1845. | |
| Thomas Corwin, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1851. | |
| Salmon P. Chase, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Benjamin F. Wade, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1869. | |
| George Ellis Pugh, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1861. | |
| John Sherman, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1879. | |
| Allen G. Thurman, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1881. |
Louisiana
The Spaniards, who found so much gold in other parts of the American continent, made repeated explorations of the region lying near the mouths of the Mississippi in the hope of discovering it there. Failing in this, they made no settlements. The French planned the establishment of a vast empire covering the best territory now in the bounds of the United States, and explored the Mississippi and its tributaries with untiring courage and zeal, both from the Great Lakes and from the mouth of the river. A few years after La Salle had perished in his bold wandering, a French naval officer, Lemoine D’Iberville, formed the first settlement in Louisiana (so named after the French King, Louis XIV., by La Salle.) This was in 1699; but no great progress was made until the Mississippi Company was formed in France, under the idea that Louisiana was rich in gold and diamonds; when, in 1718, eight hundred persons emigrated from France and settled at New Orleans. In 1732 the colony contained, in all, seven thousand five hundred persons, and continued to prosper until 1763, when, by the peace of Paris, all the French possessions in America except the territory west of the Great River, were given up to England. This remnant soon passed to the Spaniards, and again to the French, from whom it was bought by President Jefferson for $15,000,000, in 1803.
This purchase was regarded, even by Jefferson, as probably exceeding the powers of the government, under the Constitution; but it was essential to the development, unity, and greatness of the country. The Mississippi Valley is the heart of North America, and the use of the river as necessary to the value of the prairie States lying east of it, as to the defense and strength of the country. The possession of it could, alone, make the United States a great power among nations. Napoleon Bonaparte, then First Consul of the French Republic, designed, in ceding it to the United States, to give England, his relentless enemy, a powerful rival; but even his keen foresight could not have anticipated the wonderful growth in which the Louisiana Purchase was so necessary an element.
The surface of Louisiana is low, and the southern part often overflowed by the high water of the rivers. Many islands of great fertility and beauty lie along the coast; one of them consisting of an immense bed or mine of rock salt. Fruits grow to great perfection and orange trees are specially fruitful, a single tree often bearing 5,000 oranges. Cotton and cane sugar are the principal staples. New Orleans has an extensive commerce, and manufactures will sometime find in it a profitable field. The palmy days of this, as of all the other Southern States, is in the future; her most valuable resources having been scarcely touched. New Orleans will naturally become the third great commercial city of the Union, New York and San Francisco, only, being likely to take precedence of her.
Louisiana was admitted into the Union April 8th, 1812, making the eighteenth State.
She has an area of 46,431 square miles, equal to 29,715,840 acres. The population in 1870 numbered 732,731; she has six Representatives in Congress.
Louisiana forms a part of the fifth judicial circuit, and constitutes two judicial districts, viz.: the eastern and western districts of Louisiana. This State has one collection district, denominated the district of New Orleans; which city is the only port of entry. The shores of the river Ohio, and all the rivers emptying into the Mississippi, are attached to the district of New Orleans, though most of them do not lie in the State. Several of the cities and towns on these rivers are made ports of delivery. Collection districts are not always confined to one State.
New Orleans is the capital. The Legislature meets on the first Monday in January, once in two years. The State election is held on the first Monday in November.
The enacting clause of her laws is as follows: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Louisiana, in General Assembly convened.”
United States Senators
| Thomas Posey, | October to December, 1812. | ||||
| James Brown, | from | { | 1812 | to | 1817. |
| 1819 | ″ | 1824. | |||
| Allan B. Macgruder, | ″ | 1812 | ″ | 1813. | |
| Eligius Fromentin, | ″ | 1813 | ″ | 1819. | |
| W. C. C. Claiborne, | ″ | 1817 | ″ | 1818. | |
| Henry Johnson, | ″ | { | 1818 | ″ | 1824. |
| 1843 | ″ | 1849. | |||
| William Kelly, | ″ | 1822 | ″ | 1825. | |
| Dominique Bouligny, | ″ | 1824 | ″ | 1829. | |
| Josiah S. Johnston, | ″ | 1824 | ″ | 1833. | |
| Edward Livingston, | ″ | 1829 | ″ | 1831. | |
| Geo. A. Waggaman, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1835. | |
| Alexander Porter, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1837. | |
| Robert C. Nichols, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1841. | |
| Alexander Morton, | ″ | 1838 | ″ | 1842. | |
| Alexander Barrow, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Charles M. Conrad, | ″ | 1842 | ″ | 1843. | |
| Pierre Soulé, | ″ | { | 1847 | ″ | 1847. |
| 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |||
| Solomon W. Downs, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1853. | |
| John Slidell, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Judah P. Benjamin, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1861. | |
| John S. Harris, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Wm. Pitt Kellogg, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1873. | |
| J. R. West, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
Indiana
1. Indiana was first explored by the enterprising French Jesuits, who highly appreciated the beauty, resources, and grand future of the vast Mississippi valley. Wiser than their sovereign, Louis XIV., they would have taken firm and effectual possession of all this region, from the Great Lakes to the Gulf, but Louis was too much occupied with his palaces, the splendor of his court, the banishment of Protestants, and war with his neighbors to lend a due support to their plans. They explored the region in 1682, formed a settlement at Vincennes in 1730, and made friends of the Indians. The career of the French, in Europe and America, was checked by the extravagance of the Court, and disastrous wars; and this little colony remained for nearly three generations solitary and stationary in the wilderness; fraternizing with the Indians and enjoying life as only the French can under such dreary circumstances.
2. After the Revolution all this region was included in the Northwest Territory. The grim earnestness of the Americans in pushing their fortunes alarmed, without conciliating, the Indians, and for a long time a deadly struggle alone could preserve the growing settlements from total extinction. The brave and talented Tecumseh and his twin brother, the Prophet, made a desperate effort to drive back or exterminate the settlers; but they were conquered, and the Indians retreated, step by step, before the advancing flood of emigration. In 1809 Indiana was erected in to a separate Territory, and admitted into the Union as a separate State on the 11th of Dec., 1816. It is 275 miles long by 135 in width. The surface is mainly level or gently undulating; the irregularities in the southern part, seldom rising more than two hundred feet, but with a rocky foundation to the soil, presenting many advantages to manufactures along the streams; these facilities are increased by the extent and value of bituminous coal deposits which underlie nearly one-fourth of the area of the State.
3. Indiana has a happier mixture of prairie and woodland than any other western State. Its commercial facilities are great. Reaching Lake Michigan on the northwest, Chicago forms a fine metropolis for the northern parts; while the Ohio on the south furnishes cheap transportation to Cincinnati and Pittsburg toward the east, or New Orleans to the southwest. Lying between the fertile and busy regions west and the great eastern markets, it is crossed in all directions by railroads. It is in the centre of the most highly favored part of the Union, and its advantages and resources seem boundless. Its staple in agriculture is corn, but all the grains, vegetables, and fruits of the temperate zone are raised with success. The climate is mild, but it lies in the region of variableness in weather characterizing all the western States in its latitude.
The resources of the State have been in a course of rapid and uninterrupted development for 60 years, but they are so great, and there are so many other inviting fields luring emigrants further west, that a comparatively small part of its wealth has yet been reached. There is a magnificent provision for education, and its intelligent and enterprising citizens are worthy of the Great Republic.
4. Indiana was the nineteenth State in the Union. She has an area of 33,809 square miles, equal to 21,637,760 acres. Her population in 1870 was 1,673,046, which entitles her to thirteen Representatives in Congress. Indiana is the seventh judicial circuit, and forms one judicial district. There is no port of entry in this State; but there are three ports of delivery, to-wit: Evansville, New Albany, and Madison which are attached to the New Orleans collection district.
The capital is Indianapolis. The State election is held on the second Tuesday of October. The Legislature meets only once in two years, on the first Wednesday of January.
The enacting clause of her laws is in these words: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana.”
United States Senators
| James Noble, | from | 1816 | to | 1831. | |
| W. Taylor, | ″ | 1816 | ″ | 1825. | |
| W. Hendricks, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1837. | |
| N. Hanna, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1833. | |
| John Tipton, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1839. | |
| O. H. Smith, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1843. | |
| A. S. White, | ″ | 1839 | ″ | 1845. | |
| E. A. Hannegan, | ″ | 1843 | ″ | 1849. | |
| J. D. Bright, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1852. | |
| J. Whitcomb, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |
| C. W. Cathcart, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1853. | |
| John Pettit, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1855. | |
| G. N. Fitch, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1861. | |
| H. A. Lane, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1867. | |
| D. Turpee, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1863. | |
| J. A. Wright, | ″ | 1862 | ″ | 1863. | |
| T. A. Hendricks, | ″ | —— | ″ | 1869. | |
| O. P. Morton, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1879. | |
| Daniel D. Pratt, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Joseph E. McDonald, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Mississippi
This State was explored by De Soto, a companion of Pizarro, in his cruel conquest of Peru, in 1541, and later by the enterprising French governor of Canada, La Salle, in 1684. The first settlement was made by the French, at Natchez, in 1716. It was one of a chain of settlements by which they proposed to connect the basins of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes with the Mississippi valley and the Gulf of Mexico.
The Natchez Indians gave the early colonists great trouble, but were finally so completely conquered that the national name became extinct, the few remnants surviving, becoming incorporated with other tribes. They were supposed to have anciently emigrated from Mexico or South America, some of their customs being similar to those of the Peruvians.
In 1763 the French ceded all this territory to England, except that of Louisiana, which became the possession of Spain.
The Choctaw Indians held possession of the northern part of the State for a long time, and became considerably civilized.
The northern part of the State is prairie, the soil being extremely rich, while the south is sandy. The surface is generally level or undulating. Commerce and agriculture form its principal resources; though neither have been highly developed. Cotton is the principal staple. It is remarkably well adapted to the growth of fruit, though it has been very little cultivated. The State is well supplied with railroads, which, with the Mississippi flowing the whole length of her western boundary, furnish ample transportation for all the produce of her fertile soil.
The Territory of Mississippi became a State in 1817; making the twentieth State. The area is 47,156 square miles, equal to 30,179,840 acres. The population in 1870 numbered 834,170; which entitles her to six Representatives in Congress. The State lies in the fifth judicial circuit, and is divided into two judicial districts, viz.: the Northern and Southern districts of Mississippi. She has three ports of entry, viz.: Natchez, Vicksburg, and one near the mouth of Pearl river, to be established whenever the President may direct; also three ports of delivery, viz.: Grand Gulf, Ship Island and Columbus.
Jackson is the capital. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and her Legislature meets biennially on the Tuesday after the first Monday in January.
The enacting clause of the laws is in these words: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Mississippi in General Assembly convened.”
United States Senators
| Walter Leake, | from | 1817 | to | 1820. | |
| Thomas H. Williams, | ″ | { | 1817 | ″ | 1829. |
| 1838 | ″ | 1839. | |||
| David Holmes, | ″ | 1820 | ″ | 1825. | |
| Powhattan Ellis, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1833. | |
| Thomas B. Reed, | ″ | 1826 | ″ | 1829. | |
| Robert Adams, | ″ | 1830 | ″ | 1830. | |
| George Poindexter, | ″ | 1830 | ″ | 1835. | |
| John Black, | ″ | 1832 | ″ | 1838. | |
| R. J. Walker, | ″ | 1835 | ″ | 1845. | |
| James F. Trotter, | ″ | 1838 | ″ | 1838. | |
| John Henderson, | ″ | 1839 | ″ | 1845. | |
| Jesse Speight, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Joseph W. Chambers, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Jefferson Davis, | ″ | { | 1847 | ″ | 1851. |
| 1857 | ″ | 1861. | |||
| Henry S. Foote, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1853. | |
| John W. Rea, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1851. | |
| Walter Brooks, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1852. | |
| Albert G. Brown, | ″ | 1854 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Stephen Adams, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Henry R. Revels, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1871. | |
| James L. Alcorn, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Adelbert Ames, | ″ | —— | ″ | 1875. | |
| Henry R. Pease, | ″ | —— | ″ | 1877. | |
| Branch K. Bruce, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Illinois
Illinois was first visited by Europeans in the persons of French Jesuit missionaries in the year 1672, who explored eastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois in that year. The oldest permanent settlement in the valley of the Mississippi was made at Kaskaskia, in this State, in the year 1720, by the French. The name of the State is derived from the aboriginal inhabitants. In the Indian dialect it was “Illini,” and signified a perfectly formed man. The French settlers changed the name to Illinois. This State was formed from what was known as the Northwestern territory, and was the twenty-first of the American Union. It was admitted and became an independent State on the 3d day of December, 1818. It has an area of 55,405 square miles, equal to 35,459,200 acres. Its population in 1870 was 2,539,638. Extending through more than five degrees of latitude, Illinois has quite a variety of climate. The surface is level. The soil is fertile and the agricultural capabilities of this State are not surpassed by any sister State, if indeed by any portion of earth’s surface, of equal extent. Her staple products are corn, wheat, oats, potatoes, hay, and products of the dairy, besides large quantities of fruit. The State is rich in minerals. A large portion of the lead producing region of the country is in this State. Bituminous coal is found in almost every county in the State. Copper is found in large quantities in the north, and iron in both south and north. Lime, zinc, marble of excellent quality, freestone, gypsum, and other minerals, are found in various parts.
The State is entitled to nineteen representatives in Congress, and forms a part of the seventh judicial circuit. It forms two judicial districts, viz.: northern and southern. It has one port of entry, Chicago, and four ports of delivery, viz.: Alton, Quincy, Cairo, and Peoria. The capital is Springfield. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The legislature meets biennially on the first Monday in January. The enacting clause of the laws is as follows: “Be it enacted by the people of the State of Illinois represented in the General Assembly.”
United States Senators
| J. B. Thomas, | from | 1818 | to | 1829. | |
| N. Edwards, | ″ | 1818 | ″ | 1824. | |
| John McLean, | ″ | { | 1824 | ″ | 1825. |
| 1829 | ″ | 1830. | |||
| D. J. Baker, | ″ | 1830 | 1 month. | ||
| E. K. Kane, | ″ | 1825 | to | 1836. | |
| J. M. Robinson, | ″ | 1830 | ″ | 1841. | |
| W. L. D. Ewing, | ″ | 1835 | ″ | 1837. | |
| R. M. Young, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1843. | |
| S. McRoberts, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1843. | |
| J. Semple, | ″ | 1843 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Sidney Breese, | ″ | 1843 | ″ | 1849. | |
| S. A. Douglas, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1861. | |
| James Shields, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |
| L. Trumbull, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1873. | |
| O. H. Browning, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1863. | |
| W. A. Richardson, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1865. | |
| Richard Yates, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1871. | |
| John A. Logan, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Richard J. Oglesby, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. | |
Alabama
This State was, at first, held by Georgia under her colonial charter, but was given up to the general government, in 1802, for the sum of $1,250,000. It then became a part of the Mississippi territory, but was separated when Mississippi became a State, in 1817.
It was settled in 1711, at Mobile, by the French, it being a part of the territory explored and claimed for France by La Salle in 1684. The Indian name of Alabama means “Here we rest.” Its soil can scarcely be excelled for fertility in the world. It has every variety of climate, from the high and stern severity of a mountain region in the north, through all gradations, to the heat and luxuriant vegetation of the tropics along the southern coast. The center abounds in coal and iron, and various other minerals are found in abundance. Until the Revolution it was a hunting ground for the Indians. Being then stirred up by British emissaries, and threatening the security of the frontiers, they were severely chastised. After the return of peace, when the growing wealth and population of the original States excited them to enterprise, the territory invited population by its surpassing fertility, and it graduated to the importance of a sovereign State by admission into the Union, Dec. 14th, 1819, forming the twenty-second State.
It has an area of 50,722 square miles, equal to 32,462,080 acres, and had a population in 1870 of 966,988, by which she is entitled to eight Representatives.
It forms a part of the fifth judicial circuit, and is divided into three judicial districts, the Northern, Middle and Southern.
It has one port of entry, (Mobile,) and two ports of delivery, viz.: Tuscumbia and Selma.
The capital of the State is Montgomery.
The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Legislature meets on the third Monday in November.
The enacting clause of its laws is as follows: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Alabama, in General Assembly convened.”
United States Senators
| William R. King, | from | { | 1819 | to | 1844. |
| 1846 | ″ | 1852. | |||
| John W. Walker, | ″ | 1819 | ″ | 1822. | |
| Henry Chambers, | ″ | 1825 | ″ | 1826. | |
| Israel Pickens, | ″ | 1826. | Superseded the same year by— | ||
| John McKinley, | ″ | { | 1826 | ″ | 1831. |
| 1837 | ″ | 1841. | |||
| Gabriel Moore, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1837. | |
| Clement C. Clay, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1841. | |
| Arthur P. Bagby, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1849. | |
| Dixon H. Lewis, | ″ | 1844 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Benjamin Fitzpatrick, | ″ | 1852 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Jeremiah Clemens, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1853. | |
| Clement C. Clay, Jr., | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Willard Warner, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1871. | |
| George Goldthwaite, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| George E. Spencer, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1879. | |
Maine
This State forms the northeastern boundary of the Republic; Canada and New Brunswick lying north and east. It was at first a province, granted by charter to Sir Ferdinand Gorges, by the King of England, in 1638; but was united with Massachusetts by purchase in 1652. It was settled by the English, at Bristol, in 1625. It was admitted as a State into the Union March 15th, 1820, being the twenty-third in order of admission. It contains 31,766 square miles, or 20,330,240 acres in area. In 1870 the population was 626,463.
It has now five Representatives in Congress.
The northern part of this State is almost a wilderness, and furnishes large quantities of lumber, which are floated down her large rivers, and supplied, in great abundance, to the Atlantic seaports, and the West Indies. Ship-building is an extensive branch of industry, the great length and irregular line of coast forming numerous harbors. It has extensive fisheries, and a large sea-faring population. Its numerous streams are highly favorable to manufactures, though comparatively little has as yet been done in this direction. The climate is severe and the soil somewhat sterile, so that it ranks low as an agricultural State. It has received comparatively few additions to its population by foreign immigration; and its inhabitants are mainly from the old English stock, and the State ranks high in morality. It depletes itself by furnishing, like many other of the older States, annually, a large number of vigorous, enterprising young men to settle the new and fertile regions of the west.
It forms part of the first judicial circuit, and constitutes one judicial district. It has thirteen ports of entry, and thirty-two ports of delivery.
The capital is Augusta, on the Kennebec river.
The State elections are held on the second Monday of September; and the Legislature meets on the first Wednesday of January in each year.
The enacting clause of its laws is: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives, in Legislature assembled.”
United States Senators
| John Holmes, | from | 1820 | to | 1833. | |
| John Chandler, | ″ | 1820 | ″ | 1829. | |
| Albion P. Harris, | ″ | 1827 | ″ | 1829. | |
| Peleg Sprague, | ″ | 1829 | ″ | 1835. | |
| Ether Shepley, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1836. | |
| John Ruggles, | ″ | 1835 | ″ | 1841. | |
| Judah Dana, | ″ | 1836 | ″ | 1837. | |
| Reuel Williams, | ″ | 1837 | ″ | 1843. | |
| George Evans, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1847. | |
| John Fairfield, | ″ | 1843 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Wynan B. S. Moore, | ″ | 1848 | ″ | 1848. | |
| James W. Bradbury, | ″ | { | 1847 | ″ | 1853. |
| 1848 | ″ | 1857. | |||
| Hannibal Hamlin, | ″ | { | 1857 | ″ | 1861. |
| 1869 | ″ | 1881. | |||
| Amos Nourse, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1857. | |
| William P. Fessenden, | ″ | { | 1853 | ″ | 1864. |
| 1865 | ″ | 1869. | |||
| Lot M. Morrill, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Nathan A. Farwell, | ″ | 1864 | ″ | 1865. |
Missouri
This State was first settled by the French, at or near the present capital, in the year 1719. Here a fort was established, called Fort Orleans, and the neighboring lead mines were worked the next year. St. Genevieve, the oldest town in the State, was settled in 1755, and St. Louis in 1764. In 1763 it, with all the territory west of the Mississippi, was assigned by treaty to Spain. This territory was ceded back to France in 1801, and with Louisiana was purchased by the United States in 1803. It remained a part of Louisiana until the admission of the State of that name, when the remaining portion of that purchase was called Missouri. In 1821 it was admitted into the Union, forming the twenty-fourth State. This State has an area of 67,380 square miles, equal to 43,123,200 acres.
Her population in 1870 was 1,715,000, entitling her to thirteen Representatives in Congress.
The climate of Missouri is variable; in winter the thermometer sinks below zero; the summers are excessively hot; the air is dry and pure. The State is quite as healthful as any in the west. The soil is good and of great agricultural capabilities. The great staple is Indian corn. The other products cultivated largely are hemp, wheat, oats, tobacco. Sheep and cattle are considerably raised, and fruit culture is successful.
This State is in the eighth judicial circuit; and forms two judicial districts, the Eastern and Western. It has no port of entry, and but one port of delivery, Hannibal.
The capital is Jefferson City. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November, and the Legislature meets on the last Monday of December. The enacting clause of the laws is: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Missouri as follows.”
United States Senators
| Thomas H. Benton, | from | 1821 | to | 1851. | |
| David Barton, | ″ | 1821 | ″ | 1831. | |
| Alexander Buckner, | ″ | 1831 | ″ | 1833. | |
| Lewis F. Linn, | ″ | 1833 | ″ | 1843. | |
| David R. Atchison, | ″ | { | 1843 | ″ | 1849. |
| 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |||
| Gratz B. Brown, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1867. | |
| Henry S. Geyer, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Trusten Polk, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1861. | |
| James S. Green, | ″ | 1856 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Waldo P. Johnson, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1862. | |
| John B. Henderson, | ″ | 1862 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Charles D. Drake, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Carl Schurz, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Francis P. Blair, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1873. | |
| Lewis V. Bogy, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. | |
| Frank M. Cockrell, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Michigan
The name of this State is a contraction of two words in the Chippewa language, meaning “Great Lake,” and was applied, by the Indians, to the two surrounding the lower peninsula. It was explored by Jesuit missionaries, who established numerous missions among various Indian tribes, and pushed their way, through perils and fatigues, west to the Mississippi, which, they followed far north and south; to be soon outstripped by the adventurous La Salle. Detroit was founded about 1701. The settlements made little progress under French rule; and when, in 1763, it passed under English control, the conspiracy of Pontiac nearly destroyed them. It was not till 1796 that the United States government took possession of the territory. Its growth was much retarded by the war of 1812, when it endured, for two years, all the barbarities of Indian war.
A territorial government was organized in 1805. In 1818 the lands were brought into the market, since which its prosperity has been uninterrupted. It is remarkable in its position, and eminently so by its resources. The southern peninsula is very productive. The northern peninsula contains the richest copper mines in the world, and unlimited supplies of iron, while the quantity of the finest lumber, and the facilities for transporting it are superior. The fish taken in its lakes are excellent and abundant; its people are enterprising and intelligent; and its State authorities have established one of the best Universities in the Union. Its future promises to become equal at least to that of the most favored State.
The Territory of Michigan was changed into a State preliminarily June 15, 1836, and was fully admitted to an equality with all the States January 26, 1837, making the twenty-fifth State (Arkansas was admitted on the same day). Her area is 56,243 square miles, equal to 35,995,520 acres. The population in 1870 was 1,184,296, which entitles her to nine Representatives in Congress. By an act of 1866, Michigan was located in the sixth judicial circuit; and forms two judicial districts, and has four collection districts and four ports of entry, viz.: Detroit, Port Huron, Grand Haven, and Michilimackinac; also five ports of delivery (if the President deem them necessary).
The capital is Lansing. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Legislature meets biennially on the first Wednesday in January.
The enacting clause of the laws is as follows: “The people of the State of Michigan enact.”
United States Senators
| Lucius Lyon, | from | 1836 | to | 1839. | |
| John Norvall, | ″ | 1836 | ″ | 1841. | |
| Augustus S. Porter, | ″ | 1839 | ″ | 1845. | |
| William Woodbridge, | ″ | 1841 | ″ | 1847. | |
| Lewis Cass, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1857. | |
| Alpheus Felch, | ″ | 1847 | ″ | 1853. | |
| Thomas Fitzgerald, | ″ | 1848 | ″ | 1849. | |
| Charles E. Stewart, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1859. | |
| Zachariah Chandler, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Kinsley S. Bingham, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Jacob M. Howard, | ″ | 1862 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Thomas W. Ferry, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Isaac P. Christiancy, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Arkansas
Arkansas was originally a portion of the Territory of Louisiana. It remained a part of that territory until 1812, when the present State of Louisiana was admitted into the Union. The remainder of the territory was then formed into the Missouri Territory, and so remained until 1821 when Missouri was admitted into the Union, and Arkansas was erected into a separate territory, bearing the present name. In 1836, a State constitution was formed at Little Rock, and Arkansas became a State in the Union. It constituted the twenty-sixth State. It has an area of 52,193 square miles, equal to 33,406,720 acres. The population in 1870 was 483,197, which entitles her to four Representatives in Congress. The eastern portion of the State, extending back one hundred miles from the Mississippi, is generally a vast plain covered with marshes, swamps, and lagoons. The Ozark mountains which enter the northwest part of the State divide it into two unequal parts, of which the northern has the climate and productions of the Northern States, while the southern portion, in climate and productions, resembles Mississippi and Louisiana. The lowlands of Arkansas are unhealthy, while the more elevated portions of the State will compare favorably with the most healthful and invigorating portions of the Northwest. There is a great variety of soil in this State. While some portions, like the river bottoms, are exceedingly fertile, other parts are sterile and barren.
The staple products are Indian corn, cotton and live stock. Arkansas gives indications of rich mineral resources.
This State lies in the eighth judicial circuit, and forms two judicial districts, the eastern and western. It has no ports of entry or delivery.
The capital of the State is Little Rock. She holds her State election the first Monday in November. The Legislature meets but once in two years, on the first Monday in January. The enacting clause of the laws is: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Arkansas.”
United States Senators
| William S. Fulton, | from | 1836 | to | 1844. | |
| Ambrose H. Sevier, | ″ | 1836 | ″ | 1848. | |
| Chester Ashley, | ″ | 1844 | ″ | 1847. | |
| William K. Sebastian, | ″ | 1848 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Solon Borland, | ″ | 1848 | ″ | 1853. | |
| Robert W. Johnson, | ″ | 1853 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Charles B. Mitchell, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Alexander McDonald, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Benjamin F. Rice, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1873. | |
| Powell Clayton, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Stephen W. Dorsey, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. |
Florida
This peninsula was discovered by Ponce de Leon, a companion of Columbus, in 1512, on Easter Sunday, called by the Spaniards Pascua Florida, which, with the profusion of flowers found at this early season in that tropical region, caused him to name it Florida—“the flowery land.” It was first colonized by French Huguenots, for whom Admiral Coligni desired to find an asylum in the new world, from the fierce bigotry of the times. The first settlers (1564) became discouraged and returned; the second colony, established in 1566, was destroyed by the Spaniards. These founded a settlement in 1565 at St. Augustine, which was the oldest town in the United States settled by Europeans. It remained in their hands until 1763, when, by the terms of the “Peace of Paris,” it fell into the hands of the English. It was returned to Spain in 1783.
It was acquired from Spain by treaty made with the United States in 1819, but the American authorities did not take possession until July, 1821. The consideration given by our government was about five million dollars. It is a point running out from the Southeast border of our territory, of but little elevation above the sea level, and swampy, but covered with an exuberant growth of vegetation with a chain of lakes from south to north through the center. The warmth of the climate, where no winter is ever known, promotes the growth of the rarest and most beautiful flowers; the clustering vines and dense foliage render its forests almost impenetrable, and its delicate mosses are the wonder and delight of the naturalist; while the splendid plumage of its tropical birds, flitting among the lemon and orange groves, laden at once with bud, flower and fruit, combine to add the scenery of the equatorial regions to the homely but more useful vegetable growth and beauty of our temperate zone. It is a resort of invalids during the rigors of the northern winter, its otherwise excessive heat being tempered by the sea breezes from either side. With its marshes drained and its vegetable growth subdued and guided by the industrious agriculturist, its supply of the fruits and other production of warm climates would be inexhaustible. It is but partially settled, and its agricultural, commercial, and manufacturing facilities but slightly developed. Its wealth of resources remain to reward the enterprise and industry of the future. The railroad connections between its cities and other States furnish a sufficient basis for improvement.
Florida was admitted into the Union, March 3, 1845; making the twenty-seventh State. This State has an area of 59,268 square miles, equal to 37,931,520 acres. The population in 1870 amounted to 187,756. She has two Representative in Congress.
Florida lies in the fifth judicial circuit, and forms two judicial districts; and has seven ports of entry—St. Augustine, Key West, Apalachicola, Pensacola, Magnolia, St. John’s River, and Fernandina; and two ports of delivery—Palatka and Bay Port.
The capital is Tallahassee. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Legislature meets on the Tuesday after the first Monday in January.
The enacting clause of the laws is: “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the State of Florida, in General Assembly convened.”
United States Senators
| David L. Yulee, | from | 1845 | to | 1861. | |
| J. D. Wescott, | ″ | 1845 | ″ | 1851. | |
| Jackson Morton, | ″ | 1849 | ″ | 1855. | |
| S. R. Mallory, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1861. | |
| A. S. Welch, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Thomas W. Osborn, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1873. | |
| Abijah Gilbert, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Simon B. Conover, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. | |
| Chas. W. Jones, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Iowa
1. The name of this State in the Indian tongue is said to mean “This is the Land.” Few States have a surface, soil, and position so uniformly excellent for all their different sections. A high rolling prairie, well drained by streams, of great fertility, and almost no sterile or waste land; beautiful to look upon in its alternations of rise and fall, of prairie, stream, and timber; bounded on its extremes by the two mighty branches of the “Father of Waters,” with numerous smaller rivers hundreds of miles in length within its limits; its southern region underlaid by a vast bed of coal, its northern rich in deposits of lead; a climate free from the severity of Minnesota and Wisconsin winters, and from the intemperate heats of Missouri and Kentucky summers, it is a land to be satisfied with; and justifies the picturesque name given it by its ancient appreciative owners.
2. It was first visited by Europeans in 1673. Marquette and Joliet, two French Jesuit missionaries, whom the vast magnitudes of the North American continent seemed to stimulate like new wine, roamed alone over these immense distances, preserved by their characteristic French cordiality from the suspicion and hostility of the numerous warlike Indian tribes—who everywhere received them with hospitality, treated them with respect, and dismissed them with assistance—passed, in that year, down the Mississippi, and, landing a little above the mouth of the Moingona—which, from the similarity of sound, they corrupted into Des Moines, (Monk’s River)—they fearlessly followed an Indian trail fourteen miles into the interior to an Indian village. Some tradition or prophecy had forewarned the Indians of venerable white visitors, and they were received at once as expected and honored guests. The new religion they announced, and the authority of the king of France which they proclaimed, raised no remonstrance or hostile feeling, and they were sent on their way down the river with the “Pipe of Peace.” The grand visions of the future entertained by these and other French explorers were never realized by that nation. It was more than a hundred years later that the first settlement was made by Julian Du Buque on the site of the present city of that name. He obtained a grant of 180,000 acres from the Indians, established a trading post, and worked the lead mines, with great profit; but the time had not come for dispossessing the Indians, and almost fifty years more passed before any other settlement was attempted.
3. In 1832 the Winnebagoes, Sacs, and Foxes united under the Winnebago chief, Black Hawk, to invade and repossess the lands in Illinois which they had ceded to the government. Gen. Atkinson met and defeated them on the Upper Iowa, taking Black Hawk and his son prisoners. They were taken east, kindly treated, and set at liberty; and in the following year a treaty was made which ultimately extinguished the Indian title to the whole of Iowa, the Indians removing west of the Missouri. In the same year a settlement was made at Burlington. The time for Iowa had come. In 1834 it was joined to the Territory of Michigan, in 1837 was reorganized as part of the Wisconsin territory, and, in 1838, became a separate territory with the capital at Burlington. March 3d, 1845, it was conditionally, and Dec. 28th, 1846, fully admitted into the Union as a Sovereign State. In 1840 it had a population of over 40,000, in 1850 of nearly 200,000. A steady growth followed, and she has now, probably, a million and a half of inhabitants. Four parallel lines of railroad pass entirely across the State from east to west, three from north to south, and various others are in process of building or form intersecting lines. She is scarcely yet fully launched into her career of greatness. When her virgin soil shall all be broken up and its hidden wealth evoked by her intelligent and skillful agriculturists, when the full tide of commerce on her two great rivers shall have set in to supplement her railroads, and mature organization shall have made all her resources available, she will take her proper place in the first rank of States in the Union, and her citizens will repeat with satisfaction and pride the Indian declaration, “This is the Land.”
Iowa was the twenty-eighth State, on its admission, in 1845. It has an area of 55,045 square miles, equal to 35,228,800 acres. The population in 1870 was 1,191,802, which entitles her to nine Representatives in Congress. This State lies in the eighth judicial circuit, and makes one judicial district. She has no port of entry, but has three ports of delivery, to-wit: Burlington, Keokuk, and Dubuque; all of which are attached to the collection district of New Orleans, in the State of Louisiana.
Des Moines is the capital. The State election is held on the second Tuesday of October. The Legislature meets biennially on the second Monday in January.
The enacting clause of her laws is in these words: “Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Iowa.”
United States Senators
| George W. Jones, | from | 1848 | to | 1859. | |
| Augustus C. Dodge, | ″ | 1848 | ″ | 1855. | |
| James Harlan, | ″ | { | 1856 | ″ | 1865. |
| 1867 | ″ | 1873. | |||
| James W. Grimes, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Samuel J. Kirkwood, | ″ | 1866 | ″ | 1867. | |
| James B. Howell, | ″ | 1870 | ″ | 1871. | |
| George G. Wright, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| William B. Allison, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. |
Texas
This State forms the southwestern portion of the United States. The first settlement in Texas was made on Matagorda bay, under the French led by La Salle, in 1685. It passed into the possession of the Spanish in the year 1690.
After the independence of Mexico, in 1822, Texas remained a Mexican province until the revolution of 1836, when it gained its independence. It continued an independent republic, modeled on the United States, until 1845, when, the Texan Congress having accepted the conditions imposed by the Congress of the United States, it became the 29th State in the Union. It has an area of 237,504 square miles, equal to 152,002,560 acres. The population in 1870 was 797,500, which entitles her to six members of Congress.
This State embraces every variety of surface; mountain, plain, hill, and desert waste lie within its limits. The climate is free from the extremes of both the temperate and torrid zones, producing, in the north, many of the products of the temperate, and in the south many of those of the torrid zone. The variation in the temperature from the season of winter to that of summer is quite small, giving the State as equable a climate as any in the world. While it shares the genial climate of the “sunny South” it is free from all the deadly swamp exhalations of the lower Mississippi States. The soil, on the whole, is as fertile as any in the world. It furnishes the very best natural pasture all the year round. Cotton in large quantities—Indian corn, wheat, rye, oats and other small grains—tobacco, indigo and rice, are the staple products. The grape, mulberry and the vanilla, are indigenous and abundant. Cayenne pepper is grown in vast quantities. Fruit is no less various and abundant than its other products. The peach, nectarine, fig, plum, quince and a great variety of berries flourish here. Oranges, lemons, limes and melons, grow well. Live stock of all varieties and in vast numbers fatten on the plains, and are shipped in all directions to supply every demand.
Texas abounds in minerals. Rich silver mines are already worked successfully at San Saba. Gold in small quantities has been found west of the Colorado river. Coal is abundant. Iron is found in many parts of the State. There are also salt lakes and salt springs, copper, alum, lime, agates, chalcedony, jasper and a white and red sandstone.
Texas lies in the fifth judicial circuit, and makes two judicial districts, the eastern and the western. There are three collection districts in the State. The respective ports of entry for these districts are Galveston, La Salle, and Brazos Santiago. To these are attached nine ports of delivery.
The capital is Austin. The Legislature is composed of a Senate, elected for four years, and a House of Representatives, elected for two years. The sessions of the Legislature are biennial and are held in December. The Governor is elected for four years.
United States Senators
| Thomas F. Rusk, | from | 1846 | to | 1856. | |
| Samuel Houston, | ″ | 1846 | ″ | 1859. | |
| Pinckney J. Henderson, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1858. | |
| Matthias Ward, | ″ | 1858 | ″ | 1861. | |
| John Hemphill, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Lewis T. Wigfall, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1861. | |
| J. W. Flannagan, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Morgan C. Hamilton, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Samuel B. Maxey, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Wisconsin
1. This State was visited and crossed by the early French explorers about 1665, and a settlement was made at Green Bay in 1669 and soon after on the Mississippi, at Prairie du Chien. It was the policy of these enterprising men to connect the French settlements on the lower St. Lawrence by a chain of stations on the lakes and rivers with the mouth of the Mississippi. This would have passed through the heart of the country and have laid open its chief resources at once. It was a bold conception. We see it nowhere among the English explorers and settlers, who seemed not to like to lose sight of their ships; but it is quite in keeping with the grand and rapid genius of the French; and, as in so many other cases, by attempting too much they lost the whole. The English, if slower, were sure, and consolidated their possessions on the coast, gradually pushing westward as they were able to hold their ground.
2. The French explorers have left traces of their untiring activity in the names of rivers and places, and even Indian tribes, but the attention of their home government was soon withdrawn from them. No further extension was given to settlement for near 150 years, notwithstanding it was so easy of access from the south by the Mississippi river, and from the east by the chain of great lakes. Very fortunately, as it now seems, all this vast and valuable territory in the heart of the continent, equal, perhaps in its natural wealth, to the original resources of the whole of Europe, was reserved to reward the labors and consolidate the beneficent power of a Nation of Freemen, carefully trained and adapted to their high destiny.
3. The tide of emigration flowed westward by way of the Ohio river, and the States south were settled and admitted into the Union long before Wisconsin received even a Territorial government. This occurred in 1836, and in 1840 the census gave it but little over 30,000 inhabitants. Population now flowed steadily to it and we find, in 1850, over 300,000 inhabitants. It was admitted into the Union in 1848, making the thirtieth State. Its high latitude probably had something to do with this deferred settlement, the milder winters of the more southern range of States attracting the emigrants first. The climate, however, has important advantages over the States in question, being drier, less changeable, and not so subject to extremes. It is very healthy, and probably the oldest man in the country was living, hale and hearty, in this State, a few years ago, at the patriarchal age of 139. The climate is milder than in the same latitude farther east.
4. The surface is a high rolling prairie, open and mostly treeless, except near streams and bodies of water in the south, but in the north covered with timber. Vast forests of pine grow on the northern slope, which is some 1,200 feet above the level of the sea. Some parts of the State fall 600 feet below that elevation; and a succession of ridges having a general direction east and west, separate the rivers flowing into Lake Superior, Green Bay, and Lake Michigan, while many streams flow southwest into the Mississippi. The State is 285 miles long by 255 wide. Its beautiful prairies, gratefully returning a bountiful harvest to the intelligent farmer; its numerous charming lakes and ponds; its remarkable commercial advantages by lakes and rivers, supplemented by canals and railroads; its great manufacturing facilities, and valuable mineral deposits, give great promise to its future. Wheat is the leading agricultural staple, but all the grains, vegetables, and fruits of the Northern States well reward cultivation. It has an area of 52,924 square miles, equal to 34,511,360 acres. In 1870 the population amounted to 1,055,167, which gave her eight Members of Congress. Wisconsin lies in the seventh judicial circuit (which is composed of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois,) and forms one judicial district. It has one collection district, one port of entry (Milwaukee,) and five ports of delivery, viz.: Southport, Racine, Sheboygan, Green Bay and Depere.
The capital of the State is Madison. The Legislature meets on the second Wednesday in January. The State election is on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
The enacting clause of her laws is as follows: “The people of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows.”
United States Senators
| Henry Dodge, | from | 1848 | to | 1857. | |
| Isaac P. Walker, | ″ | 1848 | ″ | 1855. | |
| Charles Durkee, | ″ | 1855 | ″ | 1861. | |
| James R. Doolittle, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Timothy O. Howe, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1875. | |
| M. H. Carpenter, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Angus Cameron, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
California
Is said to have been visited by the Spaniards in 1542, and by Sir Francis Drake, a celebrated English navigator, in 1578. The first mission was founded by Spanish Catholics in 1769. It was sparsely settled by Mexican rancheros, who occupied themselves chiefly in raising cattle. In 1846 Fremont, who had been conducting an exploring party across the great plains and the Rocky Mountains, defeated in conjunction with Commodore Stockton, the Mexican forces in California, and took possession of it in the name of the United States; to which it was definitely ceded by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Feb. 2nd, 1848; the United States government paying Mexico for that territory and New Mexico $15,000,000, besides paying $3,500,000 indemnity, due from Mexico to citizens of the United States.
Scarcely had this arrangement been made, when it was published that California was rich in gold, and adventurers from all sections of the Union, and various countries of the Old World, rushed in like a flood. For some years, society there, composed in large part, of the wildest and most ungovernable elements of old communities, was like a seething volcano; but, to the immortal honor of American citizens, it was subdued by the superior resolution and summary vigor of the better class of emigrants from the States, and was admitted into the Union on the 7th of Sept. 1850, with a clause in its Constitution prohibiting slavery. The discussion in Congress on this point came near precipitating the Civil War that broke out ten years later. The difficulty between the slavery and anti-slavery parties was adjusted by compromise measures, for the time, but only served to allay the agitation produced by conflict of interests and opinions, which was irreconcilable.
California “The Golden,” proved extraordinarily rich in precious metals and other minerals, as quicksilver, platinum, asphaltum, iron, lead, and rare qualities of marble. Its gold mines alone from 1858 to 1868 produced over $800,000,000.
It is a broken country, traversed by two ranges of mountains. The valleys are exceedingly productive. They are unexcelled for wheat; all kinds of fruit grow in the greatest perfection; and the grape culture promises to equal, if not to excel, the products of the most famous vineyards of Europe. Surprising as is her mineral wealth, her agricultural possibilities are far greater, and her commerce is already immense, and bids fair, from her position and relations to Eastern Asia, and the western parts of South America, to rival that of the Atlantic States.
The world was ripe for the discovery of these unparalleled treasures, and civilization was prepared to use them for the good of mankind. The ready passage across the vast and inhospitable deserts of the American continent, by means of railways, has already changed (and will probably change still more in the future) the course of commerce; and San Francisco and New York may hope to rule, in large part, the commerce of the world.
California is remarkable for the salubrity of its climate, where the rigors of winter (save on the mountains), and the excessive heats of summer are equally unknown, and for the variety and magnitude of its natural curiosities. Of the last the Yosemite valley and the Big Trees are the most prominent. She has near 1,000 miles of railroad, and has made ample provision for education.
California was the thirty-first State. It has an area of 188,982 square miles, equal to 120,948,480 acres. The population in 1870 was 560,285, entitling her to four Representatives in Congress.
By act of 1866, this State, with Oregon and Nevada, constitutes the ninth judicial circuit, and forms two judicial districts. California has seven ports of entry, viz.: San Francisco, Monterey, San Diego, Sacramento, Sonoma, San Joaquin and San Pedro; also, one port of delivery, Santa Barbara. California was obtained from Mexico by conquest in 1846.
The capital is Sacramento. She holds her State election on the first Tuesday in September. Her Legislature meets on the first Monday in December, but meets only once in two years.
The enacting clause of her laws is: “The people of the State of California, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows.”
United States Senators
| John C. Fremont, | from | 1850 | to | 1851. | |
| William M. Gwin, | ″ | 1850 | ″ | 1861. | |
| John B. Weller, | ″ | 1851 | ″ | 1857. | |
| H. P. Haun, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1862. | |
| David C. Broderick, | ″ | 1856 | ″ | 1859. | |
| Milton S. Latham, | ″ | 1860 | ″ | 1866. | |
| John Conness, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1869. | |
| Cornelius Cole, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1873. | |
| J. A. McDougall, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1867. | |
| Eugene Casserly, | ″ | 1869 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Aaron A. Sargent, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. | |
| John S. Hagar, | ″ | —— | ″ | 1875. | |
| Newton Booth, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Minnesota
This State might be called the Mother of Rivers, since it contains the high watershed, or tableland, where the rivers sending their waters to two oceans, in three directions, have their sources. The head waters of the Mississippi, the St. Lawrence, and the streams flowing into the frozen ocean of the north are all found here. In 1680 the unwearied La Salle visited the head waters of the Mississippi, but this region was long left to the sole occupation of the Indians.
Fort Snelling, near St. Paul, was built in 1819. No other territory was acquired, by extinction of the Indian title to the soil, until 1837; and in 1849 the civilized population gathered about the trading posts and missions amounted to less than 5,000. It then received a Territorial government. A considerable portion of the State having in 1851 been ceded, by treaty with the Indians, to the government, was immediately entered on by the settlers; and in 1858 it was prepared to take rank among the sovereign States. It was admitted in May of this year, by act of Congress.
In 1862 the State passed through the appalling crisis of an Indian massacre of the outlying settlements. It began without warning, in the midst of fancied security, and before adequate protection could be forwarded, some 500 men, women, and children were murdered with all the accompaniments of savage cruelty. Some $3,000,000 of property was destroyed. In a short time sufficient force was gathered to overpower the savages, and they were in large part removed from the State.
The surface is undulating and high, and the soil, in good part, extremely fertile. Portions are open and rolling prairie; the remainder heavily wooded. Though the winters are long and cold, the air is dry and invigorating, and the climate healthy. It is specially favorable to the growth of wheat. Commerce is favored by the Mississippi, navigable to St. Paul, and by good harbors on Lake Superior, as well as by numerous railways. Its provision for education is excellent, and a State University at St. Anthony’s Falls promises to form a suitable crown to its intellectual advantages.
This State was admitted into the Union on the 11th day of May, 1858, and made the thirty-second State. It has an area of 83,531 square miles, equal to 53,459,840 acres. The population in 1870 amounted to 435,511. This State is entitled to three Members of Congress.
It lies in the eighth judicial circuit, which is composed of Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Arkansas and Minnesota. Minnesota forms one judicial district, and has no ports of entry or delivery.
St. Paul is the capital. The Legislature meets annually on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in January.
United States Senators
| Henry M. Rice, | from | 1857 | to | 1863. | |
| James Shields, | ″ | 1857 | ″ | 1859. | |
| Alex. Ramsey, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Daniel Norton, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Mort. S. Wilkinson, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1865. | |
| William Windom, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| S. J. R. McMillan, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Oregon
Was discovered by Spanish adventurers in the sixteenth century. In 1792 Capt. Grey, of Boston, discovered the Columbia river and entered it, securing the sovereignty of the country to the United States by right of first exploration. It was more thoroughly explored by Lewis and Clark, appointed for that purpose by the United States government, in 1804-5-6. The northern part, (now Washington Territory,) was claimed by Great Britain, and the conflicting claims produced long and dangerous diplomatic contention, which was finally peaceably ended in favor of the United States.
In 1811 a fur trading company established a fort and settlement at the mouth of the Columbia, which was taken possession of by the English in the latter part of 1813. The country was claimed by them until 1846, when the boundaries were settled by treaty; giving Oregon to the United States. Settlement from the States, however, commenced in 1839, and continued to increase until 1848, when a territorial government was organized. The excitement consequent on the discovery of gold in California drew off many of its citizens; but was, in part, counteracted by the extraordinary inducements made to actual settlers. A State constitution was adopted by the people Nov. 9th, 1857, but it was not admitted, by act of Congress, into the Union, until Feb. 14th, 1859, making the thirty-third State.
The surface of the country is divided by three ranges of mountains, the Cascade, Blue and Rocky mountains. The Cascade Range has the highest peaks found in the United States. The climate is mild near the coast, but more severe in higher eastern parts. The high eastern regions are volcanic, containing vast tracts of lava, entirely sterile; the middle is well adapted to grazing, in many parts. The valuable farming lands are in the western division, along the various tributary streams of the Columbia. Wheat is the great staple; rye, oats, and vegetables, are grown with success. Fruit is also produced in abundance. Its supply of coal and copper is said to be unlimited; and it is specially celebrated for its extensive forests of gigantic trees. Manufactures and commerce are, as yet, undeveloped; but will be important in the future. Little has been done in the way of internal improvement.
Oregon has experienced the disadvantage of growing up in the shade of her splendid neighbor, California, but has a solidly prosperous future before her.
It has an area of 95,274 square miles, equal to 60,975,360 acres. The population amounted in 1870 to 90,922, which did not reach the number required to entitle it to a Member of Congress according to the fixed ratio. But every State is entitled to one member, whatever its population may be. By act of 1866, the States of Oregon, Nevada and California were constituted the ninth judicial circuit. Oregon forms one judicial district, and has one collection district, and one port of entry.
The capital is Salem, where her Legislature meets once in two years, on the second Monday of September. The State election is held on the first Monday in June.
United States Senators
| Joseph Lane, | from | 1859 | to | 1861. | |
| Delazon Smith, | ″ | 1859 | ″ | 1860. | |
| Edward D. Baker, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1861. | |
| Benj. F. Harding, | ″ | 1862. | |||
| James W. Nesmith, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1867. | |
| Benjamin Stark, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1862. | |
| Geo. H. Williams, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Henry W. Corbett, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1873. | |
| James K. Kelly, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| John H. Mitchell, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. |
Kansas
1. Nearly every State in the American Union has some advantage that is peculiar to it, or that it shares in a degree so eminent as to distinguish it from all others. Kansas is not an exception, and some of these are exceedingly attractive. They enter, to some extent, into the painful and bloody history of its first settlement; the mighty tragedy of the Civil War having enacted its prelude on her fertile plains. The Kansas and Nebraska Bill, in 1854, repealed the Missouri Compromise, and this territory was opened to a trial of strength between Freedom and Slavery; the contest being transferred from the floors of Congress and the Representatives of the people to the settlers of the soil, who were to determine whether slavery should, or not, exist in it, as a State. The attraction of a decisive political struggle was added to the many favorable features of position, climate, and intrinsic value. Southern people sought to introduce their peculiar institution, and northern people resisted. There was much disorder and bloodshed. Every effort was made, by strategy and force, on the one side and the other. The southern party was signally defeated and there was henceforth no hope of preserving to the slave States a balance of power in the national government, and the civil war followed, almost as a natural consequence.
2. Kansas is larger by more than 3,000 square miles than the whole of New England. It lies very near the geographical centre of the country, and stretches a friendly hand, by the Pacific Railroads, to both the Atlantic and Pacific States. A good part of her soil is declared to be much superior to that of ordinary prairie land in richness, and to average four feet in depth. It is fairly watered and timbered, and freely produces everything, except the proper tropical products of the extreme south, that is grown in the United States. The climate is that of Virginia, without its excessive heat; which may, perhaps, be considered balanced by its occasional excessively sharp and cutting winds in winter. These, however, are tolerably rare, and the winters, for the most part, short and mild, the climate being, on the whole very healthy. Its deposits of salt are exceedingly rich, and other minerals abound in various parts. Its commercial position is excellent, and its manufacturing capabilities all that the future will be likely to require. Its resources, under suitable development, cannot be considered inferior to any other equal area in the country; which is speaking in the strongest language we can command, considering what may be said of so many different localities.
3. The eastern surface is a succession of waves, or undulations, the valleys generally extending north and south. A narrow section west of it, stretching across the State is more level and the soil lighter. Beyond this long reaches of level, fertile, and well watered lands are adapted to flocks and herds. These are much higher than the river beds, the valleys of which abound in bottoms, beautiful in appearance and situation, and of inexhaustible fertility. Vast beds of coal, a good quality and abundant quantity of iron ore, and petroleum and lead have been discovered. Corn and wheat are the leading staples, and it is believed that fruit culture will soon become a leading interest of this promising State.
Kansas was admitted into the Union as a State, Jan. 29, 1861, making the thirty-fourth State. Kansas has an area of 78,841 square miles, equal to 50,187,520 acres. The population in 1870 was 362,812, giving her three Representatives in Congress. This State is in the eighth judicial circuit, and forms one judicial district. It has no ports of entry or delivery.
Topeka is the capital. The State election is held on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November. The Legislature meets on the second Tuesday in January.
The enacting clause of the laws is as follows: “Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas.”
United States Senators
| James Henry Lane, | from | 1861 | to | 1866. | |
| Samuel C. Pomeroy, | ″ | 1861 | ″ | 1873. | |
| E. G. Ross, | ″ | 1866 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Alexander Caldwell, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| 3Robert Crozier, | ″ | 1877. | |||
| James M. Harvey, | ″ | —— | ″ | 1877. | |
| John J. Ingalls, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. |
West Virginia
This is the only State ever formed, under the Constitution, by the division of an organized State. The interests of West Virginia were always different from those of the eastern part; and when, at the commencement of the Civil War, the eastern part seceded, the western remained loyal and was erected into a separate State; thus realizing the ancient wish of its citizens.
The act of Congress organizing it as a State was passed December 31st, 1862, with condition that it should take effect 60 days after proclamation of its admission by the President of the United States. This proclamation was issued April 21st, 1863; and it was admitted to representation in Congress as a sovereign State June 20th thereafter. A temporary government without representation in Congress had been formed in May, 1862. It was the thirty-fifth State admitted into the Union.
It is varied in surface, from high mountain ranges, hilly and undulating midlands, to level and rich river bottoms; and is nearly all available either for cultivation or grazing; while its valuable deposits of coal lie very near the surface in nearly all parts of the State. Iron abounds, and timber of the best quality. Its manufacturing facilities are great; and its canals and railroads, with the Ohio river on its northwestern border, furnish the means of making it one of the richest States in the Union. The climate is healthy, and the scenery picturesque, and in places it rises to wild grandeur.
It has an area of 23,000 square miles, or 14,720,000 acres.
The population, in 1870 was 445,616. This State has now three Members of Congress. West Virginia was subsequently put into the fourth judicial circuit, and constitutes one judicial district. Parkersburg, also, was made a port of delivery.
Charleston is the capital. The State election is held on the fourth Thursday in October. The Legislature meets on the second Tuesday in January.
United States Senators
| Peter G. Van Winkle, | from | 1863 | to | 1869. | |
| Waitman T. Willey, | ″ | 1863 | ″ | 1871. | |
| Arthur J. Boreman, | ″ | 1868 | ″ | 1875. | |
| H. G. Davis, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Allen T. Caperon, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Nevada
“The Snowy Land” derives its name from the Sierra Nevada, or Snowy Range of mountains forming the eastern boundary of California. It lies in the western part of the basin of the Great Salt Lake and among those mountains, in whose rocky bosom was found the stimulus that has changed so much of the Pacific slope, and the Rocky Mountain region, from a wild and dismal waste to populous and thriving States.
Gold was found in moderate quantities among the mountains, and population began to scatter slowly over them about 1850, and soon settlers began to improve the valleys at the foot of the mountains on the east for agricultural purposes. Carson county was organized by the territorial government of Utah in 1854; but in June, 1859, rich deposits of silver were found; and emigration began to pour in rapidly. In March, 1861, the Territory of Nevada was organized, and the same month, three years later, it was admitted into the Union, making the thirty-sixth State.
The history of these States, so rich in precious metals, puts to the blush the fantastic fables of the Arabian Nights. The silver mines of Nevada are believed to be the richest in the world. The celebrated silver mines of Potosi, in South America, never produced over $10,000,000 a year, while in 1867, one mine in Nevada produced $17,500,000, and is thought to be almost, or quite, inexhaustible. The climate, like that of California, is healthy; the seasons are divided into wet and dry, and agriculture is dependent on irrigation. With time and pains its products will be considerable. It has much wild and sublime scenery, and some natural curiosities; as Lake Mono, with its waters so sharply acid as to destroy cloth and leather immersed in it. Its gloomy surroundings, and the great distance from the tops of the precipitous rocks surrounding its shores to the surface of the water lend an impressive and fearful character to its severe desolation. It lies below the reach of the winds, and no living thing can exist in its waters.
It has an area of 63,473 square miles, or 40,622,720 acres. The population in 1860, while yet a Territory, was 6,857. In 1870 it had increased to 42,491. In conformity with the Constitutional provision that every State shall have one Representative in Congress, Nevada has one. This State lies in the ninth judicial circuit, and forms one judicial district, called the district of Nevada.
Carson City is the capital. The State election is held on the first Tuesday in November; and the Legislature meets on the first Monday in January.
The enacting clause of the laws is in the following words: “The people of the State of Nevada, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows.”
United States Senators
| James W. Nye, | from | 1865 | to | 1873. | |
| William M. Stewart, | ″ | 1865 | ″ | 1875. | |
| John P. Jones, | ″ | 1873 | ″ | 1879. | |
| Wm. Sharon, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Nebraska
1. Formed a part of the Louisiana Purchase from the French government in 1803. It received a Territorial government in 1854, and was, by the provisions of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, equally with Kansas, exposed to the introduction of slavery; but the Southern people limited their efforts in that direction to Kansas, and Nebraska did not share in its disorder and bloodshed.
2. The greater portion of the country consists of a high, rolling prairie. The soil in the eastern part of the State is nearly the same as that of the adjoining portions of Iowa and Kansas. It is a rich loam, finely pulverized, and admirably adapted to cultivation. The second district, near the center of the State, is strictly pastoral. The third, or western section, has a fair soil, but is destitute of timber, and insufficiently supplied with water.
Throughout the fertile portion of the State, wheat, corn, oats, and other cereals, and vegetables and fruits yield largely. Vast herds of buffaloes formerly roamed over its prairies; but they are now mostly exterminated. The altitude of Nebraska secures to it a dry, pure, and salubrious atmosphere. Rain is not abundant, but, in the eastern part, is sufficient for the purposes of the agriculturist. Salt, limestone, and coal are found in various localities, and not improbably other minerals will be found in paying quantities. The State is too new to fully estimate all its resources and capabilities.
3. The educational advantages are good. The Common School System, modeled on that of Ohio, is well supplied with funds, embracing one-sixteenth of the public land, or 2,500,000 acres. 90,000 acres were given to endow a State Agricultural College, and 46,081 acres to the State University.
Its commercial facilities are supplied by the Missouri River, the Pacific and other railroads, and are amply sufficient to develop its resources. The future of the State has many elements of promise. No public debt impedes its growth, and within the last few years it has increased in wealth and population more rapidly than any of the adjoining States or Territories. An unknown, but certainly not limited, amount of wealth still lies locked up in its soil, and its relation to ocean commerce by the mighty Missouri, and to inter-State trade by lying in the great traveled route between the Atlantic and Pacific States, with a remarkably fine, healthy climate, and the ease with which its soil is worked, contribute to form a powerful attraction to labor and capital, and we have no reason to suspect any decrease in its rapid progress.
4. On its admission, in 1867, it was the thirty-seventh State. It has an area of 122,007 square miles, or 78,084,480 acres.
Population in 1870, 123,000. It forms the ninth judicial district, and has no ports of entry or delivery.
The capital is Lincoln. The State election is held on the second Tuesday in October. The Legislature meets on the Thursday after the first Monday in January.
United States Senators
| John M. Thayer, | from | 1867 | to | 1871. | |
| Thomas W. Tipton, | ″ | 1867 | ″ | 1875. | |
| Phineas W. Hitchcock, | ″ | 1871 | ″ | 1877. | |
| Algernon S. Paddock, | ″ | 1875 | ″ | 1881. |
Colorado
Was formed from parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Utah. Its Territorial government was organized by act of Congress, March 2nd, 1861. It is situated west of Kansas, on the great route from the Pacific to the Atlantic States, and on the dividing ridge, or backbone, of the continent. The rivers that find their head waters within the territory run southeast and south to the Gulf of Mexico, and southwest to the Gulf of California. The surface is nearly equally divided between a plain, gently descending from the abrupt mountain wall of rock constituting the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains, and the mighty mass of that chain, with its peaks, rising nearly three miles above the surface of the sea, now forming an elevated plateau, and again sending off spurs and lateral ranges containing beautiful valleys, or, in a more lavish and genial mood, taking a wide circuit inclosing an immense sunken plain containing hundreds of square miles of charming, well watered farming land called parks. Of these there are seven. It is a magnificent region, and contains all the elements of extreme mineral and agricultural wealth. It has mines of gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron. Coal abounds in all parts, oil flows from the wells with a little encouragement, and salt is easily obtained in some parts. An immense soda-fountain is found near Colorado City, called Fontaine qui Bouille (boiling fountain) and there are indications of cinnabar, platina, and precious stones.
The climate is fine, the general temperature like Southern Pennsylvania or Maryland; and, from the elevation, the air is very dry and pure. The plain rises by imperceptible degrees to 5,000 feet, (about one mile,) above the level of the sea, at the foot of the mountains. The numerous valleys, the parks, and much of the sloping plain, form as fine an agricultural region, with proper irrigation, as any State possesses, and much of the remainder furnishes excellent pasturage through the entire year. Occasionally heavy snow falls and for a few days extreme cold prevails, but these are exceptional years; and it does not lie long. Its effects can be guarded against with prudent care. Corn, wheat, and other small grains and vegetables reach their greatest perfection here.
It furnishes excellent manufacturing facilities along the unfailing mountain streams in the valleys, and will no doubt ultimately unite with Montana and Southwestern Dacotah to supply the immense central part of our domain with all the products of manufacturing genius and skill.
Denver the capital and principal city, is situated near the eastern base of the mountains, where these put on their severest and sublimest aspect. Clear lakes are set like stars, here and there, and the beautiful and grand in scenery are nowhere more striking, or more agreeably combined.
The Territory contains 106,475 square miles in area, and the population in 1870 numbered 29,706.
Several attempts have been made to obtain the admission of Colorado as a State into the American Union. An act to enable the people to form a constitution and State Government was passed by Congress, March, 1864. The constitution, framed under this act, was rejected by the people of the territory. Another constitution was framed and adopted in 1865, but a bill, passed by Congress for its admission, was vetoed by the President. Another attempt made in 1867 likewise failed by the President’s veto; since which time it quietly remained under its Territorial government, until March 3, 1875, when it was admitted by Act of Congress.
Chapter LXVII — Mottoes and Names of the States
United States—E Pluribus Unum, “Out of Many, One.”
Alabama—Has no motto. Name, from its principal river, means “Here we rest,” and denotes the satisfaction of the Indians with its agreeable landscape and climate.
Arkansas—Regnant populi—“The people rule.” Has the Indian name of its river. Is called the “Bear State.”
California—Eureka, her Greek motto, means “I have found it.” Derives her name from the bay forming the peninsula of lower California.
Colorado—Latin motto, Nil sine numine, means “Nothing can be done without divine aid.” Named from the river.
Connecticut—Qui transtulit Sustinet, “He who brought us over sustains us.” Name from her river, which means, in the Indian tongue, “The long river.” Is called the “Nutmeg State.”
Delaware—Motto, Liberty and Independence. Was named from Lord Delaware, an English statesman. Is called “The Blue Hen.”
Florida—Motto, “In God is our trust.” Name from the abundance of flowers when discovered, on Easter Sunday. In Spanish Florida means flowery.
Georgia—Motto, “Wisdom, justice and moderation.” Named from George II, King of England when it was settled.
Illinois—Motto, “State Sovereignty, National Union.” Name derived from an Indian tribe, also applied by them to Lake Michigan and her largest inland river. Means “We are the men.” Is called the “Sucker State.”
Indiana—Has no motto. Name suggested by its numerous Indian population. It is called the “Hoosier State.”
Iowa—Motto, “Our liberties we prize, our rights we will maintain.” Its Indian name means “This is the Land.” Is called the “Hawk Eye State.”
Kansas—Motto, Ad astra per aspera, “To the stars through difficulties.” Name means “Smoky water,” and is derived from one of her rivers.
Kentucky—Motto, “United we stand, divided we fall.” Bears the Indian name of one of her rivers. The Indians termed it the “dark and bloody ground.” It was the battle field of Northern and Southern Indians. Is called the “Blue Grass State.”
Louisiana—Motto, “Union and confidence.” Named from Louis XIV, King of France. It is called “The Creole State.”
Maine—Latin motto, Dirigo, “I direct;” indicative of sovereignty. Was named for a province of France. Is called “The Pine Tree State.”
Maryland—Latin motto, Crescite et multiplicamini, “Increase and multiply.” Name from the Queen of England, the wife of Charles I.
Massachusetts—Latin motto, Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem, “By the sword she seeks placid rest in liberty,” or “Conquers a peace.” The name was acquired from an Indian tribe and the bay on her coast. Is called the “Bay State” from her numerous bays.
Michigan—Latin motto, Tuebor, and, Si quæris peninsulam amœnam circumspice. “I will defend.” “If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you.” The name is derived from two Indian words meaning “Great Lake,” by them applied to Huron and Michigan lakes. Is called “The Wolverine State.”
Minnesota—French motto, L’Etoile du Nord, “The Star of the North.” The name, meaning whitish water, (foam of the falls,) is derived from the Indians.
Missouri—Latin motto, Salus populi suprema lex esto, “Let the welfare of the people be the supreme law.” Named from her great river. It means “Muddy water.”
Mississippi—Has no motto. It is named from the river, whose name signifies “The Father of Waters.”
Nebraska—Motto, “Equality before the law.” Its name is derived from one of its rivers, meaning “broad and shallow, or low.”
New Hampshire—Has no motto. It is named from a county in England. Familiar name is “The Old Granite State.”
New Jersey—Motto, “Liberty and Independence.” Named for the Island of Jersey on the coast of England.
New York—Latin motto, Excelsior, “Higher.” Named from the Duke of York. Is called “The Empire State.”
North Carolina—Has no motto. It was named for Charles IX, King of France. It is called “The old North,” or “The Turpentine State.”
Nevada—Latin motto, Volens et potens, “Willing and Able.” It was named from its mountains. Spanish name means “Snowy.”
Ohio—Latin motto, Imperium in imperio, “An empire in an empire.” It took its name from the river on its south boundary. It is familiarly called “The Buckeye State.”
Oregon—Latin motto, Alis volat propriis, “She flies with her own wings.” Name is derived from her principal river.
Pennsylvania—Motto, “Virtue, liberty and independence.” Named from Wm. Penn, “Penn’s woods.” Is called the “Keystone State.”
Rhode Island—Her motto is “Hope.” Named from the Island of Rhodes, in the Mediterranean Sea. Is familiarly called “Little Rhody.”
South Carolina—Latin motto, Animis opibusque parati, “Ready in will and deed.” Has the Latin name of Charles IX, of France (Carolus). Is known as the “Palmetto State.”
Tennessee—Motto, “Agriculture, Commerce.” Has the Indian name of one of her rivers. She is called “The Big Bend State.”
Texas—Has no motto. Has preserved its Mexican name. Is called “The Lone Star State.”
Vermont—Motto, “Freedom and Unity.” Has the French name of her mountains (Verd Mont, “Green Mountains”).
Virginia—Latin motto, Sic semper tyrannis, “So always with tyrants.” Was named from Elizabeth of England, the “Virgin” Queen. It is called “The Old Dominion.”
West Virginia—Latin motto, Montani semper liberi, “Mountaineers are always free.” Retained the former name, when divided from Virginia.
Wisconsin—Latin motto, Civilitas successit barbarum, “The civilized man succeeds the barbarous.” Has the Indian name of one of her rivers. It is called “The Badger State.”
Chapter LXVIII — The National Domain
1. When the War of Independence closed, and the people and government had leisure to look about them and estimate their situation, they found the organized States covering the coast from Nova Scotia to Florida, (then in possession of Spain.) There was no vacant territory near the ocean; but west of the States—which run back only a few hundred miles—was a vast region, peopled by a few tribes of Indians and, in Kentucky and Tennessee, by a few hundred whites. These with singular hardihood and self reliance, had not hesitated to brave a thousand perils to get possession of the charming valleys and fertile savannahs of the eastern part of the great Mississippi Valley. The settlements were made near the mountains that skirted the western boundaries of the original States. Beyond, to the Mississippi river, extended as beautiful and fertile a territory as any land could boast; many times larger than the original territory, whose people, poor and few as they were, had fought for and won it by persistent bravery. It lay in virgin beauty and wealth, the prize of their strong hands and courageous hearts. The future of the new government once determined, and the fundamental Law of the Land adopted, they prepared to take possession by organizing a government over those already there, surveying and laying off the unsettled lands, and bringing them into market for sale and settlement.
2. The States had owned all the property, and held all the real power, up to the adoption of the present Constitution. It was now agreed that the unsettled lands should be considered as the common property of the whole country, and be administered by the General Government. It was not without much difficulty, and many severe contests, that this point was so settled. There were two parties; one headed by Alexander Hamilton who wished a strong, consolidated central government; the other, afraid to confer on it too much power lest it should prove a tyrannical master, wished to preserve most of the substance of power in the State governments. They were led by Thomas Jefferson. The adoption of the Constitution was difficult, and the struggle over it perilous to the confederation. It embraced the main views of the first party. But for the personal influence of Washington, who had presided over the Convention that framed it, and had, as it were, been its father, it could not have received the approval of the majority of the people. The people allowed their fears to be overruled by their trust in his wisdom and prudence.
He alone it has been believed could have put its machinery in successful operation; and the admirable manner in which the statesmen, in Congress and the executive offices, infused the spirit of freedom and moderation into the administration, following in the lead of the revered “Father of his Country,” settled it in the confidence and affections of the people.
3. We have dwelt on this point because it is intimately related to the organization and government of the Territories, and to the provision made for the increase of States. It was important that they should be in harmony with the original ones, and there were no means of securing this and providing against the future growth of governments, differing from those of the original States, but by giving the central power a general control over them. The Constitution conferred it on Congress. Ohio, and all the territory north of the Ohio river, was obliged to wait till this point was settled, before it could be opened to the entrance of emigrants. This region was early erected into a separate government, by Congress, called the Northwest Territory. The region south of the river was treated in the same manner a little later. In 1800 the Mississippi Territory was organized; thus covering all the ground originally belonging to the New Republic. These were, as population increased, divided into sections, of convenient size for the purpose of local self government, and states created as fast as the requisite number of citizens had collected within such limits; and the remainder continued under the preliminary territorial rule.
4. In 1802, the vast region west of the Mississippi was bought of the French government. This extended the National Domain from the mouth to the head waters of this river, and westward, north of the Spanish possessions, to the Pacific ocean. Many new States and Territories have been formed from it. The process of multiplication has not yet ceased in this region. In 1819 Florida was purchased; a part of Mexico was obtained in 1848, and again in 1853; and the increase of territory continued by the acquisition of Alaska in 1867. This policy has become, in a manner, traditional, and it is not unlikely that it may be continued to some extent in the future.
5. The government of the territories is established by act of Congress; the President nominates and the Senate confirms the Governor, Secretary, and Judges of the courts; and Congress passes all the general laws for the government of the inhabitants. A Territorial Legislature is elected by the inhabitants, which takes charge of all the local interests of the Territory. All these laws and organizations are temporary, and pass away when a State government is founded. Commonly, an act of Congress authorizes the election of Delegates to a Convention for framing a State Constitution; though the Territorial Government sometimes takes the initiative. This constitution is then submitted to the popular vote of the citizens in the Territory; and if they favor it, presented to Congress for its approval. If it is in harmony with our usages, and republican principles, Congress accepts it, and, if the President does not see cause to veto it, a new State has come into existence. In this manner the number of the States has become nearly three times as numerous as at the beginning.
Chapter LXIX — The Individual Territories
The territories are here arranged in the order of seniority, the one which first received a territorial government taking the lead. The District of Columbia is older than any of them as acknowledged National property, the Louisiana Purchase having been made since it was ceded to the general Government; but it was the last to receive a territorial organization, Congress governing it directly without giving it representation until 1871. It is placed last for that reason.
New Mexico
Was visited at an early period by Spaniards, who, excited by the success of the followers of Cortez and Pizarro in discovering rich mines of gold and silver, sought the wealth in the dangers and hardships of travel which is more often, if more slowly, found as the reward of patient toil. An expedition from Florida made the formidable overland journey to New Mexico, in 1537; and another from Mexico, after visiting the Gila River, passed eastward beyond the Rio Grande in 1540. In 1581 its mineral wealth became known and a mission was attempted; but no settlement was made until 1600, when formal possession was taken by an adequate army. The missions now became very successful and the mines were worked. Many of the natives were considerably advanced in some of the arts of civilization. In 1680 the natives revolted, from the severe servitude to which they were subjected, and drove the Spaniards out of the country. They only recovered it in 1698. It was never very numerously peopled by whites. In 1846 it was conquered by General Kearney, and in 1848 ceded to the United States by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The difficulties of transportation and the wild and lawless character of the inhabitants has prevented any extensive emigration to it by Americans. It is an elevated table-land, nearly 7,000 feet above the surface of the sea, crossed by several ranges of mountains sometimes rising 10,000 feet above the general surface of the country. The atmosphere is dry; little rain falls; and agriculture is usually successful only with irrigation. In the valleys, where this is employed, the fertility of the soil is marvelous. Often two crops are raised, on the same land, in the year. Wheat and other grains are raised in great perfection. Cotton is successful in some parts, fruit can be raised in abundance, and the soil is said to be specially favorable to the grape, the wine rivaling that of France.
Gold and silver abound, but the mines have never been effectively worked for want of transportation and the requisite capital. Stock raising is a profitable occupation in this Territory. Much of the land unfit for cultivation produces grass which cures in drying during the hot months, and preserves all its nutritious qualities. Sheep and mules are extensively raised. When the Pacific railroad shall open the country to immigration, and order, industry, and capital make the most of its resources, it will be ranked among the favored parts of the Union.
It has many natural curiosities, and much wild and beautiful scenery. The length of the Rio Grande, in its windings in the Territory, is about 1200 miles; and its valley from one to twelve miles wide. Its Territorial government was organized in 1850. The population, in 1870, was 91,878. Many tribes of Indians roam over the territory and through Texas, Arizona, and northern Mexico. Most of the people are Roman Catholics. It includes an area of about 100,000 square miles. Every free white male inhabitant living in the territory at the time of its organization had the right of suffrage, that right being regulated in other respects by its legislative Assembly.
Utah
Was formerly a part of the Mexican territory of Upper California, and was acquired by the United States in 1848, by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was too distant, desolate, and dangerous a region for much settlement by Mexicans, and has little known history anterior to the explorations of Fremont between 1843 and 1846.
The first American settlement was made by the Mormons, in July, 1847, and was supposed by them to be out of the territory of the United States, and beyond the reach of possible interference. Here, in the depths of the desert, they determined to build up a peculiar religious society embracing customs abhorrent to the views and institutions of modern civilized States. Their success was a surprise to the world, and probably to themselves; the capacity of the depths of the Great American Desert, as it was called, for cultivation, exceeding all previous expectation. But the war with Mexico, then in progress, threw this, before inaccessible, desert into the limits of the American Union; and the discovery of gold in the neighboring territory of California, throwing them almost midway between the old western settlements and the new Eldorado, subjected them to contact with, and interference by, the tide of modern civilization, as it flowed toward the setting sun; and in ten years from their first appearance in the Great Central Basin of the continent, they came again into hostile conflict with the established authorities they thought to have finally escaped. Though their conflict with the United States government, imbued with the habits and prejudices with which they antagonized, was deferred by the troubles which precipitated the Civil War, and their institutions remained substantially intact until that was past; the Pacific Railroad was then built through their territory, and, if they are no longer persecuted, and their peculiarities opposed by deadly force, the moral influence and dissolving power introduced by numbers is more surely wasting away the foundations of their political and religious edifice.
Utah was organized as a territory by act of Congress Sept. 9th, 1850. Brigham Young, the head of the Mormon church, became the first governor. In 1854 it was vainly attempted to remove him; and in 1857 an army was sent to enforce Federal authority. A final conflict was avoided by compromise. In 1862 the Mormons attempted to get admission into the Union as a State, with their “peculiar institutions,” but failed. A Territorial Government exists, but has little force, or vitality, while the Mormons are large in numbers. According to the habits of our people, conflict is avoided so far as possible, to await the more peaceable and natural solution of the difficulty by moral forces.
Utah is unique in one respect; though lying nearly a mile above the surface of the sea, and having a complete system of lakes and rivers, there is no visible connection of these with the ocean. It is a continent embosomed within the depths of a continent. The Great Salt Lake is 100 miles long by 50 broad, and its waters are very salt—three parts of the water producing one of pure salt. No fish can live in it. It receives the contents of many considerable streams. Whether they are kept in subjection by evaporation alone, or have a concealed outlet to the ocean is unknown. The soil, though in its natural state an apparent desert, is extremely fertile when irrigated, and produces wheat and other cereals in great profusion. Its mountains are believed to be rich in silver and gold; but the Mormons have discouraged mining, and very little has been done in that direction.
Cotton is highly successful in the southern settlements, and experiments with flax and silk culture have been very favorable. The climate is mild and healthy.
Utah is a highly promising section of our national domain. Its population in 1870 was 86,786; its area about 87,500 square miles.
Washington Territory
Was organized in 1853, and then contained a much larger area. It was at first a part of Oregon, and its meagre early history was the same. The Straits of San Juan de Fuca were visited and named by a Spanish navigator in 1775. The English government claimed the territory north of the Columbia and for some years there was a joint occupation by both nations by special agreement. The difficulties concerning this boundary came near involving the two nations in war, but it was settled in 1846, giving the United States the territory to the 49th parallel of latitude. Vancouver Island was assigned to Great Britain.
Washington is estimated to contain, west of the Columbia river, where it flows down from British America, 22,000 square miles of arable land. There is much that is adapted only to grazing, and vast quantities covered with forests in the wild mountain regions of the eastern part of the territory.
It has an almost inexhaustible supply of coal, and more or less of the precious metals. The great distinction of Washington territory is its forests. The warm ocean currents from the Indian ocean, after traversing the eastern coasts of Asia, are thrown across the North Pacific against the western shores of North America, and effect an important modification in the severity and humidity of the temperature of our Pacific slope. The climate is much milder and more equable than in the same latitude east of the mountains, and the moisture is highly favorable to forest growth. It is the best ship building timber in the world. The trees are immense, often reaching a height of 300 feet with a diameter of 8 to 12 feet.
The portion of Washington territory lying west of the Cascade mountains is rich farming land, heavily timbered; while east of the Cascades the country is open prairie, well watered, with small and thinly wooded valleys. The land immediately about Puget Sound is sandy, not valuable for farming though producing timber, but a little way back is unrivaled in richness.
Corn does not thrive well, but wheat, oats, potatoes, &c., are very prolific. Large quantities of butter, cheese, and wool are produced. There is little snow in the winter and that soon melts away, except far up in the mountains. Washington shares with Oregon the possession and use of the Columbia river. There are fine fisheries on the coast and excellent oysters, and these produce a considerable trade. Immense quantities of lumber are exported to all parts of the Pacific coast of both North and South America, and even to Buenos Ayres on the South Atlantic. The French come here for their best and cheapest masts and spars. Thus we see that this corner of the Republic brings to the common stock of national treasures some of its best and most valuable material of wealth, and is prepared to whiten the Pacific with the sails of the unlimited commerce which is already beginning to grow up between us and the Asiatics. Puget Sound can float with ease the navies of the world on its peaceful bosom. The Northern Pacific railroad will originate here, probably, another great commercial emporium. Washington will, in due time, become a great and wealthy State.
Its area is about 70,000 square miles; and the population in 1870 was 23,901.
Dacotah
This territory received an organization and government in 1861. It contains 240,000 square miles; and is greater in extent than all New England together with the great and wealthy States of New York and Pennsylvania; and possesses some peculiar advantages.
The Missouri River passes from southeast to northwest diagonally through it, navigable for its whole length, a distance of more than a thousand miles; the Red River of the North skirts its eastern line, its valley being unrivalled for its richness, and adaptation to the growth of wheat. Except the extreme northern part it is said to have the dry, pure, and healthy climate of Southern Minnesota, with the soil of Central Illinois.
It is free from the damp, raw, and chilly weather prevailing in Iowa and Illinois, and from the embarrassments to agriculture often experienced in these States from excessive spring rains; while, in late spring and early summer, copious showers supply sufficient moisture to promote a rapid vegetable growth. The surface east and north of the Missouri is an undulating prairie, free from marsh, swamp, and slough, traversed by many streams and dotted with innumerable lakes, of various sizes, whose woody and rocky shores and gravel bottoms supply the purest water, and lend the enchantment of extreme beauty to the landscape.
It has all the conditions of climate, soil, and transportation, for the most profitable production of the two great staples of American agriculture, wheat and corn. West of the Missouri the country becomes more rolling, then broken and hilly, until the lofty chain of the Rocky Mountains is reached. These mountains cross the southwestern section. A most desirable stock raising region is furnished here, and mining will flourish in the mountains. In 1870 it had a population of 14,181. Yankton is the capital.
Arizona
The Spaniards visited the valley of the Colorado at an early day; but the distance from Mexico, and the warlike character of the Indians, did not favor settlement beyond what was gathered about the few missions that were constructed so as to answer for fortresses.
The part of this territory lying between Sonora, (of which it formed part,) and California was acquired to the United States by the Gadsden treaty, made with Mexico Dec. 30th, 1853. The American government paid $10,000,000 for it. A Territorial government was organized Feb. 24th, 1863, and embraced part of New Mexico, containing, altogether, an area of 121,000 square miles, or 77,440,000 acres.
Efforts had been made previously to settle the country and develop its mines; and an overland mail stage route was established. This proved a success; but the fierce hostility of the Apache Indians, and the desperate character of such whites as had gathered there, fleeing from justice in California and Sonora, discouraged the immigration of law-abiding citizens; and the breaking out of the Civil War withdrew the soldiers in garrison there for the protection of the country. After the war the main stream of emigration followed the line of the newly opened Pacific railroad. The development of the mines required capital and machinery and, though they are thought to be the richest in the world, nothing could be extracted from them by individuals without means. So the population has increased slowly, the census of 1870 giving 9,658.
It is a strange and somewhat fearful land; in great part a region of desolate mountains and deep canons. There are many sections susceptible of cultivation that would produce immense returns under irrigation, but most of the efforts in this direction have miscarried from the desolating ravages of the Indians. The rainless season reduces the whole country to the semblance of a desert. It is, however, declared to have more arable land in proportion to its surface than New Mexico, or California; and will probably, in time, have a large and prosperous farming community. Cotton is easily cultivated, and sugar cane, in the lower parts, produces abundantly. Grains, vegetables, and melons are produced in the greatest possible perfection, and mature in an incredibly short space of time.
When the Apaches are subdued, and society is reduced to order, it will become a favorite resort of the thrifty farmers of the older States, and the diligent German and other foreign immigrants.
It contains many traces of a race that has disappeared; some of their dwellings yet remaining in a partially ruinous state. They were probably Aztecs, the race that ruled Mexico before the conquest by Cortez, or are more ancient still. Hideous idols are found, and various indications of a barbarous worship.
The completion of the Southern Pacific railway will introduce the hum of industry among its desolate mountains and along its numerous fertile valleys, and the acquisition of the mouth of the Colorado, a large river opening into the head of the Gulf of California, will give it a profitable commerce. Arizona lies south of Utah, to which it is superior in the number and size of its streams, its larger quantity of timber, and the amount of rain-fall in some parts, which is deemed, in some sections, sufficient to dispense with the necessity of irrigation.
Idaho
This territory was organized March 3rd, 1863. It originally embraced a vast territory lying on both sides of the main chain of the Rocky Mountains; but the eastern portion has since been erected into the territory of Montana. It has about 90,000 square miles of territory, and had, in 1870, 14,998 inhabitants.
Idaho has very little history prior to the organization of its Territorial government. Its chief attraction to settlers lies in its mines, as yet, and the population is floating, and, in large part, rough and sometimes disorderly. The difficulty of reaching it has prevented its rapid growth. It is exceedingly rich in the precious metals and this will, in time, attract a large population. The eastern and northern parts are very mountainous, abounding in wild and striking scenery and in natural curiosities. The soil in the southern, central, and western parts, is fertile, producing wheat and other small grain, and vegetables very successfully, but is unfavorable for corn from the late frosts of spring and the early cold of autumn. Snow falls to a great depth in the mountains; but the streams are numerous, and there is much choice farming land, which may, ultimately, serve to support its mining population.
It runs from the northern boundary of Utah to the south line of British America; Washington Territory and Oregon, lying west. When railroads shall render it accessible, and open the way for its treasures to a market, it will be filled with an industrious and hardy population who will find all the elements of a prosperity as great as any section of the Union enjoys. It has three beautiful lakes—the Coeur d’Aline, the Pen d’Oreille, and the Boatman—of some size, and navigable for steamers. Boisé City is the capital.
Montana Territory
Was organized May 26th, 1864. It lies among the Rocky Mountains, in part on the western slope, but extending into the eastern valleys; and contains the sources of the streams forming the Missouri river; while Idaho lies west among the Blue mountains where the tributaries of the Columbia rise.
Montana abounds in mines of gold and silver; and these are said to be much richer than those of California. The average yield of ores in the latter State is $20 per ton, but the average in Montana is stated to be four times that amount. Great as is the yield of gold mines here it is declared that the ease with which silver is separated from its combinations in the ore will make that branch of mining more profitable. Copper also abounds. This territory has several eminent advantages over other mining districts. It is reached by steamboats on the Missouri river, from St. Louis, without transhipment: navigation being free to Ft. Benton, in the heart of Montana. The river voyage from St. Louis to Ft. Benton, is made in 28 days.
There is a large and constant supply of water, a point of great difficulty in most of the other mining regions; and the country everywhere furnishes easy natural roads, the principal range of the Rocky Mountains not presenting the broken and rugged character of most other ranges. Associated with this point is the important fact of great agricultural capability. It is one of the best grazing regions west of the Mississippi. Small grain and fruit are grown with the greatest ease, as also the more important vegetables. There is abundance of timber for all purposes of home consumption.
The area is stated at 153,800 square miles. The population in 1870 was 20,594.
Alaska Territory
Was acquired to the United States by treaty with Russia in the year 1867, for $7,200,000. It is a vast region containing 394,000 square miles, with 24,000 inhabitants.
It was first explored by command of Peter the Great of Russia in 1728. A government was first established on Kodiak island in 1790. In 1799 the Russian American fur company was chartered by the Emperor Paul.
The northern portion is a tolerably compact body of mainly level country about 600 miles square, and a line of coast runs south for a long distance, including many islands. The Aleutian group of islands is included. The principal value of the region to Russia was the fur trade. The annual export of these amounted to only a few hundred thousand dollars. American thrift will probably make much more of it.
The country is much warmer than its high latitude would seem to imply—Sitka in the southern part having about the same mean temperature, by the thermometer, as Washington! It is, however, extremely damp. In one year there were counted only 66 entire days without rain or snow. The coast is broken with mountains. The peninsula of Alaska has some very high mountains—Mt. St. Elias and Mt. Fairweather being estimated at 15,000 to 18,000 feet above the sea. The islands of the Aleutian group are volcanic in origin. There are several rivers, the largest, the Yukon, or Kwickpak being 2,000 miles long, and navigable for 1,500 miles. There are vast supplies of timber, much being pine, found nowhere else on the Pacific coast. Vegetables, and some grains, may be raised without difficulty, and the soil, in parts, is rich. Abundant supplies of coal are believed to exist. The precious metals and iron, it is thought, are to be found there, but the country has been very imperfectly explored.
In the lively and extensive trade that is likely to grow up with Japan, China, and the East Indies, it will no doubt be found of great value, and its resources contribute to the wealth of our country.
Wyoming Territory
Was organized by act of Congress July 25th, 1868, and is the youngest of the territories. Its area is stated at 100,500 square miles, and it had a population, in 1870, of 9,118.
The Pacific railroad passes through it, to which its settlement is probably mainly due. Montana lies on the north; Dacotah and Nebraska on the east; Colorado and Utah on the south, with the northern part of Utah and Idaho on the west.
The main chain of the Rocky Mountains crosses it from northwest to southeast which maintain here the same general characteristic as in Montana, viz.: that of a rolling upland. Its outlying ranges are more broken. Most of the country is good arable, or grazing land, sufficiently fertile to give excellent returns for labor, though, in large part, requiring irrigation. A few regions are remarkably sterile, but they are limited in comparison with the fertile lands.
Gold mining has been successful, to a considerable extent; coal is extremely abundant and accessible; the supplies for the Pacific railroad being obtained in this territory. Iron has been found in considerable quantities, together with lead and copper ores. Oil and salt springs promise to be productive.
Thus without, as yet, developing any eminent specialty, the resources of this Territory seem to promise all the requisites of prosperity to a large population; while the climate is mild and extremely healthy, and the great thoroughfare between the east and the west furnishes all necessary facilities for transporting its supplies to the best markets. More intimate knowledge of its mineral deposits may perhaps give it a higher rank as a mining State.
The District of Columbia
The first Congress convened under the new Constitution in 1789, held its session in New York. The seat of government was then removed to Philadelphia. There was much dissension as to where it should be permanently located. The North and the South, were each equally obstinate in their desire to locate it in their own section, and the quarrel threatened a rupture of the confederacy. The great political question of the time was the debts of the States contracted in carrying on the War of Independence. The South, disliking a strong central-government, opposed giving the charge of the finances of the country into its hands; while the North, strongly approved the plan of clothing it with authority to concentrate the strength of the nation to a reasonable extent, so that it might be able to act with vigor, and make the country formidable to its enemies. The reservation of as much power as possible to the individual States was a vital question with the South, since it wished to maintain Slavery, and it was always foreseen that the north must preponderate, ultimately, in the general government; and the north was unfriendly to slavery. The Constitution could make its way in the South only by compromise as to slavery.
The question was a very difficult and delicate one to adjust, but with much tact Jefferson and Hamilton, usually antagonists in politics, united to urge a compromise; the North conceding the location of the national capital, and the South the assumption, by the general government, of the State debts. This was accomplished in 1790, and Washington selected the site on his own Potomac, Virginia and Maryland uniting to give a tract ten miles square, extending to both sides of the river. A new city was laid out, and buildings erected which were occupied for the first time in 1800. This small territory, the government and control of which was lodged wholly in Congress, was called “Columbia.” This possession of its own capital was considered important in order to avoid a possible conflict of Federal and State authority.
The capital city was located on the Maryland side, and called Washington. The territory on the Virginia side was, in 1846, re-ceded to Virginia. On Feb. 21st, 1871, the District was made a territory, with a legislature for its internal government, and the right to be represented by one member in the House of Representatives.
The population in 1870 was 131,706. Washington is adorned with many immense buildings erected for the various departments of the government, and the capitol itself is one of the largest in the world, and cost $5,000,000. It is worthy of the great nation represented in its halls.
Chapter LXX — The Annexation Policy
1. The original States of the American Union were all on the Atlantic seaboard. The central States were separated from the fertile valleys and plains of the Mississippi and its tributaries by mountains, while those lying at the northern and southern extreme found, in the vast forests filled with fierce and hostile savages, a still greater barrier against settlement westward. The “Old Thirteen” found their hands and thoughts sufficiently occupied with the establishment of their liberties, and the ultimate western boundaries of the country were left to be settled in future years. Fortunately for us England was too much occupied with the immense debt the useless American war had cost her to make difficulties over the cession of the western regions to us; and, at the peace, we were in possession of the whole region from the Atlantic ocean to the Mississippi river. That was enough and more for the present; but the people were enterprising. We offered a home, freedom, and great opportunities to the oppressed and poor of other lands, and that region was soon sufficiently peopled to show what other regions were required to secure the prosperity of all.
2. It soon became clear that the development of the Western States east of the Mississippi required the possession of the lower part of the river and the territory on its western bank. Circumstances were favorable to its acquisition, and Louisiana, extending from the mouth of the river far up toward its head waters, including several hundred thousand square miles of as valuable land as was to be found on the continent, was purchased. It entered into the vindictive policy of Napoleon Bonaparte to injure England by strengthening America, and it was obtained for the comparatively insignificant sum of fifteen million dollars. This annexation was altogether essential to the security and development of the larger part of the original territory.
3. Florida was discovered and settled by the Spaniards, who claimed the coast along the Gulf of Mexico to the Mississippi river. Though it was not commercially or agriculturally important to us, it became in the hands of a power not very friendly, the support and refuge of the barbarous and resolutely hostile Indians of our southern border. It was necessary to nearly exterminate them to obtain peace, but no absolute security could be assured while the Spanish territory protected them in their retreat before our armies. Peace, security against the Indians, and freedom from the intermeddling of a European Power required the acquisition of that peninsula and the Gulf Coast. After twenty years of occasional negotiation it was purchased for five millions of dollars. This was the most convenient way, also, of settling an account for spoliations on our commerce which we held against Spain, and the only means she then possessed of making payment. Thus another annexation was made under the pressure of circumstances.
4. By this time a sufficient degree of expansion and strength had been acquired by the New Nation to inspire in it great confidence in itself and grand views of its future, and the “Monroe Doctrine,” that the United States would refrain from all meddling with the politics of Europe, but would resolutely oppose the meddling of any European power with the politics of this continent, was adopted. This doctrine did not propose any interference with other governments already established here, but America was to be left to its present possessors, and European ambition was to look elsewhere for kingdoms to conquer or found. A tacit protectorate over all America was assumed, in order to prevent the entrance of any other element that might build up a system hostile to our interests and progress. It was a legitimate conclusion from the principles and necessities that had led to the inauguration of the annexation policy. The nation claimed that it had a right to keep the ground clear from obstacles to its natural development. It was a system of growth and protection involving no ideas of conquest by force, and no menace to governments already established.
5. The third addition to our territorial area took place under circumstances which all true Americans will ever regret. If stated by our enemies it would be said that, after encouraging the settlement of the territory of a neighbor by our own citizens, and giving them covert support in withdrawing that territory from its proper owners, we took possession of it, and when they naturally undertook to protect, or recover it, we made a war of invasion on them, employed our superior skill and vigor to disarm their State, and took as much more of their territory as suited our purposes; in short, that we picked a quarrel, and being the strongest bound and robbed them.
6. It cannot be agreeable to lovers of justice and defenders of equal rights, that there should be so much of truth in this statement as to render it impossible to clearly and distinctly prove the contrary. There was, however, an element of the necessary and unavoidable, even in this, that was more in harmony with the previous system of acquisition than appeared on the surface. Texas presented, perhaps, the finest climate and the greatest facilities for money-making on the continent. The Mexicans inherited the religion and hatred of protestants with the haughty, repelling spirit of the Spaniards, and wished to preserve the old Spanish policy of separating themselves from us by a broad barrier of desert and wilderness. They did not wish to settle Texas themselves, nor feel willing that any one else should. It is inevitable that enterprise and strength, impelled by self-interest, will disregard such wishes. Americans are neither perfect nor magnanimous enough to stand on ceremony when their interests are concerned. The best that can be said of them is that they are more moderate and self-contained than any other people. The necessities of the institution of slavery required more territory to balance the rapid increase of free States, and this precipitated the movement that was inevitable sooner or later from other causes. Indeed the first patent of territory obtained in Texas, from the Mexican government, was by a native of Connecticut. The rapid growth of commerce in the Pacific ocean, the agreeable climate and fertile soil of California, and the unsettled, wilderness state of that region, caused the commercial nations of Europe to look at it with longing eyes. The Monroe doctrine was in danger of being violated. England had fully prepared to plant a colony there when it was taken possession of by the American forces.
7. Thus the enterprise and energy of the nation, which had still further developed its instinct, or anticipations and plans, of future greatness, required to use the vast resources of the Gulf region, and to extend settlements to the Pacific Slope in order to develop the mineral resources of that region and prepare to build up its commerce with Eastern Asia. The northern parts of Mexico were useless to her, since she had neither population to occupy them, nor strength to subdue the Indians who roamed over them in scattered bands. There is a justice and propriety which has the force of Natural Law in allowing the active and vigorous to take possession of the natural resources that others can not or will not develop. The earth was made for mankind as a whole, and what cannot benefit one race, another, that is able to employ it for its own and the general good, has some show of right in entering upon. That, at least, must be the justification of our ancestors in intruding themselves upon the lands and hunting grounds of the aboriginal inhabitants of America, and our only excuse for making war with the Indians, forcing them to part with their lands, confining them to reservations, and denying to King Philip, Powhattan, and Tecumseh the admiration and esteem we give to the patriotic defenders of our native land and natural rights.
8. It is to be regretted that the vast and valuable territory acquired from Mexico should be the spoil of conquest rather than the fruit of peaceful negotiation; but the eagerness of the speculator, the unreasonable pride and selfishness of the Mexican, and the peculiar requirements of our internal conflict over slavery put to silence, for a time, the voice of moderation and equity, and we annexed near 1,000,000 square miles of territory by force. The payment of $18,500,000, when we might have taken it without, was an indication that our ordinary sense of justice was not altogether quenched.
9. We may reasonably consider that this was exceptional, and that the confusion of judgment and the disorder consequent on the life and death struggle of the institution of slavery, which were in a few years to produce the most terrible civil war known to history, led us into the comparatively moderate aggression and violence that marked this annexation to our territorial area. Our traditional policy is to acquire peaceably, and with a satisfactory remuneration, such territory as the national progress and development demand. It is contrary to the spirit of our institutions to oblige the majority of the inhabitants of any region not within our boundaries to form a part of the Republic.
10. Two annexations have been made since the Mexican war. Arizona was obtained by treaty and purchase from Mexico, in 1854, and Alaska by treaty and purchase from Russia, in 1867. The first is valuable for its mineral treasures. It was useless to Mexico, though we gave $10,000,000 for it. It will ultimately be worth to us hundreds of millions, and its ruins of an ancient people will be replaced by a thriving population of intelligent freemen. Alaska is specially valuable in relation to our future commerce with Asia, and for its fisheries and fur trade. Its internal resources are, as yet, scarcely known.
11. The superior stability of American institutions and the love of law and order of the American people may make annexation desirable and profitable to the more volatile and unsteady Southern States of America, but it is probable that no labored efforts to induce annexation will be tolerated by the mass of the people. We may fairly judge that we have reached our natural boundaries; that the advancement of neighboring governments in order and intelligence will suffice to give protection to the comparatively small numbers who may find a better field for their energies without than within the Union; and that if any future annexations are made it will be by the purchase of uninhabited regions that may be more valuable to us than to their owners; or that, if any inhabited regions are incorporated into the Union, it will be at the instance and desire of its own inhabitants rather than of our people. We are the special champions of popular and all other rights, and shall never be likely to forget ourselves again so far as to repeat the Mexican war, however pressing our desires.
Chapter LXXI — Census Statistics
Population of the United States and Territories From 1790 to 1870
| States. | Where Settled. | 1790 | 1800 | 1810 | 1820 | 1830 | 1840 | 1850 | 1860 | 1870 | Slaves in 1790 | Slaves in 1860 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alabama | Mobile | —— | —— | —— | 127901 | 309527 | 590756 | 771623 | 964201 | 996988 | —— | 435132 |
| Arkansas | Arkansas Post | —— | —— | —— | 14255 | 30388 | 97574 | 209897 | 435450 | 483179 | —— | 111104 |
| California | Monterey | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 92597 | 379994 | 560285 | —— | —— |
| Connecticut | Windsor | 238141 | 251202 | 262042 | 275102 | 297675 | 309978 | 370792 | 460147 | 537418 | 2759 | —— |
| Delaware | Cape Henlopen | 59096 | 64273 | 72674 | 72749 | 76748 | 78085 | 91532 | 112215 | 125015 | 8887 | 1798 |
| Florida | St. Augustine | —— | —— | —— | —— | 34730 | 54477 | 87445 | 140425 | 187756 | —— | 61753 |
| Georgia | Savannah | 82548 | 162101 | 252433 | 340983 | 516823 | 691392 | 906185 | 1057286 | 1200609 | 29264 | 462232 |
| Illinois | Kaskaskia | —— | —— | 12282 | 55102 | 157445 | 476183 | 851470 | 1711951 | 2539638 | —— | —— |
| Indiana | Vincennes | —— | 4875 | 24520 | 147178 | 343031 | 685866 | 988416 | 1350428 | 1673046 | —— | —— |
| Iowa | Dubuque | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 43112 | 192214 | 674913 | 1191802 | —— | —— |
| Kansas | Fort Leavenworth | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 107206 | 362872 | —— | —— |
| Kentucky | Boonesboro | 73077 | 220955 | 406511 | 564135 | 687917 | 779828 | 982405 | 1155684 | 1321001 | 11830 | 225490 |
| Louisiana | Iberville | —— | —— | 76556 | 152923 | 215739 | 352411 | 517762 | 708002 | XXXX731 | —— | 333010 |
| Maine | York | 96540 | 151719 | 228705 | 98269 | 399455 | 501793 | 583169 | 628279 | XXXX463 | —— | —— |
| Maryland | St. Marys | 319728 | 341584 | 380546 | 407350 | 447040 | 470019 | 583034 | 687049 | XXXX806 | 103036 | 87188 |
| Massachusetts | Plymouth | 378718 | 423245 | 472040 | 523159 | 610408 | 737699 | 994514 | 1231066 | 1XXXX351 | —— | —— |
| Michigan | Detroit | —— | —— | 4762 | 8765 | 31639 | 212267 | 397654 | 749113 | 1184296 | —— | —— |
| Minnesota | Fort Snelling | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 6077 | 172173 | 435511 | —— | —— |
| Mississippi | Natchez | —— | 8850 | 40352 | 75448 | 136621 | 375651 | 606526 | 791305 | 834170 | —— | 436696 |
| Missouri | St. Genevieve | —— | —— | 20845 | 66577 | 140455 | 383702 | 682044 | 1182012 | 1715000 | —— | 114965 |
| Nebraska | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 28841 | 123000 | —— | —— |
| Nevada | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 6857 | 42491 | —— | —— |
| New Hampshire | Dover | 141899 | 183762 | 214360 | 244022 | 269328 | 284574 | 317976 | 326073 | 318300 | 158 | —— |
| New Jersey | Bergen | 184139 | 211949 | 245555 | 277426 | 320823 | 373306 | 489555 | 672035 | 905794 | 11423 | —— |
| New York | Albany | 340120 | 586756 | 959049 | 1372111 | 1918608 | 2428921 | 3097394 | 3880735 | 4364411 | 21324 | —— |
| North Carolina | Roanoke River | 393751 | 478103 | 555500 | 638829 | 737987 | 753419 | 869039 | 992622 | 1069614 | 100572 | 331081 |
| Ohio | Marietta | —— | 45365 | 230760 | 581295 | 937903 | 1519467 | 1980329 | 2339511 | 2662214 | —— | —— |
| Oregon | Astoria | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 13294 | 52465 | 90922 | —— | —— |
| Pennsylvania | Delaware Co. | 434373 | 602361 | 810091 | 1047507 | 1348233 | 1724033 | 2311786 | 2906115 | 3515993 | 3787 | —— |
| Rhode Island | Providence | 69110 | 69122 | 77031 | 83015 | 97199 | 108830 | 147545 | 174620 | 217356 | 952 | —— |
| South Carolina | Port Royal | 249073 | 245591 | 415115 | 402741 | 581185 | 594398 | 668507 | 703708 | 728000 | 107194 | 402541 |
| Tennessee | Fort Loudon | 35791 | 105602 | 261727 | 422761 | 681904 | 829210 | 1002717 | 1109801 | 1257983 | 3417 | 275784 |
| Texas | Matagorda | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 212592 | 604215 | 797500 | —— | 180682 |
| Vermont | Brattleboro | 85416 | 154465 | 217713 | 235749 | 280652 | 291948 | 314120 | 315098 | 330552 | —— | —— |
| Virginia | Jamestown | 748308 | 880200 | 974622 | 1065129 | 1211405 | 1239797 | 1421661 | 1246690 | 1224830 | }293427{ | 472516 |
| West Virginia | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 349628 | 445616 | 18371 | |
| Wisconsin | Pr. du Chien | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 30945 | 305391 | 775881 | 1055167 | —— | —— |
| Territories. | ||||||||||||
| Arizona | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 9,658 | —— | —— |
| Colorado | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 36,538 | 39,706 | —— | —— |
| Dakota | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 2,576 | 14,181 | —— | —— |
| Idaho | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 14,998 | —— | —— |
| Montana | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 20,594 | —— | —— |
| New Mexico | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 61,547 | 83,009 | 91,852 | —— | —— |
| Utah | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 11,380 | 40,699 | 86,786 | —— | —— |
| Washington | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 11,168 | 23,901 | —— | —— |
| Wyoming | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | —— | 9,118 | —— | —— |
| Dist. of Columbia | —— | —— | 14,093 | 24,023 | 33,039 | 39,834 | 43,712 | 51,687 | 75,080 | 131,706 | —— | —— |
| Total population in | 1790 | 3,929,827 |
| ″ | 1800 | 5,305,937 |
| ″ | 1810 | 7,239,814 |
| ″ | 1820 | 9,638,131 |
| ″ | 1830 | 12,866,020 |
| ″ | 1840 | 17,069,453 |
| ″ | 1850 | 23,191,876 |
| ″ | 1860 | 31,747,514 |
| ″ | 1870 | 38,538,180 |
| To which add Indians and others in Indian territory, not included in Census | 304,192 | |
| Grand total in 1870 | 38,842,372 | |
Note.—Returns of the colored population of the United States received at the Census Office show a total in all the States and Territories of 4,857,000, being an increase of 9.35-100 per cent. since 1860. The State of Georgia has the largest colored population; Virginia, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina, North Carolina and Louisiana follow next in order.
As shown in the last census (1870), the seven leading States rank, according to population, as follows: (1) New York; (2) Pennsylvania; (3) Ohio; (4) Illinois; (5) Missouri; (6) Indiana; (7) Massachusetts. Thus four out of the seven most populous States are “new States;” that is, they were not included in the original “thirteen.” In 1789, the four States at the head of the list were: (1) Virginia; (2) Pennsylvania; (3) North Carolina; (4) Massachusetts. At present, Virginia (if the State had not been divided) would have ranked in the seventh place, or next after Indiana. In absolute increase of inhabitants, Pennsylvania heads the list of the old States in the last decade: and the total population of said State is about equal to that of the thirteen States of Connecticut, Arkansas, West Virginia, Minnesota, Kansas, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Florida, Delaware, Nebraska, Oregon and Nevada. The aggregate population of the six New England States of Massachusetts, Maine, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Rhode Island falls considerably short of that of Pennsylvania. The States west of the Mississippi, including the Pacific States, have about one-sixth of the whole population of the United States.
The ratio of increase in population from 1790 to 1800 was 35.02 per cent.; from 1800 to 1810, 36.45 per cent.; from 1810 to 1820, 33.13 per cent.; from 1820 to 1830, 33.49 per cent.; from 1830 to 1840, 32.67 per cent.; from 1840 to 1850, 38.57 per cent.; from 1850 to 1860, 37.75 per cent.; from 1860 to 1870, 22.34 per cent. Supposing the increase during this decade (since 1870) to be 30 per cent. there would be in 1875 nearly 45,000,000 inhabitants. We have reason to suppose it to be at least 35 per cent. This, in 1880, would give 52,437,192.
Notes
2 Elected Vice President, and when inaugurated Mr. Boutwell was elected to fill out the unexpired term.
3 Appointed by Governor to fill vacancy.