A Brief History of the United States

by Joel Dorman Steele

REFERENCES FOR READING.

Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution.—Spencer's History of
the United States—Garden's Anecdotes of the Revolution.—Grace
Greenwood's Forest Tragedy.—Campbell's Gertrude of Wyoming (Poem).
—Halleck's Wyoming (Poem).—Simms's Life of Marion; also his
Series of Historical Tales.—Bryant's Song of Marion's Men and
Seventy-Six (Poems).—Magoon's Orators of American Revolution.
—Headley's Washington and his Generals.—Wirt's Life of Patrick
Henry.—G. W. Greene's Historical View of American Revolution and
Life of General Greene.—Parton's Life of Benjamin
Franklin—Longfellow's Paul Revere's Ride and Pulaski's
Banner (Poems).—Headley's Life of La Fayette—Hawthorne's
Ticonderoga (Twice Told Tales)—Mrs Ellet's Women of the American
Revolution—Watson's Camp Fires of the Revolution—Raymonds Women
of the South—Sabine's Loyalists of the American Revolution—Lee's
War in the Southern Department—Drake's American Flag
(Poem)—Streets Concord, Bennington, and American Independence
(Poems)—Dwight's Columbia (Poem)—Washington's Farewell
Address—The Declaration of Independence (see Appendix)—Sears's
History of the American Revolution—Freneau's Poems—Life of
General Joseph Reed, by Wm. B. Reed—Cooper's novels (The Spy, The
Pilot and Lionel Lincoln)—Motley's Horton's Hope and Paulding's
Old Continental (novel)—Winthrop Sargent's Life of Andre and
Loyalist Poetry of the Revolution—Moore's Songs and Ballads and
Diary of the Revolution—Whittier's Rangers (Poem)—Hawthorne's
Septimius Felton (Fiction)—Winthrop's Edwin Brothertoft
(fiction)—Barnes's Brief History of France—Barnes's Popular
History of United States—Harper's Magazine, vol 50, p 777, Art The
Concord Fight, vol 51, p 230, Art, Echoes of Bunker Hill vol 53 p
1, Art, Virginia in the Revolution vol 55, 511 Art, Battle of
Benmngton—Atlantic Monthly, vol 37, p. 466, Art, The Siege of
Boston—Martin's Civil Government

TERRITORIAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE UNITED STATES (see Map of VIth Epoch)—The Treaty with Great Britain (Sept 3, 1783) fixed the boundaries of the United States as the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico the Mississippi River, and the Great Lakes From this however, was to be excluded Florida, which belonged to Spain and the part of Louisiana east of the Mississippi. The Thirteen Colonies occupied only a narrow strip along the Atlantic sea-board. Pennsylvania was a frontier State, with Pittsburg as an advanced military post. The interior of the continent as far as the Mississippi was called the Wilderness. These broad lands belonged to the States individually, since the original English grants extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific (See second note, p 40) They were finally generously given up to the general government of the young confederacy (See second note, p 194, and article on Public Lands, Harper's Magazine vol 42, p 219) In 1787, the great legion north of the Ohio was organized into the Northwestern Territory (See notes, p 201) This was slowly settled. As late as 1819 even the Terntory of Michigan was thought to be a "worthless waste" The Province of Louisiana was purchased of France in 1803 (p 156) Little was known of the country thus acquired, and that same year it was said "The Missouri has been navigated for 2500 miles, there appears a probability of a communication by this channel with the Western Ocean" The famous expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clarke (see Barnes's Popular History of United States, p 360) in 1804-5 gave the first accurate information concerning this vast territory. Florida was purchased of Spain (p 173) by a treaty proposed Feb 22, 1819 though not signed by the King of Spam until Oct 20,1820, while the United States did not obtain full possession before July 17,1821. (These facts account for the different dates assigned to this purchase in the various histories.) The treaty with Spain which secured Florida, also relinquished all Spanish authority over the region west of the Rocky Mountain, claimed by the United States as belonging to the Louisiana purchase, but not previously acknowledged by Spain. This is of special importance since many maps giving the Spanish version, extend Louisiana only to the Rocky Mountains (the map of the VIth Epoch is based on the one in the United States Census of 1870). In the beginning of the war of 1812, a strip of coast about fifty miles wide lying between Florida and Louisiana, considered by Spain as a part of Florida had been taken by the United States under the claim that it also belonged to the Louisiana purchase. Texas was annexed in 1845 (p 205, and also Scribner's Magazine, vol 16 p 868). The Mexican cession of 1848 gave the United States California and several other States (p 206-8). Alaska, the latest acquisition, was purchased in 1867.