INTRODUCTION.

THE HE people of the United States have not to seek their origin, like other civilized nations, in the obscurity of barbarous or fabulous ages. Their genealogy

is too short and too well ascertained to admit of the embellishment of fiction. At a period comparatively recent, their ancestors, consisting of a few families, were detached from the great mass of the European population, and left to their own resources, in a vast wilderness, where they were surrounded by savage enemies, and had many disadvantages to struggle with. In the short space of two centuries, while some of the older states of Europe have scarcely made any perceptible advances, these few families have increased to a great nation, which has taken its place among the most powerful and enlightened states in the world. The sources of national wealth, and the productive powers of man, which are obscurely traced in the slow progress of old and fully peopled communities, are developed here on a gigantic scale. Our knowledge is enlarged by viewing a society constituted on principles to which the old world presents nothing precise

VOL. I.

ly similar, placed in new circumstances, and comprising, within a short period, many of the changes and varieties of condition which other nations have passed through in a long series of ages. Every step in their progress announces some new truth to the world, and their first appearance on the theatre of nations marks a new era in the political history of mankind. It is fortunate that the history of a people whose career has been so singular and instructive is tolerably complete. All the leading events and circumstances which have influenced the fortunes or character of the North Americans, from the first settlement of a few forlorn emigrants, up to the present time, are within the reach of investigation; and the steps of that astonishing progress, by which a small nucleus of civilized population has expanded to a mighty empire, can be accurately traced.

It was a favourable circumstance for the United States, that the country was colonized chiefly by popu lation drawn from the most enlightened nations of the old world, and at a period when a variety of happy changes had disabused the human mind of some of its worst prejudices. What would have been its situation if peopled by some of the other nations of Europe, is apparent from the state of the Spanish colonies, The English, who formed the leading part of the colonists, had been emancipated from superstition and priestcraft by the Reformation; they had imbibed more liberal ideas than other nations in politics, and had made greater progress in arts and industry. The first settlers, no doubt, considered their removal to this coun

try a painful sacrifice, but, after they had acquired strength to maintain themselves against the Indians, the advantages of their situation began to appear. It was an unoccupied world, of the richest soil, and most favoured climate, spread out before a small number of men, who possessed the skill and industry of a mature society. In the ancient world, the arts necessary to draw forth the riches of the earth, were not acquired till its surface was in general appropriated; and the progress of society was checked first by ignorance, and afterwards by vicious arrangements. The colonies mentioned in ancient history exhibit to us the attempts of one tribe, who had advanced a few steps in arts and knowledge, to force back or dispossess another tribe, more rude and ignorant; but in no case was the dif ference so great as between the English settlers and the Indians, and in no case did the colonists start so well prepared with all the seeds of moral and political improvement. Most of the old colonies, too, were planted when the prevalence of military habits, and of a dark superstition, with a host of errors and prejudices, checked the march of industry and improvement. The North American colonists, on the other hand, left Europe when the military spirit had no longer a baleful ascendancy; when the effects of industry, the true source of national strength, had begun to develope themselves; when civil liberty began to be understood and valued; when religion was stript of many of its corruptions; when knowledge was advancing, and society had begun to settle on its right basis. The colonists, placed in their new settlements, had

only to avail themselves of the advantages of their situation. Their society, held together by common wants, and moulded by their circumstances, was disencumbered of many of those corruptions and abuses which time and accident accumulate in all old communities. A fortunate combination of circumstances, by bringing them all under one government, left them free from the distractions of war; and they had no powerful neighbour, jealous of their prosperity, to compel them to load themselves with a great military establishment. They were placed at too great a distance from Europe, to be often embroiled in its quarrels, and yet near enough to share the benefits of its commerce and its improvements. They lived under the protection of the most liberal and enlightened government then in the world; and though they did occasionally suffer from its ignorance or violence, the force of circumstances generally prevailed over the errors of their rulers, and bore them through their difficulties with little injury.

The great source of the advantages the United States enjoy, is the boundless extent of land over which their population is at liberty to spread itself. In speaking of this territory, it is necessary to make a distinction between that part which is actually occupied by the civilized population, to a greater or less degree of density, and that which is still possessed exclu sively by the savages. Leaving out Michigan, in which there are but few settlers, and the North-West Territory, in which there are almost none, we have for the boundary, on the south-east and south sides, the sea

and Florida, and on the north-west and west sides, the river St Lawrence, Lakes Ontario and Erie, the Wabash river, part of its course and the Mississippi, including the southern part of Illinois, and the settled part of Missouri. The region comprehended within these limits extends in a north-east and south-west direction, its length, from Maine to Baton Rouge, being about 1700 miles, and its greatest breadth, from Cape Fear to the Wabash, about 650. Its form may be compared to that of a slender cone, with the angles of its base broken off; and it happens that a straight line, connecting the most distant points of this space, Maine and Baton Rouge represents pretty accurately the axis of the cone, keeping very nearly in the middle, between the bounding lines, and dividing the country into two portions, almost exactly equal in extent. It is of more importance, however, to observe, that this line passes, for three-fourths of its extént, over the summit of that elevated ridge, which, first, under the name of Green Mountains, and afterwards Alleghany, or Apalachian Mountains, traverses the United States, in a north-east and south-west direction. These mountains are thus situated fairly in the middle of the country, determining the course of the rivers to the ocean on the one side, and to the Mississippi and the lakes on the other, these latter forming unquestionably the lowest points in the interior of the North American continent. The population of the United States is dispersed over the two sides or declivities of this great central chain, and in the vallies between its different ridges.