Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/135

Rh to the republic at the peace of 1783, 1,171,931 sq. m. were added by the Louisiana purchase from France in 1803 (supplemented by the Oregon treaty with Great Britain in 1846), 59,268 sq. m. by the Spanish cession of 1819, and 967,451 sq. m. from Mexico, viz.: 376,133 sq. m. by the annexation of Texas in 1845, 545,783 sq. m. by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, and 45,535 sq. m. by the Gadsden purchase in 1853.—The republic is divided into 37 states, one federal district (District of Columbia, ceded by Maryland), nine organized territories, and two unorganized territories (Alaska and Indian territory). By the act of congress of March 3, 1875, Colorado is authorized to frame a constitution and to submit it to a vote of the people in July, 1876, when, in case of its adoption, the president is to issue a proclamation declaring the territory admitted into the Union as a state. A bill for the admission of New Mexico as a state passed the senate March 10, 1876, and is (June 1) pending before the house of representatives. For convenience the states are generally classified by geographers as follows: eastern or New England states, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut; middle states, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware; southern states, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky; western states, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska; Pacific states, California, Oregon, Nevada. Another classification is: Atlantic and Pacific states, those on the Atlantic and Pacific slopes respectively; gulf states, those bordering on the gulf of Mexico; southwestern states, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas; northwestern states, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska; central states, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee. The slave states, those in which slavery existed at the outbreak of the civil war, numbered 15, viz.: Delaware, Maryland, Virginia (then including West Virginia), North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri; the others were known as the free states. Of the states, 13 existed at the formation of the constitution, and 24 have been admitted under its provisions. Of these one (Texas) was an independent republic, four were formed directly from other states (Kentucky from Virginia, Maine from Massachusetts, Vermont from territories claimed by New York and previously also by New Hampshire, and West Virginia from Virginia), and the rest were created from the public domain. The following tables contain a list of the states and territories, with various particulars. The second and third columns of the first give for the original states the date and order of ratification of the federal constitution, for the other states the date and order of admission into the Union, and for the territories the date and order of organization. The areas are taken from the report of the census of 1870. Many of these, as well as the general figures given above, are based mainly on approximative computations. In a few instances slightly different figures have been given in the articles on the states and territories, those in being the estimate of the state geologist. The aggregate population in the second table includes tribal Indians, as estimated by the superintendent of the census in 1870.