The Footprints of Time And a Complete Analysis of Our American System of Government, with a Concise History of the Original Colonies and of the United States, in Chronological Order

1. The early traditions of every nation that has undertaken to relate the story of its origin, have given us a confused account of supernatural persons and events which the judg...

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 cl...

We give in this chapter the Standing Rules and Orders for conducting business in the House of Representatives of the United States, as a proper compend of parliamentary rules fo...

The successful termination of the Revolutionary War of seven years made the United Colonies which had commenced it, in fact, as well as in their Declaration, Free and Independen...

May 13—During the week ending with this day there was subscribed to the U. S. seven-thirty loan $98,000,000. It was an expression of the enthusiastic confidence of the people in...

Washington’s army had lain in camp at Newburg, N. Y., since the surrender of Cornwallis. The Preliminary treaty of peace was signed Jan. 20th, at Paris; but it was not officiall...

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...

------------------------+-----------+---------+----------+--------------- COUNTRY. |Population.| Square | Title of | Capital. | | miles. | Ruler. | ------------------------+----...

Pensions are a provision, made by the general government, for the officers and privates of the army and navy disabled in the service of the country. They peril their lives for t...

The Presidents of the Continental Congress—as the Legislative body of the United States was called up to 1789, when the new Constitution went in effect—were chosen by its member...

We have stated in connection with the appropriate events, the causes of this war which had accumulated during the last five years at a rapid rate. The seizure and captures of Am...

A new era for America commenced with this administration, or rather, reached its period of uninterrupted development; for the whole past history of the country had been a prepar...

_To all whom these Presents shall come, We, the undersigned Delegates of the States affixed to our names, send greeting_—Whereas, the Delegates of the United States of America,...

1. A treaty is a written contract, entered into by two nations, on some question of interest or intercourse between them. It is precisely of the nature of a contract between two...

There are two classes of public lands subject to entry; one at $1.25 per acre, known as _minimum_, and one at $2.50, known as _double minimum_, the latter being the alternate se...

July 4—The British troops had been driven from Boston about the middle of March. From that time to the last of June no British soldiers had a foothold anywhere in the thirteen c...

1. The United States government belongs to its people. Those people own property estimated at upwards of thirty billions of dollars. The public lands belonging to the government...

Texas was a nearly uninhabited part of Mexico, lying between Louisiana and the Rio Grande river. It was a fertile region, with a fine climate. The Spanish possessors of Mexico,...

In February, 1763, The Peace of Paris, concluded between the governments of England and France, closed the war in America that had been so painful to the colonies from the part...

1. Duty is a term used to designate a sum paid by foreign merchandise coming to our country for sale, for the privilege of entering and being offered to purchasers. Tariff is a...

1499—Amerigo Vespucci, or Americus Vespucius, a Florentine merchant, conducts a vessel to the coast of South America. Returning to Europe he publishes a book, claiming to have f...

Each side hesitated to strike the first blow; but the South, being best prepared, and to end a suspense that threatened to be hurtful to their cause, opened the conflict by the...

The previous period, though abounding in battles, so-called, were really skirmishes of detached bodies without any well defined plan. It covered much of the surface of all the B...

Was the inevitable result of an antagonism of interests, sentiments, and social structure in the two great sections of the Union—the North and the South. The foundation of these...

The year 1864 closed in general disaster to the Confederacy. Sherman had broken the Confederate power in Georgia, destroyed its communications with the Mississippi States, and t...

1. The Tariff, or Scale of Duties, laid by the Laws of Congress, on goods brought from foreign countries, requires to be paid when they are first introduced; or we might say, _b...

There was a lull, for a time, in the tempest of war. The Confederate forces had lost ground that they could hardly hope to regain. The Mississippi river and Eastern Tennessee, b...

The preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation, issued Sept. 22d, 1862, was not to take effect for 100 days, or until Jan. 1st, 1863. Meanwhile the final details of the great oper...

For convenience of reference we insert a list of the members of the Cabinet in each administration from 1789 down to 1874, to which is added the name of the Vice-President of ea...

Transcriber’s Note: Some of the figures in this table are unreadable and are represented by X. Several copies of the book were checked and all have the same printing error. Late...

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...

1. All government consists of three steps, series, or departments. It has a Rule by which its action is governed; and this embraces the general principles guiding all action, as...

This immortal state paper—“the general effusion of the soul of the country” at the imperiled state of liberty, and of the rights of Englishmen—was given to the world on the 4th...

1. The United States mint, located at Philadelphia, is one of the most important establishments of the government. An act of Congress, passed in 1792, was the first step towards...

1. Congress legislates, or enacts laws; the officers of the Supreme Court decide whether those laws are in conformity with the Constitution; but the real ruler, the actual posse...

Within the last few years the Registered Letter Department has grown to enormous proportions. In former times the registering of a letter was only a notice to those handling it...

This department of the government, whose head, the Post Master General, is a member of the Cabinet, exists by virtue of Section 8, Article 1st of the Constitution, where are the...

1. ALL the land in the United States, to which individuals or corporations have not acquired a legal title, is held by the general government. This includes the land, or the par...

1. In a large and prosperous country there are very likely to arise antagonisms of interest and sentiment which will require the strong pressure of some common and more imperati...

1. An oath is an appeal to God, by him who makes it, that what he has said, or what he shall say, is the truth. It is the most solemn form under which one can assert or pronounc...

1. The present organization of this institution dates from the beginning of the civil war, and was originally purely military in its aims and purposes. It is still conducted by...

1. The origin of law varies with the character or class of the government under which it is made. Where all authority is concentrated in the hands of one man his will becomes la...

1. The ratio of representation simply means the ratio between the whole population of the United States, and the whole number of their Representatives in Congress; and this of c...

1. As the Chief Executive of a government cannot, for want of time, attend to all the details of the business belonging to his office, he, according to the usage of all times, a...

1. Congress is required by the Constitution to assemble on the first Monday in December of each year. It may, by a law duly made to that effect, change that time, but no permane...

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, h...

When America was discovered, in 1492, the whole continent was thinly populated (except in some few regions where a considerable degree of civilization and skill in agriculture h...

Whatever fault we may sometimes find with the conduct of our government; however much self-seeking to the neglect of the public good there may be among officials; however many w...

Peyton Randolph, Virginia 5th Sept., 1774 Henry Middleton, South Carolina 22d Oct., 1774 Peyton Randolph, Virginia 10th May, 1775 John Hancock, Massachusetts 24th May, 1775 Henr...

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 c...

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 str...

A Copyright is an exclusive privilege given to any citizen, or resident in the United States to print, publish, or sell any book, map, chart, engraving, or musical composition o...

1. The use of seals to give authority to documents, and to establish their genuineness, comes down to us from a remote antiquity. It is much easier to counterfeit a signature al...

A nation’s Flag represents its sovereignty. It is adopted by its supreme authority as a symbol or sign of itself, and wherever it waves the fact of the substantial control of th...

1. The present banking system was established by an act of Congress in 1863. The plan is quite different from any before in use, and commends itself to the whole country by the...

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...

Men, unfortunately, have never been able to so arrange their mutual relations as to dispense with violent and deadly contests. Although they are less frequent and shorter now th...

1. The right pertaining to citizenship, to vote for such officers as are elected by the people, is called suffrage. When that right is acquired with respect to one class of offi...

All packages containing matter not in itself chargeable with letter postage, but in which is enclosed or concealed any letter, memorandum, or other thing chargeable with letter...

1. These originated in the desire of the founders of the government to encourage invention, in the belief that the general welfare of the country would be promoted by such a sti...

1. The laws of any nation are the rules by which it is governed, a violation of which renders the offender liable to the infliction of certain penalties. These laws, in many nat...

1. Revenue, or the income of the government, is derived from various sources. A tax—or duty, as it is often called—laid on goods imported into the country, is one of the most im...

The position of the United States naturally gives it great prominence as a naval power. Situated between the two great oceans, with thousands of miles of coast on each, and a pr...

1. A census is an enumeration, or counting, of the inhabitants of any country. History informs us that this was done in very ancient times. One of the books in the Old Testament...

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...

An Elector, in the sense of the Constitution, is one who has been appointed to choose or elect the President of the United States. Electors have been chosen in various ways. At...

1. If the Executive Department that has charge of the public moneys is not highest in nominal rank, it certainly does not hold a less important and interesting place in the esti...

1. Civilization, or the history of it, at least, commenced in the Eastern continent. The Western was, until a comparatively recent period, quite unknown to those who recorded th...

1. The original thirteen States were all on the Atlantic coast, and had each one or more sea ports. They were naturally given to commerce, and the second Continental Congress, i...

1. These are the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives. The latter is chosen by ballot of the Members of the House. As this position gives him...

1. Religion has always exerted so much influence on men that it has been customary for governments to assume more or less control over it; and, as the leaders of religious syste...

1. Nations have business with each other, as individuals have; and their governments employ agents to represent them and transact business in their name. By these means their po...

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 ti...

1. The success of military affairs in time of war depends, in great measure, on a thorough knowledge of the science of war, and especially of engineering, so often requiring to...

Was established by an act of Congress, May, 1862. It is not, like the other Departments of the Executive Branch of the government, superintended by a Secretary with a seat in th...

1. Geography proper describes the general character of a country, as its rivers, bays, gulfs, plains, mountains and natural divisions. Leaving this to other works we confine our...

1. The members of the President’s Cabinet are seven in number, viz.: Five Secretaries, at the head of their respective departments, of State, Treasury, War, Navy, and Interior;...

1. A pure democracy is a government in which all the people who have the proper qualifications for voting personally take part—or have the right to do so—in the discussion of pu...

1. These officers, called Consuls, are employed by most civilized nations, all those at least who have an extensive intercourse with foreign countries, and they are recognized b...

1. It is plainly a dictate of humanity that a government should provide for the comfort and skillful treatment of those persons who are wounded in its service, or who become dis...

1. These, with Buoys, and Beacons, are a necessary practical supplement to the labors of the Coast Survey. Buoys and Beacons indicate the shoals, or dangerous rocks and reefs be...

1. Among the Institutions of the government is that heading this chapter. The amount of printing required to be done for Congress, the various branches of the government, and fo...

1. At the first general census, in 1790, there were but little over three millions and a half of inhabitants in the United States, and these mostly settled along the Atlantic se...

1. In the second article, section four, of the Constitution, these words are found: “The President, Vice-President, and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed...

1. The somewhat barbarous custom has prevailed among nations, from early times, of making war in every possible way upon the citizens of a hostile country, and of taking or dest...

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...

1. These are written documents, in due official form, signed and sealed by the proper authority, to convey official information, or serve as a means of protection, and to readil...

1. While the Naval Observatory is a government institution for studying the heavens in the interest of the Navy; the Coast Survey is an organization employed in a thorough and s...

This officer is elected by the people at the same time, and in the same manner, as the President, and for the same term. He must be a native citizen of the United States, and th...

SECTION I. The Dawn of History—Uncertainty of Tradition—Aid afforded by recent studies—Ethnology, Philology, etc.—Primitive Home of Mankind—The three great races—The first Migra...

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 a...

1. These institutions are still more important for sailors than for soldiers; as the sailor is more likely to have lost his adaptation to any kind of business on land, and to lo...

1. Each State is entitled to a number of Representatives in Congress proportioned to its inhabitants; but, instead of counting the whole number together, and leaving all the peo...

1. An observatory is a building erected for astronomical purposes, and supplied with the necessary apparatus for studying the heavens. A thorough knowledge of certain portions o...

1. An army is designed, in idea, to supply a powerful instrument of offense and defense, that shall so thoroughly organize and fuse together a large number of individuals that t...

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...

1. Regard to the religious habits of a large number of the people has led Congress to appoint, or permit the appointment, of chaplains to supply such religious instruction and s...

1. The Secretary of the Senate and Clerk of the House of Representatives, are the officers next in rank in the two bodies forming Congress. They are appointed by vote of their r...

It will be readily perceived that, in a country developing so rapidly as ours, producing, thereby, an almost unbroken series of new situations, requiring a cautious application...

1. The military successes of the United States would seem to prove undeniably, that, if the nation had adopted a career of conquest as did Ancient Rome, it might have played an...

1. A Proclamation is an official notice published by one high in authority, for the purpose of giving reliable and authoritative information to the people that something has bee...

1. Congress being the law-making power of the government, it is evident that, to know precisely what laws it is important to enact, to change, or to repeal, they should be kept...

“The Boston Tea Party” provoked the English Parliament into passing “The Boston Port Bill,” closing that city to commerce. This act led to immediate measures for assembling dele...

1. As it is one purpose of this work to give a clear and complete account of the mode of conducting the affairs of the general government, we have thought it best to call attent...

1. Naval affairs, quite as much as military, perhaps even more, require the aids of science, and a careful and thorough training. Much of this, indeed, is gained in active servi...

1. In the capitol there is a large library, consisting of two parts; one part called the Congressional library, the other, the law library. The latter is made a part of the form...

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 t...

We have seen that the government can be sure of the support of the citizens in time of war and that they furnish the best kind of material of that description for military purpo...

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 respecti...

1. This is an offense aiming at the existence of the government; and in all other governments it has ever been customary to punish it with extreme severity. Many things are cons...

1. The United States government has always endeavored to continue, as it commenced, to rule with vigor, and to preserve a wholesome respect for its own authority and the rights...

1. Congress, in 1816, passed an act authorizing and requiring the Secretary of State, once in two years, to print and publish a book called “the official register,” in which he...

1. We have seen that the Secretary of the Navy has several different Bureaus, having each its separate part of naval interests and stores to care for. The material for the equip...

Circumstances of discovery of each—When and where settled—Facts in early history—The part each of the “Old Thirteen” bore in the Revolutionary struggle—The Surface—Climate—Agric...

Legal form of Will—Statement of Testator—Disposition of Property—Appointment of Executors—Statement of Witnesses—Circumstances of Signature—Necessity of two Witnesses—Articles o...

Prostration of the country after the war—Congress has no effective control of finances—Negligence of the States—Shay’s rebellion in Mass.—Vigorous action of Gen. Lincoln—Virgini...

Causes of the war—Battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma—Taking of Monterey—Battle of Buena Vista—Gen. Scott in Mexico—His long succession of victories—Enters the City of M...

Battle of Long Island—Silent retreat at night—Washington driven across the Delaware—His success in the Jerseys—Battles near Philadelphia—Surrender of Burgoyne—Treaty with the Fr...

British resolve to tax Colonies—Folly of that measure—Resistance in the Colonies—British repeal the tax, BUT CLAIM THE RIGHT—Indignation in the Colonies—Taxes again tried—Soldie...

The large armies have acquired much discipline and experience—Movement of McClellan on Richmond—Movement flanking Confederate positions on the upper Mississippi—Severe battles n...

Causes of the war—Disasters in Canada—Successes on the sea—Barbarity of British and Indians—Incompetence of U. S. officers—Second Campaign—Brilliant naval successes—Mortificatio...

Firing on Ft. Sumter—It electrifies the North—Call for troops—General mustering for war—Capture of Harper’s Ferry and Gosport Navy Yard, Fighting in the border States—Experience...

Results of the war highly favorable to the U. S.—Gains respect abroad—Party bitterness subsides—Compromise of 1820—Great prosperity—Florida Purchase—Monroe’s two Administrations...

Emancipation proclamation—The year remarkable for the large number of engagements and formidable character of the operations—Battle of Chancellorsville and advance of Lee into P...

Various Discoveries—Sir Humphrey Gilbert fails twice to establish a Colony—Sir Walter Raleigh—Settlements in Florida—Jamestown—Landing of the Puritans—Other Settlements—Liberal...

Real causes of the Civil War—The elections of Nov., 1860—Made the pretext for Secession—South Carolina Secedes—Forts and property of the government seized in the South—Southern...

Public domain after the Revolutionary War—Various acquisitions of territory by the General Government—Character of a Territorial government—Organized by Congress—Appointment of...

Great resources of the country—Aggregate wealth of the people—Resources of the general government—Public lands—Mines—National wealth—The National Debt—Reasons for not paying it...

General, State, County, and Municipal governments parts of a whole—No conflict—The harmonizing authority in the Supreme Court—How State governments are formed—Their powers—Model...

Causes of increase of national area—A traditional policy—Importance of national unity—The Mexican War—Causes—Annexation of Territory—Excuses urged—We shall never do it again—Sup...

The government for the people alone—Early distrust of the masses and its causes—Embodied in the Federal party—Causes of its fall—Absorption of foreigners—Favorable results—Futur...

Uses of Seals—How applied—Who keeps the Great Seal—History of the Great Seal—Jefferson, Adams, etc.—Failure of committees to please—Efforts of Secretary of Congress—Adams and th...

Geographical ignorance of the Ancients—Columbus and his Ideas—His difficulty in getting a hearing—Queen Isabella of Spain—Sets sail for the New World—Why he thought it Asia—Orig...

Nature of a Treaty—Its binding power—Has the force of Law—The Russian Treaty in full—What Extradition Treaties are—What classes of criminals they apply to—Countries with which w...

Mode of doing business in Congress—Organization—Bills—Committees—Reports—Connection of two Houses—President’s signature—Veto—Passing over the veto—Resolutions and their characte...

The U. S. a commercial country—Gratifying success of the early navy—The importance of this arm to the country—Its value to us abroad—Number of U. S. vessels of war.

Origin of Signal Service—Scientific and useful character—Mode of conducting it—School of Instruction—Grades of officers—Their duties—Number of Stations—Smithsonian Institution—I...