I. Voyages and Discoveries of Columbus.. II. Early Explorations.-First Permanent Settlements.. III. Conquest of Mexico and Peru.-Voyage of Magellan.. IV. English Explorations and Settlements.. V. Dutch Discoveries and Settlements.... VI. Landing of the Pilgrims.... IX. Founding of Maryland and Delaware.. I. Washington's Administration, 1789-1797.. II. John Adams's Administration, 1797-1801. III. Jefferson's Administration, 1801-1809.. IV. Madison's Administration, 1809-1812.. V. Madison's Administration (continued), 1812. VI. Madison's Administration (continued), 1813.. VII. Madison's Administration (continued), 1814-1817.. VIII. Monroe's Administration, 1817-1825... IX. John Quincy Adams's Administration, 1825-1829. X. Jackson's Administration, 1829-1837. XI. Van Buren's Administration, 1837-1841... XIV. Administration of Taylor and Fillmore, 1849-53. XV. Pierce's Administration, 1853 1857... XVI. Buchanan's Administration, 1857-1861. THE WESTERN CONTINENT. 1. THE Western Continent, represented above, is about 9,000 miles long. It attains its greatest width in the north, where it is nearly 3,000 miles across. From this point the shores slope towards each other, till an isthmus 50 miles wide is formed; whence they again expand, enclosing a tract of nearly equal size on the south. The continent is thus naturally divided into two parts, known as North and South America. Between the two, near the eastern coast, lie the West India Islands. Including the islands just named and Greenland, the American Continent embraces 15,000,000 square miles, of which North America contains eight million, and South America nearly seven. Together they comprise more than a third of the land surface of the globe. The territory of 1. How long is the Western Continent? Where does it attain its greatest width? How wide is it there? From this point, describe the shores. How is the continent thus divided? What islands lie between the two? Including the West Indies and Greenland, how many square miles does America contain? How many, North America? How many, South America? Together, what part of the land surface of the globe do they comprise? How much of this belongs to the United States contains 3,468,000 square miles,-nearly one half of the surface of North America. On America is bounded on each side by a great ocean. the east, the Atlantic, 3,000 miles broad, separates it from Europe and Africa; on the west, it is separated from Asia by the Pacific, the greatest width of which is about 10,000 miles. This ocean gradually narrows towards the north, till it terminates in Behring's [beer'-ingz] Strait, where the extreme points of the two continents are only 36 miles apart. 2. The American Continent is distinguished for the grandness of its natural features. It is intersected by large rivers, which afford every facility for commerce. The Mississippi, the Missouri, and the Amazon, surpass in length every other river on the earth. Lakes equal in size to seas are scattered over its surface. Its valleys and plains, its volcanoes and mountain-ranges, are all on the grandest scale. Its mineral resources are inexhaustible. The silver and diamond mines of South America, and, in the United States, the gold and silver deposits of California, Nevada, and the western Territories, as well as the vast subterranean treasures of lead, iron, and coal, which elsewhere abound, are of inestimable value. 3. The temperature of any given locality in America is much colder than that of a place in the same latitude on the Eastern Continent. New York is on nearly the same parallel as Naples; yet in the latter snow is rarely seen, and fires are hardly ever required. There is no city in America as far north as Paris; and Stockholm, transported to the same latitude in the Western Continent, would be in a region of perpetual snow. 4. The animals originally found in America were, as a general thing, neither so large nor so strong as those of the old world. Instead of the elephant, rhinoceros, hippopota the United States? By what is America bounded? How wide is the Atlantic? The Pacific? In what does the Pacific terminate towards the north? How wide is Behring's Strait? 2. For what is the American Continent distinguished? By what is it intersected? What is said of its valleys, plains, &c.? What, of its mineral resources? 3. How does the Western Continent compare in temperature with the Eastern? What two cities are mentioned in illustration of this fact? What is the temperature of America in the latitude of Stockholm? 4. How did the animals of America compare with those of the old world? Mention |