PHYSICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE GEOGRAPHY

1. The United States is situated in the North Temperate Zone, in the central part of North America, and between the same parallels of latitude as Southern Europe, the Mediterranean Sea, Northern Africa, Central Asia, and Japan.



In the middle of the North Temperate Zone of North America is Minnesota, which is equally distant from the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

The most northern part of the United States is on the parallel of 49 degrees, between Lake Superior and the Pacific Ocean.
The most southern parts are in Florida and Texas.

MOUNTAINS

1. The surface is divided by the Rocky and the Alleghany Mountains into three great sections: the Pacific Slope, west of the Rocky Mountains; the Atlantic Slope, east of the Alleghanies; and the Mississippi Basin, between them. Besides these, are the Gulf Slope, the basin of the great lakes and the St. Lawrence River, and the basin of the Red River of the North.
2. The western half of the United States comprises high mountains and plains; the eastern half is mostly level or undulating, except the Appalachian System of Mountains, extending from Georgia to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
3. The two high ranges are the Rocky and the Sierra Nevada, between which are extensive plateaus remarkable for their aridity and barrenness. Elevation of highest peaks, about 15,000 feet; of plateaus, 4,000 to 6,000 feet.

CLIMATE

1. This country possesses nearly every variety of climate, owing to its great extent, its position on the globe, and differences in elevation.
2. Climate varies according to latitude, elevation, and the influences of the ocean, winds, and mountain ranges.
3. In the north and northeast, the winters are long and severe, the summer, short and hot.
4. In the south, the summers are long and hot, and the winters, mild.
5. Ascending the high peaks of the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevadas, the traveler finds the cold to increase, and reaches the limit of perpetual snow.
6. Compared with Western Europe, the climate of the greater part of the United States is warmer in summer, colder in whiter, and dryer.
7. Rain is well distributed over the states. The largest quantity falls on the Pacific, the Gulf, and the Atlantic states; and the least,on the great plateaus which extend from the Sierra Nevadas eastward into Western Kansas and Northern Texas.
8. Snow lies from three to five months in the most northern states, but it seldom falls south of Virginia, except among the mountains.

VEGETATION

1. The states remarkable for their agricultural products are those in the eastern half of the Union; grain, fruits, and vegetables in the north, and cotton, tobacco, rice, and sugar in the south.
2. The prairie land of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Kansas, and Nebraska, is remarkable for its fertility. These include most of the Central and Lake States.
3. Wheat crops dominate in central states such as North Dakota, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Montana. Florida is known for its oranges, California for its grapes, Washington state for its apples, Vermont for its maple syrup, Louisiana for its sugarcane, and Idaho for its potatoes.

HISTORICAL RESOURCES

1. Historically, the states and territories remarkable for precious metals were between the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific Ocean. Gold, California, Colorado, Montana, and Idaho. Silver, Nevada. Quicksilver, California.
2. Coal and the useful metals abounded in many of the States and Territories which lie between the Rocky Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean.
3. Celebrated for coal and iron was the region of the Alleghany Mountains.
4. Coal and iron were extensively mined in Pennsylvania; Lead, in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa; Iron and lead, in Missouri.

HISTORICAL COMMERCE

1. In the early history of the United States, the leading manufacturing states were in the northeastern part of the Union.
2. The principal goods were cotton and woolen goods, flour, machinery, iron and steel ware, boots, shoes, and leather.
3. The cotton and woolen manufactures of all the New England States, except Vermont, were very extensive.
4. Flour and lumber were largely produced in nearly every State in the Union.

COMMERCE TODAY

1. The principal commercial states today are California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois and Pennsylvania.
2. The top five modern ports of foreign commerce are the Port of South Louisiana, the Port of Houston, the Port of New York and New Jersey Newark, the Port of Beaumont, Texas, and the Port of Long Beach, California.
3. Top imports include electronics and computers, vehicles, oil, pharmaceuticals, machinery, and medical equipment.
4. Top exports include food, beverage, feed, oil, aircraft, cars and car parts, machinery, and pharmaceuticals.

HISTORICAL GEOGRAPHY

1. The first settlements in the United States were formed about a century and a quarter after the discovery of America.
2. A Spanish colony, St. Augustine, was founded in Florida, in 1565.
3. English colonies were founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607, and at Plymouth. Massachusetts, in 1620.
4. A Dutch colony was founded on Manhattan Island, now the city of New York, in 1613.
5. A Swedish colony was founded in Delaware in 1638.
6. These settlements came gradually under the control of the English, who organized the Thirteen Colonies of: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.



When the English had governed the colonies about a century and a quarter, the colonists declared themselves free and independent, on the Fourth of July, 1776.
The war of the Revolution, which began in 1775, arose chiefly from unjust taxation of the American colonies by England.

The government of this country, under its Constitution and its first President George Washington, began in 1789, since which Florida and all the land west of the Mississippi River have been acquired by the United States.
The Northwest Territory in 1787 comprised Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The governments in this Republic comprise the general, State, and Territorial governments.
Each comprises three branches—the legislative, executive, and judicial.
The legislative power of the general government is vested in Congress; the executive power, in the President; and the judicial power, in the Supreme and certain other courts.

Congress is composed of the Senate and House of Representatives.
The Senate is composed of two Senators from each State, elected for six years.
The House of Representatives is composed of members elected every two years from the several states, according to the population.
The Vice-President presides over the Senate, and in the event of the President's death, resignation, or removal, he becomes President.
The Constitution provides that representation and direct taxation shall be in proportion to the number of the inhabitants of the several states.
Every bill, to become a law, must be passed by both houses of Congress and signed by the President: if he disapprove, the bill must be reconsidered and passed by two-thirds of each house.
The United States shall guarantee to every State a republican form of government, and protect each from invasion.
Amendments to the Constitution may be made on application of the legislatures of two-thirds of the states, and when ratified by the legislatures of three-fourths of the states.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.