In the great struggle between England and France for the control of North America the English colonies suffered severely. The decisive war was foreshadowed in 1749, when a company of speculators and traders obtained from the Crown a grant on the Ohio River, within what are now Pennsylvania and West Virginia. One of the surveyors employed was George Washington, who was later sent to demand the withdrawal of the French from the Ohio. In the war which followed, General Braddock was defeated while on his way to attack Fort Duquesne (1755); but Amherst took Ticonderoga, Sir William Johnson captured Fort Niagara, and Wolfe took Quebec; and in 1763 France surrendered to England all of its possessions in America east of the Mississippi River.

The thirteen colonies were prosperous and to a large extent selfgoverning. Quarrels arose over the extent of British authority, and were accented by the effort of Parliament to tax the colonists. This brought on the Revolutionary War. Hostilities began in 1775, and continued actively until 1781, when Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress adopted a Declaration of Independence, and the thirteen United Colonies became the United States of America. On March 1, 1781, the Articles of Confederation went into effect. By the treaty of peace, in 1783, the United States were

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confirmed in the possession of all the territory east of the Mississippi, south of the Great Lakes and north of the Spanish provinces of Florida. The area of the new nation was 892,135 square miles.

In 1790 a territory ten miles square, ceded to the United States by Maryland and Virginia, was organized as the District of Columbia and made the seat of government. New States followed rapidly. Vermont, formed from territory claimed jointly by New Hampshire and New York, was admitted in 1791. Kentucky was separated from Virginia in 1792; Tennessee from North Carolina in 1796, and Maine from Massachusetts in 1820. The present States of Alabama and Mississippi were admitted in 1817 and 1819 respectively.

In 1787 the region northwest of the Ohio River had been organized as the Northwest Territory. The first State to be formed from this region was Ohio, which was admitted in 1802. From the remainder of the Territory were formed Indiana, in 1816, Illinois, in 1818, Michigan, in 1837, Wisconsin, in 1848, and part of Minnesota in 1868. During the Civil War Virginia was divided and the western part was admitted as West Virginia.

West of the Mississippi, and forming an integral part of the great Mississippi basin, was Louisiana, a vast region of plains rising gradually from the river to the watershed of the Rocky Mountains, and extending from

Texas to the British possessions. Louisiana was transferred by Spain to France, but when Napoleon, in 1803, offered to sell the territory to the United States for $15,000,000, the offer was promptly accepted. The purchase added 827,987 square miles to the area of the United States, insured the free navigation of the Mississippi from its source to its mouth, and opened the way for further expansion to the Pacific.

While the Louisiana purchase was under consideration, the Lewis and Clark expedition was being planned, and by 1805 the explorers had reached the headwaters of the Missouri and followed the Columbia to the Pacific. In 1819 Spain relinquished its claims on the Pacific north of the 45th parallel, and in 1846 the Oregon country, extending northward to the 49th parallel, was confirmed to the United States by treaty with Great Britain. The area of this third acquisition was 286,541 square miles.

In 1810-1814 the United States occupied West Florida, and in 1819 purchased East Florida from Spain. In 1845 part of the region became the State of Florida, the remainder being divided between Alabama and Mississippi. The area acquired was 58,666 square miles.

The fifth enlargement of the national domain was Texas. It was annexed and admitted as a State in 1845. Its area was 389,166 square miles. It originally belonged to

Mexico, but had become a republic and declared its independence.

Controversy over the boundary of Texas led to a war between the United States and Mexico. In 1848, Mexico, having been conquered, was obliged to accept the boundary of Texas as definitely extending to the Rio Grande River, and for a consideration of $15,000,000 ceded all the remaining territory of Mexico between the Rio Grande and the Pacific and extending north of the Gila River to the Oregon boundary. The area acquired comprised 529,189 square miles. In 1853 the Gadsden purchase added 29,670 square miles south of the Gila River, at a cost of $10,000,000.

Out of the vast domain of the Louisiana purchase and the Mexican cessions the following States have been formed: Louisiana (1812); Missouri (1821); Arkansas (1836); Iowa (1846); California (1850); greater part of Minnesota (1858); Oregon (1859); Kansas (1861); Nevada (1864); Nebraska (1867); Colorado (1876); North Dakota (1889); South Dakota (1889); (1889); Montana Montana (1889); Washington (1889); Idaho (1890); Wyoming (1890); Utah (1896); Oklahoma homa (1907); New Mexico (1912); Arizona (1912).

Alaska, purchased from Russia in 1867 for $7,200,000, received a Territorial government in 1912. Its area is 590,884 square miles. The Hawaiian Islands, situated in the Pacific about 2,200 miles southwest of San Fran