between the British possessions and the United States. On the east it was bounded by the Mississippi as far south as the thirty-first parallel, where different boundaries were claimed. The United States construed the cession of France to include all the territory between the thirty-first parallel and the Gulf of Mexico, and between the Mississippi and Perdido, the latter of which is now the western boundary of Florida. Under this construction of the cession, the ‘Province of Louisiana’ is now covered by those portions of the States of Alabama and Mississippi which lie south of the thirty-first parallel; by Louisiana, Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota west of the Mississippi, Kansas, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and the Indian Territory; and by the portion of Colorado lying east of the Rocky Mountains and north of the Arkansas River, and that portion of Wyoming lying east of the Rockies and south of the forty-second parallel. Spain, from which power France had acquired Louisiana by treaty in 1800 (see San Ildefonso, Treaty of), claimed that she had ceded to France no territory east of the Mississippi except the ‘Island of New Orleans.’ and also contended that her Province of West Florida included all of the territory south of the thirty-first parallel and between the Perdido and Mississippi, except the ‘Island of New Orleans.’ Under this construction, the ‘Province of Louisiana’ included on the east of the Mississippi only the territory bounded on the north and east by the “rivers Iberville and Amite and by the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain.” By the treaty of 1803 the national territory was increased by 1,171,931 square miles. The extreme northwestern portion of this territory was claimed by Great Britain, with which power the United States concluded the Northwest Boundary Treaty in 1846. By the treaty of February 22, 1819, Spain formally ceded the territory now covered by Florida, by those portions of Alabama and Mississippi which lie south of the thirty-first parallel, and by that portion of Louisiana which lies east of the Mississippi and is not included in the ‘Island of New Orleans.’ This territory was styled by Spain the ‘provinces of East and West Florida.’ Previous to this cession, by the authority of the joint resolution of January 15, 1811, and tlie acts of January 15, 1811, and March 3, 1811, passed in secret session and first published in 1818, the United States had taken possession of the East and West Floridas. In fact, as early as 1810 the Americans controlled all of West Florida except Mobile, while in 1814 Jackson temporarily seized Pensacola, and again in 1818 occupied both Pensacola and Saint Marks. The United States, however, did not take formal possession until 1821. After prolonged negotiations, and a vigorous political contest, Texas, formerly a portion of Mexico, and later an independent republic, was admitted to the Union by a joint resolution of Congress, approved by President Tyler on March 1, 1845, as a result of the Mexican War (q.v.), by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (q.v.), on February 2, 1848, Mexico ceded the territory now covered by California and Nevada, also her claims to the territory covered by the present Texas, by Utah, by the bulk of Arizona and of New Mexico, and by portions of Wyoming and Colorado. That part of Arizona and that part of New Mexico lying south of the Gila and known as the Gadsden Purchase were ceded by Mexico on December 30, 1853. By treaty of March 30, 1867, Russia ceded Alaska. At the close of the Revolutionary War the territory really occupied by the old thirteen States covered scarcely a quarter of a million square miles, and after the treaty of 1783 the nation occupied only 825,000 square miles, but in 1867 the territory belonging to the United States had an area in round numbers of 3,561,000 square miles. A further accession was effected in 1898, when, on July 6th, Congress passed a joint resolution annexing Hawaii (q.v.) to the United States. In the following year negotiations were concluded by which the island of Tutuila, Samoa, on which is located the excellent harbor of Pago-Pago, was ceded absolutely to the United States. An important accession of territory was that incident to the Spanish-American War (q.v.), and formally effected in the treaty of December 10, 1898, in accordance with which Spain ceded Porto Rico (q.v.) and the Philippine Islands (q.v.), together with the island of Guam (q.v.), to the United States.
Bibliography. The most important volume in this connection, with all the texts, is the Treaties and Conventions, published by the Government (Washington, 1889). Some useful maps illustrating these treaties are to be found in The United States of America, 1765-1865, by Channing (New York, 1896). Consult also, as to treaty of 1803, Adams, History of the United States, vol. ii., and Roosevelt, Winning of the West, vol. iv. Of special works, consult: Adams, Maryland's Influence on the Land Cessions (Baltimore, 1885); Gannett, Boundaries of the United States; Garrett, South Carolina Land Cession; Donaldson, Public Domain (Washington, 1884); and the appendix to vol. vii. of Winsor, Narrative and Critical History of America (Boston, 1886-89).
UNITED STATES, Literature of the. See American Literature.
UNITED STATES CHRISTIAN COMMISSION. An organization kindred to the United States Sanitary Commission (q.v.), formed during the Civil War in America for the purpose of promoting the spiritual and physical welfare of Federal soldiers and sailors. A convention of Young Men's Christian Association delegates met in New York City in November, 1861, and formally organized the United States Christian Commission of 12 members with George H. Stuart, a Philadelphia philanthropist, as president, and B. F. Manierre, of New York, as secretary. Contributions of money, literature, and supplies were asked for and a generous response was made. The central office of the commission was in Philadelphia, but it had branches in all of the large towns and cities, and its agents followed the armies. Temporary libraries were established, chapels for religious worship were erected at permanent camps, and Christian burial was accorded to the dead, whose graves were suitably marked by agents of the commission. The American Bible and Tract societies gave enormous quantities of their publications to the commission for distribution; the Government furnished free transportation to its agents, and for its supplies, while the telegraph and transporta-
