UNITED STATES (CONSTITUTION, &c> 



741 



It has been the policy of the United States, for 

 the last twenty years, to encourage domestic manu- 

 factures ; and the tariffs of 1816, 1824, 1828, and 

 1832 have been constructed with reference to that 

 principle. On the termination of the three years' 

 war with Great Britain, in 1814, it was found that 

 the restrictive system which had preceded it, and 

 the necessities attending the war itself, had created 

 and fostered a new and more extensive manufac- 

 turing interest than had before existed. The capi- 

 tal thus vested has been protected by heavy duties 

 upon the importation of such articles, the produce 

 of the manufactures of foreign countries, as would 

 interfere with the permanent growth and stability 

 of the manufacturing establishments thus brought 

 into being. The cotton crop of the United 

 States at present amounts to 1,038,347 bales, or 

 376,000,000 Ibs. : in 1816, it was 68,000,000 Ibs. 

 The number of cotton mills is 795, with 1,246,503 

 spindles, and 33,506 looms, producing annually 

 230,461,990 yards of cloth, consuming 77,757,316 

 Ibs. of cotton, and employing 18,539 men, 38,927 

 women, and 4691 children under twelve years 

 of age : annual value of manufactured articles, 

 26,000,000 dollars : the quantity of cotton goods 

 printed is estimated at 40,000,000 yards : about 

 one third of the goods manufactured are bleached : 

 the number of hand-weavers is not more than 

 5000. (See Cotton Manufacture.") The number 

 of sheep is estimated at 20,000,000, producing 

 50,000,000 Ibs. of wool annually ; value of cloth 

 manufactured, 40,000,000 dollars; persons em- 

 ployed, 50,000. Of glass, porcelain, and other 

 manufactures in clay, there are annually produced 

 articles to the value of about 3,000,000 dollars, the 

 manufacture of which employs 2140 persons. The 

 annual value of the paper manufactured is estimated 

 at 7,000,000 dollars ; of chemical articles used in 

 manufactures, about 1,000,000 dollars, in thirty 

 chemical establishments. Hats and caps are manu- 

 factured to the value of 10,500,000 dollars, occupy- 

 ing 18,000 labourers. Cabinet ware manufactured 

 to the annual value of 10,000,000 dollars, employ- 

 ing 15,000 workmen. Of iron were made, in 239 

 furnaces, in 1830, 191,536 tons,* converted into 

 112,866 tons of bar-iron, and 28,273 tons of cast- 

 ings, which gave an aggregate value of 13,329,760 

 dollars, employing 29,254 hands. Quantity of salt 

 manufactured, 4,444,929 bushels (besides which 

 5,901,157 bushels were imported during 1831, 

 chiefly from Great Britain). Lead, from United 

 States mines at Fever river and in Missouri, in 

 1830, 14,541,310 Ibs. (in 1831, the quantity was 

 only 6,449,080 Ibs.). Sugar, from the cane, 

 100,000,000 Ibs. (with 5,000,000 gallons of mo- 

 lasses), the whole consumption of the country 

 being 176,000,000 : 150 steam-engines are employed 

 on the sugar plantations ; and there are about forty 

 sugar refineries in the United States. The inspec- 

 tions of flour and meal for 1831 give the following 

 results: 3,117,112 bbls. wheat flour, 37,399 bbls. 

 rye flour, 17,337 hhds. and 56,476 bbls. of Indian 

 corn meal. The whale fishery employed, in 1831, 

 102,500 tons of shipping, yielding 1 10,000 bbls. of 

 sperm oil, and 115,000 bbls. of whale oil, with 

 100.000 Ibs. of whalebone : about 2,500,000 Ibs. of 

 sperm candles are manufactured : the annual product 

 of the whale fishery is about 3,500,000 dollars. 

 (See Whale Fishery.) Within a few years, the 

 consumption of coal for fuel has greatly increased 

 in the United States, and anthracite coal, which is 



* Erroneously Elated, in our article Iron, at 50,000 tons. 



found on the eastern side of the Alleghanies, has 

 been much used for this purpose: in 1820, the 

 quantity mined was 365 tons of twenty-eight 

 bushels; in 1823, 5823; in 1826, 48,047; in 1830, 

 174,925. In 1824, gold to the value of 5000 dollars, 

 the product of the Southern States,f was received at 

 the mint of the United ; in 1830, 466,000 dollars, 

 and in 1831, 496,000 dollars, from the same source. 

 The whole annual value of the produce of the com- 

 merce, manufactures and agriculture of the United 

 States has been estimated at from 1,200,000,000 to 

 1,500,000,000 dollars. An inspection of the table 

 of articles of domestic growth and manufactures 

 exported in 1831, will give some indications on 

 this subject. 



4. Constitution, Administration, Finances. The 

 government of the United States is a representa- 

 tive democracy, in which the people intrust the ad- 

 ministration of affairs to executive and legislative 

 officers of their choice. The powers of these offi- 

 cers are strictly defined by a written act, the con- 

 stitution, which was framed by the people, through 

 their delegates, adopted by them, and can be altered 

 only by them. The confederation consists of a 

 number of states, united together so as to form a 

 federal republic, in which each state reserves its in- 

 ternal legislation, and leaves to the representatives 

 of the whole people, in general congress, the ad- 

 justment of the relative claims of the members ; 

 the levying, direction and government of the com- 

 mon force of the confederation ; the requisition of 

 subsidies for the support of this force ; the making 

 of peace and war ; the entering into treaties ; the 

 regulation of commerce, &c. The government 

 rests on the basis of a full, fair and equal represen- 

 tation, the elective franchise being nearly universal. 

 (See our articles Constitution of the United States, 

 Congress of the United States, President of the 

 United States, Courts of the United States, and 

 Elections.) In the executive administration of the 

 government, the president is assisted by the several 

 heads of departments, who hold their offices at his 

 will. 1. The department of state was created by 

 an act of congress of Sept. 15, 1789 : by a previous 

 act of July 27, 1789, it was denominated the " de- 

 partment of foreign affairs ;" and it embraces what, 

 in other governments, are styled the " department 

 of foreign affairs" and the " home department." 

 The secretary of state conducts the making of all 

 treaties between the United States and foreign 

 powers, and corresponds officially with the public 

 ministers of the United States at foreign courts, 

 and with the ministers of foreign powers resident 

 in the United States. He is intrusted with the 

 publication and distribution of all the acts and re- 

 solutions of congress, and of all treaties with 

 foreign powers and Indian tribes ; preserves the 

 originals of all laws and treaties, and of the public 

 correspondence growing out of the intercourse be- 

 tween the United States and foreign nations ; is re- 

 quired to procure and preserve copies of the sta- 

 tutes of the several states ; grants passports to 

 American citizens visiting foreign countries ; pre- 

 serves the evidence of copyrights, and has control 



t The gold region extends from the Potomac into Alabama ; 

 and gold has also boon recently found in Tennessee. There are, 

 at present, about 20,000 labourers employed, partly in washings 

 and partly in mines. The whole value of the gold produced 

 has been estimated at 5.000,000 dollars annually, which is chiefly 

 exported to Europe, where gold bears a higher price, in pro- 

 portion to silver, than in the United States. It is also said 

 that there are proofs of these mines having been formerly 

 worked, pieces of machinery and crucibles, much superior to 

 the Hessian crucibles now iu use, having been found there. 



