AMERICAN. 237 



New Orleans ; and the war was terminated by the peace of Ghent. 

 In the same year, a brief war with Algiers was concluded ; and the 

 United States thenceforward released from paying tribute. 



Under the presidency of James Monroe, Florida was ceded by 

 Spain to the United States, in 1821 ; on the payment of $3,000,000: 

 but it had been settled by the Spaniards, at least as early as 1565; 

 and held by the British from 1763 to 1781. Vermont was admitted 

 into the Union, in 1791 ; Kentucky, in 1792 ; Tennessee, in 1796 ; 

 Ohio, in 1802; Louisiana, in 1812; Indiana, in 1816; Mississippi, 

 in 1817; Illinois, in 1818 ; Alabama, in 1819; Maine,.and Missouri, 

 in 1820; Arkansas, in 1836; and Michigan, in 1837. Of subsequent 

 events under the presidencies of J. Q. Adams, Jackson, and Van 

 Buren, down to the recent death of the lamented Harrison, we have 

 no farther room here to speak. 



Texas, was a part of Mexico, till it formed a separate constitution, 

 in 1832, and declared itself independent, in 1835. This declaration 

 has been sustained, not only by the victory of General Houston over 

 the Mexicans, at San Jacinto, in 1836; when General Santa Anna 

 was taken prisoner; but by various other and more recent successes. 

 Texas is now substantially independent, under the presidency of 

 General Lamar. 



3. Mexico, appears to have been inhabited by a race called Tol- 

 tccs, (Toltecas, or Toultecs), who emigrated from the north, as early 

 as A. D. 544, or 648. They were displaced, in 1178, or 1196, by 

 the Aztecs, who founded the city of Tenochtitlan, now Mexico, in 

 1325. This country was invaded by Fernando Cortez, in 1519; 

 who, with a single regiment of Spaniards, marched to the capital, 

 and was received by the emperor, Monlezuma, as a god, and child 

 of the sun. Having ruined Montezuma, and captured his successor, 

 Guatimozin, Cortez, in 1521, completely subjugated Mexico to the 

 Spanish crown, under the name of New Spain. By the year 1596, 

 the Spanish settlements were extended from Yucatan to the Rio Del 

 Norte, and California. The last insurrection of the natives was in 

 1692 ; when the viceroy's palace was burnt; but the Indians were 

 subdued. 



Mexico remained in general tranquillity, till 1810; when the par- 

 tiality exhibited by the administration, towards the Spaniards, led 

 to an insurrection of the Creoles or natives. In 1813, a national 

 Congress was assembled at Chilpanzingo, which declared Mexico 

 independent. Jlugustin Iturbide, (Yturbide), being sent by the 

 Spanish government, against the revolutionists, united with them 

 in effecting their independence ; and in 1822, he was proclaimed 

 emperor of Mexico : but he was banished in the following year ; and 

 returning thither, was arrested and shot, in 1824. Since that time, 

 Mexico has been nominally a representative republic ; though often 

 the scene of tumult and civil war. In 1831, General Bustamente 

 succeeded Guerrero as president; which office, with some brief inter- 

 vals, he has held till the present time. In 1835, by a decree of the 

 Mexican Congress, the state legislatures were suppressed ; and the 

 government became a central republic : but since that time, in many 

 of the provinces, it has possessed only nominal power. 



