UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 569 



England, and English reports are quoted as good authority in almost 

 all cases The stated courts consist of a supreme court, which is held 

 twice a year at the seat of government; a district court, held four 

 times a year in each state ; and circuit courts, divided into eastern, 

 middle, and southern, where one of the associate judges of the su- 

 preme court always presides. 



Religion. ...The constitution of the United States is entirely silent 

 on the subject of religion. By the constitution of the separate states 

 all the different sects of the Christian religion are tolerated. Every 

 man is admissible to office, provided he is well qualified in other re- 

 spects. In some of the states, provision is made by law, for the sup- 

 port of ministers. The Congregationalists and Presbyterians are the 

 most numerous Christian sects. 



Literature. ...The original settlers of the United States, and those 

 who afterwards emigrated thither, were generally people in the lower 

 ranks of life. Poverty and persecution drove many to seek an asy- 

 lum, where living was cheap and religious opinions unquestioned, 

 Some were sent thither as a punishment for their crimes, others fled 

 thither to escape from justice. Men of science and literature, meet- 

 ing with encouragement only in populous and wealthy countries, could 

 have no inducement to visit the new world. The life of the early 

 settlers was laborious, and but little attention was paid to the educa- 

 tion of their children. Suitable teachers, in fact, were scarcely to 

 be procured. — The commercial advantages enjoyed by these colonies, 

 soon brought money into the country. Money, in giving the power, 

 gave also a relish, for the enjoyment of the more refined pleasures of 

 society. A taste for reading gradually diffused itself. In proportion 

 as the population increased, schools were instituted, and the system 

 of common education, in many places, soon became equal to that of 

 England. The revolution threw open the commerce of the whole 

 world to the enterprizing merchants of the United States; the wealth 

 and population of the country increased with amazing rapidity ; and 

 a taste for literary pursuits became universal. Literary and philoso- 

 phical societies were formed in most of their cities; all the works of 

 merit, published in England, were imported, and many of them re- 

 printed ; and at this day no country in the world possesses a better 

 informed population than the United States. 



The republic has, however, as yet, produced but few literary cha- 

 racters of eminence. The reason of this is sufficiently obvious. In 

 no country is the business of a man of letters sufficient, of itself, to 

 afford him a comfortable subsistence. In Europe, till within the 

 last century, no class of society suffered more by poverty than the 

 literati. Now, almost every government has a philosophical society 

 under its immediate protection. These societies are endowed with 

 extensive privileges. They are in the practice of bestowing large 

 premiums upon works of peculiar merit. The king also, particularly 

 in England, bestows liberal annual pensions upon those who have dis- 

 tinguished themselves in the field of science. In America, the go- 

 vernment cannot, from its nature, afford the same encouragement to 

 literature; and however the literary societies may be disposed, their 

 funds will not afford laree premiums. It also frequently happens, 

 that men of education, in Europe, are obliged to subsist by their pens, 

 for want of other employment. In the United States, almost any man 



