110 GEOGRAPHY. 



longitude west of Greenwich. It is bounded on the north by British 

 America, on the east by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by the Pacific, 

 and on the south by the State and Gulf of Mexico. Its area amounts to 

 3,260,073 square statute miles, of which 1,570,916 belong to thirty states, the 

 thirty-first state, or California, being included in the estimate for territories. 

 Seme authorities allow 2,187,496 square miles to the territories ; this, 

 however, includes the whole of Texas as claimed by her. 



The population of the United States, as ascertained by the census of 

 1840, amounted to 17,063,353; the census of 1850 will probably exhibit an 

 aggregate of over twenty-one millions. The number of slaves, in 1840, 

 amounted to 2,009,031 ; of free negroes, to 386,235. The densest popula- 

 tion is found in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New York. The great 

 majority of the inhabitants are whites, principally of English descent or 

 Anglo-American ; the English is the prevailing language ; next to this the 

 German is most in use, being spoken by over five millions of people. The 

 aboriginal inhabitants are fast melting away, their number, according to 

 some estimates, amounting only to 200,000, and at any rate not exceeding 

 half a million. The largest denomination (as regards actual communicants) 

 is the Roman Catholic, which embraces 1,191,000 communicants ; next 

 comes the Methodist Episcopal Church with 1,112,756 communicants, the 

 Baptists with 686,807, the Presbyterians (old and new school) with 339,877, 

 the Lutheran with 163,000, the Congregational with 197,196, the Protestant 

 Episcopal with 67,550, the Dutch and German Reformed with 102,840, 

 &c. The proportion is somew^hat different as regards simple profession of 

 faith. 



According to the constitution of 1787, the United States form a 

 confederacy, at the head of which stands a president (now Millard Fillmore) 

 elected for four years, and a congress. This congress consists of a senate 

 and a house of representatives, which must assemble at least once a year, 

 unless otherwise provided by law. The senate is composed of two members 

 from each state, the present number being sixty-two. They are chosen by the 

 legislatures of the several states, for the term of six years. The Vice- 

 President of the United States is the President of the Senate, in which he 

 has only a casting vote. The house of representatives is composed of 

 members elected by the people of the several states for the period of two 

 years. The thirty-first congress is chosen according to the apportionment 

 of 1842, the ratio being one representative for every 70,680 persons in each 

 state. The present number of representatives is 231, and there are two 

 delegates, one from Minnesota and the other from Oregon, who have a right 

 to speak but not to vote. The compensation of each member of congress 

 is eight dollars per day, when in attendance in congress : in addition to 

 this, he receives eight dollars for every twenty miles of travel in going to or 

 returning from the seat of government. 



The governments of the individual states, although exhibiting slight 

 variations among each other, are modelled closely on the system of the 

 general government, namely a governor and a legislature, the latter 

 composed of a senate and assembly. 

 110 



