of Gen. Land Office for Dec. 1860, p. 13.)
Our land surface is 3,010,370 square miles, being 1,926,636,000 acres.
This area is compact and contiguous, divided into States and
Territories, united by lakes, rivers, canals, and railroads. We have no
colonies. Congress governs the nation by what the Constitution declares
to be '_the supreme law_,' whilst local regulations are prescribed and
administered by the several States and Territories. We front on the two
great oceans--the Atlantic and Pacific; extending from the St. Lawrence
and the lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, from near the 24th to the 49th
parallel of north latitude; and in longitude, from 67 deg. 25' to 124 deg. 40'
west of Greenwich. Our location on the globe as regards its land surface
is central, and all within the temperate zone. No empire of contiguous
territory possesses such a variety of climate, soil, forests and
prairies, fruits and fisheries, animal, vegetable, mineral, and
agricultural products. We have all those of Europe, with many in
addition, and a climate (on the average) more salubrious, and with
greater longevity, as shown by the international census. We have a far
more fertile soil and genial sun, with longer and better seasons for
crops and stock; and already, in our infancy, with our vast products,
feed and clothe many millions in Europe and other continents. Last year
our exports to foreign countries of breadstuffs and provisions, from the
loyal States alone, were of the value of $108,000,000.
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