relate to the development and settlement of the public the first being a plan of survey applied to all public lands owned by the United States government; the other being a law by which the possession of these lands was made possible to settlers.
Following Ohio into the Union came Lonisiana (1812), the "Creole" state whose people were descendants of the original French and Spanish settlers. This was the first state to be formed west of the Mississippi., and New Orleans, its chief city, known as the "Crescent City," is one of the oldest in our country and full of historic interest.
After the War of 1812 the new states began to come in rapidly. The admission of Indiana (1816), "The Hoosier"; Mississippi (1817) , the "Bayou"; Illinois, the "Prairie" (1818); Alabama (1819) , the "Cotton," show that the pioneer settlements of our people had been closing in along the banks of the Ohio and the Mississippi Rivers.
We now go back to the far East, for the state of Maine, our "Pine Tree" state, has now been developed, and its admission (1820) completes the coast line of states as far south as Georgia. The next state admitted is Missouri (1821), the "Iron," followed by Arkansas, the "Bear" (1836) , to be followed in turn by Michigan (1836),the "Lake" or 'Wolverine state, the thirteenth state to be admitted; and the stars in our flag are now doubled.
The first census of the United States was taken in 1790, and the Constitution provided that it must be taken every ten years thereafter. In that year, the order of states in rank of population was as follows: Virginia first, Pennsylvania second, North Carolina third, Massachusetts fourth, and New York fifth.
The census of 1820 makes a derided change, we find, in the order of population, and New York comes first, Virginia second, Pennsylvania third, North Carolina fourth, Ohio fifth, Kentucky sixth, and Massachusetts seventh.
The states of Florida and Texas came into the Union in the same year—the one March 3 and the other December 1845; and thereby hangs a tale. It had been claimed by our government that Texas was included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803; but the Mexicans claimed it also, and, in 1819, in order to close the deal for the purchase of Florida, our government was obliged to relinquish its claim to Texas. At this time the possession of Florida was more desirable and necessary to the peace of our country than the
