ABSTRACT
When the operations of the Government commenced, the territorial extent of the United States was small, compared with what it now is. The original thirteen States were bounded on the north by Canada, on the south by Florida, on the east, as they yet are, by the Atlantic, and on the west by Louisiana, which embraced the territory west of the Mississippi river. Besides the other obstacles to be overcome in order to create the common purpose to resist foreign aggression, the pursuits of the people of the several sections were so varied by local causes as to demand the most conciliatory measures, in order to escape collisions of interest which would have proved injurious to all. The ladies of Hartford, Connecticut, entered into an association pledging themselves to retrench their domestic expenses, and to give "preference to the manufactures of their own country".
