Justices of the peace hold office four years. The district attorneys hold their office for the same period as the district judges. Georgia was the latest settled of the thirteen original States. The territory was comprehended within the charter of Carolina, but was claimed by Spain as a part of Florida. In 1732 George II. made a grant of it to a corporation called "Trustees for settling the Colony of Georgia." Previous to that time it was a mere wilderness, imperfectly explored, and without any settlement. General Oglethorp was in charge of the first immigration. The progress of the colony was at first slow. The restrictions on the land-grants annoyed the colonists, and many of them removed to Carolina. These restrictions were removed, and fifty acres were offered to each settler in fee-simple; and the colony soon received large accessions, most of the immigrants coming from Scotland or from Germany. In 1739 war broke out between England and Spain, and Florida was unsuccessfully invaded by troops from Georgia and South Carolina. Immediately afterwards Georgia was invaded by the Spanish, with no better success. Internal dissensions then prevailed, and the trustees concluded to surrender their charter to the king. In 1752 Georgia passed under the government of the crown; and the same rules were established as to the possession of lands and slaves that existed in the other colonies. In 1763 the King of England annexed to Georgia, by his proclamation, all the lands between the rivers Altamaha and St. Mary's. In the twenty-three years which followed the assumption of the territory by the crown, its population was increased eightfold, and its commerce in still greater proportion. When the war of the Revolution broke out, this colony joined the others at once, and remained steadfast to the cause of independence, although the British troops overran most of its settled territory, and drove many of the inhabitants from their homes. After the independence of this country was established, Georgia suffered very much from the Creeks and Cherokees. The charter of Georgia extended to the Pacific, like those of many of the colonies; but in 1791 a treaty was formed with those Indians, by which the western boundaries to the State were defined. Subsequently the Indians ceded a large territory to the United States; and Georgia ceded to the United States all its claims to the territory west of its present limits, where are now Alabama and Mississippi. Difficulties between the State and the Indians in the western part of it continued, and caused great difficulties, until in 1838 the national government removed the Indians to the Indian Territory, when Georgia came into undisturbed possession of the lands which they had occupied, which now form the south-west counties of the State. Previ ous to the late war Georgia was almost exclusively a cotton-growing State, the sea-island cotton growing upon islands on its coast and on some parts of the main-land being of especial value. In this State was also raised a large quantity of rice; and its large production of all these articles gave to it a valuable commerce. Gold occurs almost everywhere in the State, but not in quantities which have as yet permitted very valuable working. Since the termination of the war many valuable manufactories, especially of cotton, have been established in the State; and their success gives reason to believe that Georgia will eventually hold a high place among the manufacturing States. We have now completed the list of the thirteen original States. The national constitution provided that the ratification of nine States should be sufficient for the establishment of the constitution. Eleven States ratified the same before it went into operation in March, 1789. The other two States did not ratify the constitution until afterwards: North Carolina in November, 1789, and Rhode Island in May, 1790. These two States were not, however, treated as new States, requiring special acts of admission; but their senators and representatives were admitted to Congress, as those of the other. States were. It was, however, thought necessary to extend to them, by special acts, the laws of the United States passed previously. Thereafter no new States could be admitted, unless under the clause of the constitution providing for their admission. The practice has generally been that the people of a territory, desiring to become a State, formed a constitution, and submitted the same to Congress; and only when Congress approved of that constitution was the State admitted. The mode of admission is not, however, regulated by the constitution, and is therefore a matter of law only, and of course is subject to the pleasure of Congress. There has been much diversity in the method of admission. We have treated of the thirteen States in a geographical order. The remaining twenty-four States will be presented in the order in which they were received into the Union. VERMONT. Vermont was admitted in 1791. It is bounded north by Lower Canada, east by New Hampshire, south by Massachusetts, and west by New York and Lake Champlain. It contains 10,212 square miles, or 6,535,680 acres. By its constitution, the governor, lieutenant-governor, and treasurer, and most of the other officers of the State, are elected by the people biennially; no one being eligible to the office of governor or lieutenant-governor unless he has resided in the State four years next preceding the day of his election. The General Assembly (Senate and House of Representatives) meets biennially, and elects the judges of the Supreme Court biennially. Each judge of the Supreme Court has full power as chancellor. A very peculiar provision, wherein this State differed from all the others, was in force until recently. It related to its Council of Censors. This council consisted of thirteen persons, chosen by the people every seven years, and holding office for one year. Their functions seem to have been imitated from those of the old Roman censors. They had less power to do anything; but it was their duty to inquire into the doings of all the officers of the government, executive and legislative, and ascertain whether the constitution had been duly regarded. They inquired also whether the public taxes had been justly imposed, and duly collected in all parts of the State, and whether the funds of the State had been properly disposed of. For these purposes they could pass public censures, could order impeachments, and could advise the legislature to repeal laws which the censors thought unconstitutional. They could call a convention to amend the constitution, to meet within two years after their sitting. It may be believed that this singular institution was found useless, for it has been recently abolished. Vermont was discovered and in part explored by French officers in 1609. But the first white settlement in the State was made in 1724, in what is now Brattleborough, a site then regarded as within the limits of Massachusetts. Immigration did not begin to any extent until about a dozen years before the revolutionary war. The Governor of New Hampshire claimed the territory under the charter of that colony, the country west of the Connecticut being known at that time only by the name of the New Hampshire grants. In 1763 the Governor of New York claimed the territory under the grants from Charles II. to the Duke of York. The Governor of New Hampshire resisted his claim. The King of England was appealed to, and granted to New York jurisdiction to the Connecticut River. The Governor of New Hampshire yielded to this. The government of New York then endeavored to dispossess the settlers from their lands. Armed resistance under Ethan Allen and other such men made the efforts of New York ineffectual. If an officer undertook, under process of law, to eject a settler, he was stripped, tied to a tree, and severely whipped with beechen rods. This was called setting a "beech seal" upon him; and the effect was, that no officers could be induced to serve writs. The strife continued in various ways for some ten years. The Governor of New York issued ə proclamation commanding eight of the leaders of this resistance to surrender themselves, and offered a large reward for the capture of each of them. Whereupon these leaders replied by offering a reward for the capture of the Attorney-General of New York. Then the revolutionary war broke out, and gave the people of both colonies something else to attend to. In 1776 the settlers in Vermont petitioned the provincial congress for admission into the confederacy; but their petition was opposed by New York, and they withdrew it. The next year Vermont declared her independence, and again asked to be admitted into the confederacy. Congress delayed until 1781, when it offered to admit Vermont, but with a large diminution of her boundaries. This the people refused to accept, and remained outside the Union. In 1790 New York offered to relinquish all her claims to the territory of, or jurisdiction over, the State, for thirty thousand dollars. This offer Vermont accepted. During the war Vermont was not in the confederacy, and had no representatives in their congress; but her sons fought bravely for independence, and were engaged in some of the most important battles and expeditions of the war. In the war of 1812 they were active in the battle of Plattsburgh, and in the naval conflict on Lake Champlain. In 1837, when a rebellion broke out in Canada, the inhabitants of the northern counties of Vermont sympathized therewith; and a large number of them passed over the line into Canada, but dispersed and retreated before a British military force, the United States authorities commanding them to return and give up their arms. Vermont has some successful manufactories, and carries on some commerce through Burlington on Lake Champlain, but is essentially an agricultural State. Her mountains, from which she derives her name, yield large quantities of excellent slate and marble. KENTUCKY. This State was admitted into the Union in 1792. It is bounded north by Ohio, east by West Virginia and Virginia, south by Tennessee, west by Missouri and Illinois, and north-west by Indiana. It contains 37,680 square miles, or 24,115,200 acres. By the constitution the governor and lieutenant-governor are chosen by the people, by a plurality vote, for the term of four years. The governor cannot be chosen for the term succeeding his election. If the office of governor be vacant in the first half of the term, it is filled by a new election; if during the last half, the lieutenantgovernor becomes acting governor; and if he dies or is disabled, the speaker of the senate. The secretary of state is appointed by the governor, with the consent of the senate. The treasurer is elected by the people every two years. Members of the senate are chosen for four years; they are thirty-eight in number. The house of representatives consists of one hundred members, and hold office two years. Judges of the Court of Appeals are elected by districts for eight years, one being chosen every second year. The judge who has the shortest term to serve is chief justice. The Circuit Court judges are elected for six years, and justices of the peace for four years. The exploration of the territory now constituting Kentucky began about 1770; and in 1777 it was a county of Virginia, and the first court was held there. Although it began at a comparatively late period, the settlement increased very rapidly, the immigration being large and constant. The name "Kentucky" is said to mean, in the Indian language, "the dark and bloody ground;" and it was so called because savage warfare had existed there for many ages. Nor did the savages permit the occupation of their land without resistance. Conflicts between them and the immigrants were frequent and severe. It was believed that they could protect themselves better if separated from Virginia; and a movement in that direction began as early as in 1775. Successive conventions were held; and at length, in 1786, the legislature of Virginia passed an act of separation. It was not, however, accepted by the people of Kentucky, nor was the separation then completed. The difficulty in the way was a strange one, and peculiar to the people of this State; obstructing no other on their way into the Union. This difficulty was, the inclination of a large part of the people to have an independent nationality. This desire was inflamed by false reports, and, it is said, by clandestine efforts on the part of Spain, who at that time held possession of the mouth of the Mississippi. At length, however, but not until a seventh convention on the subject was held. the desire to be admitted into the Union prevailed. But it was not till after two more conventions that Kentucky became, in 1790, a separate territory, and was admitted into the Union in 1792. Troubles still continued; and from time to time the idea of independence was again agitated. The navigation of the Mississippi was of vast importance to Kentucky; and not until this point was secured by the purchase of Louisiana by the United States in 1803 were these troubles entirely composed. Since that time the prosperity of the State has constantly advanced, and the agricultural and other industries within its limits are well developed. The State is, indeed, eminently an agricultural and grazing country. It exports large amounts of tobacco, and raises stock in great variety and quantity. In many parts of the State the pastures support the stock nearly the year round. Coal is found in great abundance, and iron |