└────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Illustration: Hall of Representatives ... Washington. Illustration: Bridge and Rapids near Falls of Niagara. Illustration: (‡ U.S. Presidents) A BOOK OF THE UNITED STATES. EXHIBITING ITS GEOGRAPHY, DIVISIONS, CONSTITUTION, AND GOVERNMENT; INSTITUTIONS, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, AGRICULTURE, FINE ARTS, COMMERCE, ANTIQUITIES, MANUFACTURES, LITERATURE, RELIGION, MINERALOGY, EDUCATION, BOTANY, POPULATION, GEOLOGY, NATURAL CURIOSITIES, NATURAL HISTORY, RAILROADS, PRODUCTIONS, CANALS, &c. &c. &c. PUBLIC BUILDINGS, AND PRESENTING A VIEW OF THE REPUBLIC GENERALLY, AND OF THE INDIVIDUAL STATES; Illustration: View on the Mississippi. TOGETHER WITH A CONDENSED HISTORY OF THE LAND, FROM ITS FIRST DISCOVERY TO THE PRESENT TIME. THE BIOGRAPHY OF ABOUT TWO HUNDRED OF THE LEADING MEN: A DESCRIPTION OF THE PRINCIPAL CITIES AND TOWNS; WITH STATISTICAL TABLES, RELATING TO THE RELIGION, COMMERCE, MANUFACTURES, AND VARIOUS OTHER TOPICS. EDITED BY GRENVILLE MELLEN WITH ENGRAVINGS OF CURIOSITIES, SCENERY, ANIMALS, CITIES, TOWNS, PUBLIC BUILDINGS, &c. HARTFORD: PUBLISHED BY A. C. GOODMAN & CO. 1852. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1839, by GRENVILLE MELLEN, in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Massachusetts. PREFACE. IN presenting this volume to the American public, the introductory remarks in which we shall indulge will be few and general, as the book is one of that kind that speaks with singular plainness for itself, and seems to us to require little upon the prefatory page in the way of explanation, either with reference to its character considered collectively, or in detail.