for by the first Convention was passed, and in December, 1803, the United States took possession of Louisiana. The immense territory thus acquired was an unexplored and unknown region to the Americans of that day. Only such scraps of information as came from hunters and trappers, and the wild tales of the Indians had reached the officials. And such tales! There were Indians of gigantic stature; a mountain of salt one hundred and eighty miles in length, all brilliant white in the sun, not a tree on it, and saline streams flowing from its base. There were prairies too rich for anything but grass, soil so fertile that things grew for the planting. In 1804 a party of explorers under Lewis and Clark was sent out by the government; they followed the Missouri to its source, crossed the mountains to the Pacific, and traversed all that region now known as Oregon. The commerce of America now began to increase with remarkable rapidity, and complications arising with other countries obliged the United States to protect her commerce by engaging in two wars, one with Tripoli and one with England. France and England were engaged in that mighty struggle which followed the events of the French Revolution. Seriously in need of men and unable to buy them from the German Duchies as she had done in her war with the colonies, England began that system of impressment of seamen which finally became so intolerable that war was necessary. The evil was one of long standing. As far back as 1796 application was made in London for the release of two hundred and seventy seamen thus seized within a year. The people of the United States were roused to a state of indignation. Measures for fitting out a suitable naval armament were taken, and a policy of aggression decided upon. The war with Britain, however, was preceded by a three years’ war with the piratical power of Tripoli, which with the other Barbary States of North Africa, had for many years made the Mediterranean unsafe for commerce. The weaker mercantile nations of Europe, after vainly endeavoring to suppress these outrages, had consented to pay an annual tribute for the security of their vessels. The United States did the same for a time, but having grown weary of this course declared war against Tripoli. The contest ended in 1804, and resulted in the partial suppression of the piracies. It needed a second struggle in 1815 to induce Algiers and Tunis to give up all claims to tribute from the United [Illustration: MAIN BUILDING, INTERNATIONAL CENTENNIAL EXHIBITION, 1876.] States, and this was accomplished under the same talented commander who brought the first war to a successful close--the gallant Commodore Decatur.