But in the very
infancy of the United States far-sighted statesmen saw and predicted
that, weak in population and apparently restricted in available
territory as the new Republic then was, it had within it the germs of
colossal grandeur, and would at no remote day occupy the continent of
America with its institutions, its authority, and its peaceful
influence.
That expectation has been thus far signally verified. The United States
entered at once into the occupation of their rightful possessions
westward to the banks of the Mississippi. Next, by the spontaneous
proffer of France, they acquired Louisiana and its territorial
extension, or right of extension, north to the line of the treaty
demarcation between France and Great Britain, and west to the Pacific
Ocean. Next, by amicable arrangement with Spain, they acquired the
Floridas, and complete southern maritime frontiers upon the Gulf of
Mexico. Then came the union with the independent State of Texas,
followed by the acquisitions of California and New Mexico, and then of
Arizona. Finally, Russia has ceded to us Alaska, and the continent of
North America has become independent of Europe, except so much of it as
continues to maintain political relations with Great Britain.
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