United States

Introduction

The United States, in full: the United States of America, lies in North America. Its capital is Washington, D.C. (District of Columbia).

Relevant states:

• California
• Florida
• Illinois
• Iowa
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Nebraska
• New York
• Ohio
• Pennsylvania
• Texas
• Virginia
• Washington
• West Virginia
• Wisconsin

See also: American Immigration

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Maps

The two maps below contrast the United States in 1789 and currently.

The first map shows the United States as it was organized at the beginning of the First Congress of the United States on 4 March 1789. The United States Constitution, Article VII, required ratification by at least nine states (of the earlier thirteen states under the Articles of Confederation) in order for the Constitution to take effect. New Hampshire was that ninth state, admitted to the Union on 21 June 1788. With Virginia and New York, there were eleven states by the beginning of the First Congress on 4 March 1789.

North Carolina and Rhode Island later ratified the Constitution and were admitted to the Union on 21 November 1789 and 29 May 1790, respectively (see United States National Archives and Records Administration, Teaching With Documents: The Ratification of the Constitution).

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Data

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19th century

The three maps below show changes in the United States from the beginning of the 19th century to the end, including the American Civil War:

The following is a Victorian trade card for Arbuckle Bros. coffee of New York City:

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Survey townships

The midwestern and western (and some southern) states came from public lands divided into survey townships by the federal government. A survey township, or congressional township, is usually 6 miles by 6 miles (36 square miles = 23,040 acres = 9323.96 hectares) and is not an administrative unit of government. Each of the survey township’s 36 sections (numbered squares) is 1 mi × 1 mi (1 sq mi = 640 ac = 259 ha).

The surveyors use an east–west baseline and a north–south principal meridian. Each survey township is a certain number of rows (called townships) north or south of the baseline and a certain number of columns (called ranges) east or west of the principal meridian (see United States Geological Survey, The Public Land Survey System).

The example in the image below shows:

1. Survey township T2SR3W (Township 2 South, Range 3 West), which is the survey township (23,040 ac) that is two rows (townships) south of the baseline and 3 columns (ranges) west of the principal meridian.
2. Section 14 (640 ac) within that survey township.
3. Aliquot parts (standard subdivisions) within that section: quarter sections (160 ac), eighth sections (80 ac), and quarter-quarter (sixteenth) sections (40 ac). Not shown are half sections (320 ac).
4. Government lots, which are numbered and can be irregularly shaped.

In states, the land of survey townships often became administrative units of government: county subdivisions called civil townships—or in Wisconsin, towns. Sometimes the civil township boundaries are different from the survey township boundaries, and sometimes the county boundaries or civil township boundaries have changed over time.

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Reference list

• Census Bureau Regions and Divisions with State FIPS [Federal Information Processing Standards] Codes, United States Census Bureau, http://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/maps/reg_div.txt.
• Forstall, Richard L, compiler and editor. 1996, March. Population of States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990. Washington, D.C.: United States Census Bureau, (PDF) http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/PopulationofStatesandCounties oftheUnitedStates1790-1990.pdf [text spreadsheet of U.S. and state data: http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/Population_PartII.txt; text spreadsheet of state and county data: http://www.census.gov/population/www/censusdata/Population_PartIII.txt].
• Immigration Commission. 1911. Reports of the Immigration Commission. Statistical Review of Immigration, 1820–1910. Distribution of Immigrants, 1850–1900. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, https://archive.org/details/reportsofimmigra03unitrich.
• Resident Population Data (Text Version) – 2010 Census, United States Census Bureau, http://www.census.gov/2010census/data/apportionment-pop-text.php.
• United States Geological Survey, The National Map, The Public Land Survey System, http://nationalmap.gov/small_scale/a_plss.html.
• United States National Archives and Records Administration, Teaching With Documents: The Ratification of the Constitution, http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/constitution-day/ratification.html.

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