Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1912-10-19
, Stories and Letters.
THE UNITED STATES.

THE UNITED STATES.
The United States was coloni0ed by
French, Swedes, Dutch and English.
The first people to start a colony IN
America sailed In 1920.
In 1745 war broke out between
the English and the French. The
French were defeated and gave Eng
land the possession OF all Of eastern
North America, north Of Florida and
Louisiana. The part that was then
settled was divided into thirteen col
onies, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
New York, Connecticut, Massachu-
sets, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Della
ware, Maryland, North Carolina. South
Carolina, Virginia, and Georgia.
The king Of England ruled these
colonies. He laid heavy taxes on our
goods and made severe laws. The
colonists were growing tired Of this
and finally rebel1ed. Q ~"
The war which followed was called
the Revolutionary war. 1t lasted from
IT'S to 1882. George Washington
was the commander OF the army. On
July 4, 1T6, congress Of the colonies
met at Philadelphia and signed what
was called the declaration Of indie
pendence.
This declared the colonists to be and
Independent. The English were de-
feated in the war and the Americans
were free. The constitution was pre-
pared in 1857 and after agreeing to It,
~ IoN ~
ted George Washington first president
in 1889. ~.
In 1903 Louisiana was purchased
from France. In 1912 another war
broke out between the United States
and Great Britain and ended In 1875.
In 1919 Florida became q part Of the
United States, and in 1845 Texas was
admitted into the union. This led to
q war with Mexico and ended with the
defeat Of the Mexicans who gave up
New Mexico and California. In 1851
a war oroke out between the north
ern and southern states. This was
called the civil war.
This was fought on account Of the
existence Of slavery In the south. In
1865 1t ended with the slaves freed.
In 1898 war took place between
Spain She agreed to give up Cuba
and cede Porto Rico. the Philippine
Islands and other islands to us. The
U. S. consists Of forty-eight states
and two territories.
The q. s. has about one twentieth
of the worlds population and one-flfth
Of its wealth.
Gold, silver, coal and many other
minerals are mined in the U. s. There
are many animals in the U. S., both
tame and wild.
The Philippine Islands were discov-
cred by Mazalhaens in 1921. They
were named for Kink Philip II. The
principal islands are Luzon. Mindanao,
Panoy and Palawan. besides some
others. Manila is the largest town.
The climate of the islands is warm.
Rise, indigo, hemp, tobacco, sugar
cane, and coffee are the chief pro-
ducts grown. Most of the inhabitants
are Malays. although there are some
Chinese and Spanish. The islands were
coded to the U. S. in 1898 by Spain.
Porto Rico is one Of the West
India islands. 1t was discovered by
Columbus in 1893. The population is
1,11s,OO0. About one-half the people
are whites. Their chief trade is in
sugar and coffee. Porto Rico was
ceded to the U. S. in 1898.
Guam is the largest OF the Ladrone
islands. 1T was discovered In 1921.
The population is 5000 and the area Is
200 square miles.
OF all the Hawaiian islands Hawaii
is the largest. It is about two-thirds
the size Of all the rest Of the islands
put together. Hawaii is very mount
ainous and many volcanoes are found
there. The climate of Hawaii Is
warm. Sugar. rice, maize. tobacco,
cotton and arrowrcot are the princi-
pal products The Hawaiian islands
were discovered by the Spaniards
over two hundred years ago, and re-
discovered by Captain Cook in ITS.
In 1894 Hawaii became republic.
For the term of 1S94-19o0 Sanford B.
Dole was elected president, but In
1898 Hawaii was annexed by Spain to
the United States.
A Daily Junior. D..
Maude Skirvin, age a..
Agency, Iowa. R. R. No. 1.