establishing the Smithsonian Institution and creating the Department of
the Interior; the war with Mexico was successfully fought, and the
territory known as New Mexico and Upper California was acquired. The
acquisition of territory by Mr. Polk's Administration added to the
United States California and New Mexico and portions of Colorado, Utah,
and Nevada, a territory containing in all 1,193,061 square miles, or
over 763,000,000 acres, and constituting a country more than half as
large as all that held by the Republic before he became President. This
addition to our domain was the next largest in area ever made. It was
exceeded only by the purchase by President Jefferson of the Louisiana
Territory, in which was laid so deep the foundation of the country's
growth and grandeur. If our country had not already attained that rank
by the acquisition of the Louisiana Territory, the further additions
made by Mr. Polk's Administration advanced it at once to a continental
power of assured strength and boundless promise.

JAMES D. RICHARDSON.

APRIL 27, 1897.




William Henry Harrison

March 4 to April 4, 1841