THE UNITED STATES

THE LAND AND ITS RESOURCES

1.Geography and History.—The life of a nation, like influence of that of an individual, depends mainly on two factors: the moral and mental make-up of the nation or the individual and the opportunities of improvement which are placed within reach. On the one hand, a weak and indolent race, as for example the Spanish-American, has made slight use of great natural resources; on the other hand, a strong and energetic race, as the Danish, has accomplished little in countries like Iceland and Greenland. In the territory now occupied by the American nation, a strong people found opportunities for development such as no other country of equal size possesses. The elements which form the American people, and the leading characteristics of the race, will become apparent as the narrative proceeds. In the present chapter will be found a brief description of the extraordinary natural resources which a benign Providence has placed at the disposal of the inhabitants of North America south of Canada and north of Mexico.Without this knowledge, the student will seek in vain to comprehend the history of the formation of the American people and the growth of its federative state.

Of course it will not do to exaggerate the effect of material advantages and disadvantages. Moreover, the application of steam to modes of transport, especially to communication by land, has greatly lessened the importance of many natural forces. It should be remembered, however, that the steam engine has exerted an effective influence only since the close of the War of 1812. Since then it has overcome in a constantly increasing degree the obstacles to intercourse offered by distance, by mountain systems, and by river courses. Steam has now made the markets of the world more accessible to the farmer on the western prairies than they were to the cultivator of central New York in 1820.Modern scientific discoveries have only slightly affected other natural forces, as climate and rainfall. They have enabled man to make a better use of fertile soils and rich mineral deposits; they have also, by means of artificial irrigation, converted barren valleys into fruitful gardens. As yet, however, science has not been able to increase the rainfall of a rainless region or to moderate the climate so far as to affect agriculture. The historical student ought to note every important application of scientific discoveries to the arts, since the influence of many improvements of this description has far outweighed the effect produced by political changes. If the cotton gin（p.326）had never been invented, it is not unlikely that slavery would have been peaceably abolished in the South in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. On the other hand, if slavery had been profitable over a larger area of the United States, that institution might have become so firmly established that it could not have been overturned. Of all natural forces, the climate and rainfall are the most important, as an excess of cold or an absence of rain forbids the development of human activity.