ee trade has since gone on with varying features.
Political leadership in the United States was passing from the South to the
North. New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio were fast pushing to the front.
Buffalo had 20,000 population; and other interior towns were growing
rapidly. Millions of acres of valuable lands were put under cultivation in
the central and western counties of New York and Pennsylvania and in Ohio;
manufacturing industries multiplied. From a sparsely inhabited country in
1800, Ohio had grown, in 1824, to be the fifth State in population.

[Sidenote: American letters]

American letters were enriched in this year by Irving's "Tales of a
Traveller," Paulding's "John Bull," Bancroft's "Politics in Ancient
Greece," and Verplanck's "Revealed Religion."

[Sidenote: South American republics recognized]

During the first session of Congress a special message from President
Monroe recommended the establishment of intercourse with the new
independent States of South America--Venezuela, New Granada, Buenos Ayres,
Chile and Peru. Congress voted for recognition by an overwhelming majority,
and the President signed the bill. The United States was the first among
the civilized powers to welcome the new republics.

The struggle for independence in South America was furthered more than ever
by the unsatisfactory state of affairs on the Peninsula. In Spain the
return of absolute rule was still followed by a reign of terror. The people
there relapsed into medieval barbarism.

[Sidenote: Portuguese Constitution triumphant]

[Sidenote: Growth of republican sentiment]

[Sidenote: Iturbide shot]

[Sidenote: Santa Anna in power]

In Portugal, the revolution stirred up by Dom Miguel ended with the
expulsion of that prince from Lisbon. His father, Dom Pedro, in Brazil,
thought it wise to recognize the liberal constitution imposed upon him by
his people. In the other Latin-American countries the people rebelled
against one-man rule. In Chile, General O'Higgins was forced to resign his
dictatorship and a provisional Triumvirate assumed the government. At Lima,
Bolivar found his powers curtailed. Mariano Prado was elected president.
The feeling against imperialism was so strong in Central America that all
the smaller States joined in confederation to ward off this danger
threatening them from Mexico. The Junta of San Salvador went so far as to
pass a resolution favoring annexation by the United States of North America
in cas