Excerpt from The Farmers' and Country Merchants' Almanac and Ready Reference Book, 1870: Containing Historical Sketches of the Counties of Albany, Rensselaer, Washington, Warren, Schenectady, Saratoga, Rutland and Bennington The first permanent English settlement in the United States was at Jamestown, Virginia, in which continued an English colony till the Declaration of In dependence, July 4, 1776. After a war Of seven years' duration, peace was made, and independence acknowledged by treaty with England in 1783. The Articles of Confederation were entered into in 1777. The present United States Constitution, framed in 1787, went into operation March lst, 1789, after being approved Of by the thirteen original States Of the Union. Louisiana, com prising the States and Territories now belonging to the United States west of the Mississippi, was purchased Of France in 1803, and Florida of Spain, in 1819. 'texas was admitted into the Union by Joint Resolutions of Congress, passed March lst, 1845. New Mexico and Upper California, including Utah, were acquired by treaty with Mexico, ratified in 1848. Arizona Was acquired by treaty with Mex ico, ratified in June, 1854. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.