THE HISTORICAL REGISTER OF THE UNITED STATES. PART I. FROM THE DECLARATION OF WAR IN 1812, TO JANUARY 1, 1814. VOL. I. w WASHINGTON CITY, PUBLISHED BY THE EDITOR, T. H. PALMER. Printed by G. Palmer, Philadelphia. 1814. PREFACE. V 2 IT has long been a subject of surprise and regret, that among the many valuable periodical publications in the United States, no one should have been devoted to the preservation of an authentic and complete collection of American state papers and official records. Several weekly and other publications, it is true, have professed to devote a portion of their columns for this purpose; but the mass of extraneous matter with which these valuable documents are mingled, in publications of this nature, is such as to render it a work of labour to refer to them; and from their being generally conducted by violent partizans, they lose much of their authority and usefulness. The official documents in works of this kind too, are generally incomplete, and are seldom, if ever, derived from authentic sources, but merely copied from newspapers, which, from the hurry and carelessness with which they are conducted, are liable to numerous omissions and the most gross blunders. To supply this deficiency is the principal object of the present publication. For this purpose, it is intended to publish two volumes annually, the first of which will be devoted chiefly to legislative proceedings, and notices of internal improvements, and of the progress of the arts and manufactures, &c.; the second to recording events more strictly historical. But though the main object of the Register, is the collection and arrangement of documents respecting American history, its pages will not be exclusively devoted to that purpose. It is expected that sufficient room will generally be found for recording the most important events occurring in other countries, and particularly in Europe. The importance of the transactions of the United States for the last eighteen months, however, and the anxiety of the Editor to give the documents of that interesting period complete and entire, have induced him to devote the first volumes exclusively to American affairs, and to postpone a number of interesting articles which had been prepared, among which are a history of the campaigns in Russia and Germany, in 1812-13, and a history of the revolution in Spain, up to the present time. The Register commences with a "Review of the Political Institutions of the United States." This review contains short comparative notices of the various provisions of the different state governments, with a more ample detail of the institutions of the federal government. It is believed that this essay will be found generally interesting, as comprising in small compass much useful information, not to be otherwise attained without a great deal of labour and research. The history of the proceedings of congress during the two sessions held since the declaration of war, with a complete collection of the state papers laid before them by the executive, copied from the originals printed for the use of congress, occupies the remainder of |