UNITED STATES, EXTENSION OF TERRITORY OF THE. Prior to 1781 only six of the 13 original states, viz. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Pennsyl vania, Maryland, and Delaware, had exactly defined boundaries. Of the remaining seven states, some claimed to extend to the Pacific ocean and others to the Mississippi river. The states within exact boundaries ceded their claim to lands w. of their present limits in succession, as follows: March 1, 1781, New York March 1, 1784, Virginia; the cession including the state of Kentucky and the parts of the states of Illinois, Ohio, and Indiana which lie s. of the 41st parallel. Virginia reserved from this cession for military bounty lands the entire territory, 6,570 sq.m., betweek, the Scioto and Little Miami rivers, from their source to the Ohio river. April 19, 1785, Massachusetts; including her claims to territory w. of the present boundary of New York. Sept. 14, 1786, Connecticut; the cession being the territory between the parallels of 41* and 40' 2', and w. of a north and south line•drawn 120 m. w. of the present w. boundary of Penn sylvania. Connecticut then ceded all land and jurisdiction w. of that territory, now
situated in Ohio, and yet known as "the western reserve of Connecticut." Aug. 9, 1787, South Carolina; the territory ceded being a strip of land about 12 m, wide, a. of the 35th parallel and extending along the s. boundaries of North Carolina and Tennessee to the Mississippi. Feb. 25, 1790, North Carolina; the cession constituting Tennessee. May 30, 1800, Connecticut; yielding all territory and jurisdiction w. of her present area, and reserving the right of soil in the "western reserve," which lies between the par allels and meridians above recited. June 16, 1802, Georgia receiving that part of the cession of South Carolina lying within her present limits, ceded all between her present w. boundary and the Mississippi, and between the South Carolina cession and the 31st parallel. The foregoing cession secured to the general government all territory ceded by Great Britain, not included in the original 13 states, as in the main now bounded. Nov. 25, 1850, the state of Texas ceded all her claims to lands w. of the 20th meridiem (103d Greenwich) and between 32' and 36° 30' of latitude.