The first gazetteer of the United States, The United States Gazetteer represents a foundational moment in American cartography and geography. Scott's book features a comprehensive account of the geography, economy, and demography of the young republic, organized state by state. Accompanying the text is an important series of 19 engraved maps—one of the earliest efforts to map each U.S. state, as well as the Northwest and Southwest Territories. These maps, along with those in Carey's American Atlas published the same year, reflect a major advancement in American cartographic history.
Scott’s maps detail the United States as a whole and provide individual maps of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont, Virginia, the Northwest Territory, and the Southwest Territory. Each map offers a combination of political, geographic, and economic features, illustrating rivers, towns, and boundaries.
As one of the earliest gazetteers of the United States, this work holds historical importance in American publishing and cartography. It provides critical insights into the development of geographic knowledge during the early republic, making it a cornerstone of American cartographic history.