But, excluding the 153,000 free population supposed to have been acquired by the addition of territory since 1840, the gain is 5,283,004, and the increase per cent. is 37.14. The number of slaves, by the present census, is 3,198,324, which shows an increase of 711,111, equal to 28.58 per cent. If we deduct 19,000 for the probable slave population of Texas in 1840, the result of the comparison will be slightly different. The absolute increase will be 692,111, and the rate per cent. 27.83. The number of free colored persons in 1850 was 428,637; in 1840, 386,345. The increase of this class has been 42,292, or 10.95 per cent. From 1830 to 1840, the increase of the whole population was at the rate of 32.67 per cent. At the same rate of advancement, the absolute gain for the ten years last past would have been 5,578,333, or 426,515 less than it has been, without including the increase consequent upon additions of territory. The aggregate increase of population, from all sources, shows a relative advance greater than that of any other decennial term, except that from the second to the third census, during which time the country received an accession of inhabitants, by the purchase of Louisiana, considerably greater than one per cent of the whole number. The decennial increase of the most favored portions of Europe is less than one and a half per cent. per annum, while with the United States it is at the rate of three and a half per cent. According to our past progress, viewed in connection with that of European nations, the population of the United States in forty years will exceed that of England, France, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland, combined. In 1845, Mr. William Darby, the geographer, who has paid much attention to the subject of population, and the progress of the country, having found that the increase of population in the United States for a series of years had exceeded three per cent. per annum, adopted that ratio as a basis for calculation for future increase. He estimated the population of 1850 at 23,138,004, which it will be observed is considerably exceeded by the actual result. The following are Mr. Darby's calculations of the probable population of the Union for each five years up to 1885: 1850. 1855. 1860. 1865.. .23,138,004 1870... ..35,035,231 1885. .40,617,708 .47,087,052 .54,686,795 63,291,353 If the ratio of increase be taken at three per cent. per annum, the population duplicates in about twenty-four years. Therefore, if no serious disturbing influence should interfere with the natural order of things, the aggregate population of the United States at the close of this century must be over one hundred millions. The relative progress of the white and colored population in past years is shown by the following tabular statement, giving the increase per cent. of each class of inhabitants in the United States for sixty years: Classes. Whites 1790 to 1800. 1800 to 1810. 1810 to 1820. .82.2. 27.9. 32.2. 72.2. 33.4. 34·19. 25.25. 33.95. .36.85. ... 29.1. 28.58. .33.12. Total population..35.01. The census had been taken, previously to 1830, on the 1st of August; the enumeration began that year on the 1st of June, two months earlier; so that the interval between the fourth and fifth censuses was two months less than ten years, which time allowed for would bring the total increase up to the rate of 34:46 per cent. The table given below shows the increase for the sixty years, 1790 to 1850, without reference to intervening periods: Sixty years since, the proportion between the whites and blacks, bond and free, was 4.2 to 1. In 1850 it was 5.26 to 1, and the ratio in favor of the former race is increasing. Had the blacks increased as fast as the whites during these sixty years, their number, on the first of June, would have been 4,657,239; so that, in comparison with the whites, they have lost, in this period, 1,035,340. This disparity is much more than accounted for by European emigration to the United States. Dr. Chickering, in an essay upon emigration, published at Boston in 1848—distinguished for great elaborateness of research—estimates the gain of the white population from this source at 3,922,152. No reliable record was kept of the number of immigrants into the United States until 1820, when, by the law of March, 1819, the collectors were required to make quarterly returns of foreign passengers arriving in their districts. For the first ten years, the returns under the law afford materials for only an approximation · to a true state of the facts involved in this inquiry. Dr. Chickering assumes, as a result of his investigations, that of the 6,431,088 inhabitants of the United States in 1820, 1,430,906 were foreigners, arriving subsequent to 1790, or the descendants of such. According to Dr. Seybert, an earlier writer upon statistics, the number of foreign passengers from 1790 to 1810 was, as nearly as could be ascertained, 120,000; and from the estimates of Dr. Seybert, and other evidence, Hon. George Tucker, author of a valuable work on the census of 1840, supposes the number, from 1810 to 1820, to have been 114,000. These estimates make, for the thirty years preceding 1820, 234,000. If we reckon the increase of these emigrants at the average rate of the whole body of white population during these three decades, they and their descendants in 1820 would amount to about 360,000. From 1820 to 1830 there arrived, according to the returns of the custom-houses, 135,986 foreign passengers; and from 1830 to 1840, 579,370; making for the twenty years, 715,356. During this period, a large number of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland came into the United States through Canada. These were estimated at 67,903 from 1820 to 1830, and from 1830 to 1840, at 199,130. From 1840 to 1850, the arrivals of foreign passengers amounted to 1,542,850, equal to an annual average of 154,285. From the above returns and estimates, the following statement has been made up, to show the accessions to our population from immigration, from 1790 to 1850—a period of sixty years: Number of foreigners arriving from 1790 to 1810 120,000 47,560 114,000 19,000 58,450 Total number of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in 1820 Increase of the above 35,728 Increase from 1810 to 1820 of those arriving previous to 1810.. Increase from 1820 to 1830 of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the country in 1820. ... 134,130 Total number of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United States in 1830 732,847 Number of immigrants arriving from 1830 to 1840. 778,500 Increase of the above.. Increase from 1830 to 1840 of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United 135,150 254,445 Total number of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United States in 1840, 1,900,942 Number of immigrants arriving from 1840 to 1850* .1,542,850 Increase of the above at twelve per cent. 185,142 Increase from 1840 to 1850 of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United Total number of immigrants in the United States since 1790, and their descendants in 1850. 722,000 ..4,350,934 The following, we think, may be considered an approximate estimate of the population of the United States in 1850, classed according to their descent from the European colonists previous to the American Revolution, also from immigration since 1790, from the people who inhabited the territories acquired by the United States (Louisiana, Texas, &c.) and from Africans: Descendants of the European colonists, previous to 1776 Descendants of people of Louisiana, Texas, and other acquired territories. Descendants of Africans .14,280,865 1,000,000 4,350,934 3,626,961 .23,258,760 It will be seen from the above, that the total number of immigrants arriving in the United States from 1790 to 1850, a period of 60 years, is estimated to have been 2,759,329 —or an average of 45,988 annually for the whole period. It will be observed, also, that the estimated increase of these emigrants has been 1,590,405; making the total number added to the population of the United States since 1790, by foreign immigrants and their descendants, 4,350,934. Of these immigrants and their descendants, those from Ireland bear the largest proportion, probably more than one-half of the whole, or say two and a half millions. Next to these, the Germans are the most numerous. the first German settlers came to this country, in 1682, under the auspices of William From the time that Penn, there has been a steady influx of immigrants from Germany, principally to the Middle States, and of late years to the West. The density of population is a branch of the subject which naturally attracts the attention of the inquirer. Taking the thirty-one States together, their area is 1,485,870 square miles; and the average number of their inhabitants is 15.48 to the square mile. The total area of the United States is 3,280,000 square miles, and the average density of population is 7.22 to the square mile. From the location, climate and productions, and the habits and pursuits of their inhabitants, the States of the Union may be properly arranged into the following groups: Divisions. New England States (6). Area in sq. miles. Population. Pop. to sq.m. 63,226......2,727,597... Middle States, inc. Maryland, Delaware, and Ohio (6)....151,760.. .43.07 .8,653,713.. * As the heaviest portion of this great influx of immigration took place in the latter half of the decade, it will probably be fair to estimate the natural increase during the term at twelve per cent., being about one-third of that of the white population at its commencement. .286,077......3,537,089... Coast Planting States, inc. South Carolina, Georgia, Flo- 12.36 .308,210......5,168,000......16·75 .250,000.. .2,735,000......10.92 .287,321. 212,000. .188,982..... 165,000... •89 •87 The following is a table of the area, and the number of inhabitants to the square mile in each State and Territory in the Union: It will be observed that a large proportion of the area of the Free States and Terri .43.64 .62.31 .861.45 23.17 19.30 .27.28 15.68 .1.47 771,671 tories is comprised in the unsettled country west of the Mississippi. Territories, inhabited by Indians, also lie west of the Mississippi: Nebraska Territory. 66 The following .587,564 The following is a comparative table of the population of each State and Territory in 1850, and 1840: Free States. .9,978,922 Increase of population, 3,440,268, or, exclusive of California and Territories, 3,183,013 ---equal to 31.8 per cent. 9,658,224. 7,409,431 Total increase of population, 2,248,793, equal to 30.3 per cent. * Alexandria, &c., ceded back to Virginia since 1840. |