Page images
PDF
EPUB

REPUBLICAN LANDMARKS.

CHAPTER I.

WHITE AND FREE COLORED POPULATION.

THOUGH repeated efforts were made, by the Continental Congress, to obtain an enumeration of the inhabitants of the United Colonies, no accurate enumeration was had prior to the adoption of the Federal Constitution. It is the better received opinion now, however, that at the beginning of the Revolution the population of the Colonies did not exceed two millions, eight hundred thousand. Since the formation of the United States Government there have been seven enumerations of the inhabitants, the periods and aggregate results of which were as follows: Three millions, nine hundred and twenty-nine thousand, eight hundred and twenty-seven persons, in the year 1790; five millions, three hundred and five thousand, nine hundred and twenty-five persons, in the year 1800; seven millions, two hundred and thirty-nine thousand, eight hundred and fourteen persons, in the year 1810; nine millions, six hundred and thirty-eight thousand, one hundred and thirty-one persons, in the year 1820; twelve millions, eight hundred and sixty-six thousand, and twenty persons, in the year 1830; seventeen millions, sixty-nine thousand, four hundred and fifty-three persons, in the year 1840; and twenty-three millions, one hundred and ninety-one thousand, eight hundred and seventy-six persons, in the year 1850.

The following table, collated from the Census returns of 1850, exhibits the aggregate white and free colored population of each State and Territory-the number of white and free colored foreigners, and of those of unknown birth, and the ratio of the foreign to the white and free colored, and of the free colored to the total population, in each State:

[graphic][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][ocr errors][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed][subsumed]
[ocr errors]

It thus appears that the total white and free colored population of the
United States, in 1850, amounted to 19,987,763 persons-19,553,268 of
whom were white, 434,495 colored, 17,708,316 natives, 2,244,774 for-
eigners, and 34,673 whose birth-place was unknown. Of the natives,
17,279,929 were white, and 428,387 colored; of the foreigners, 2,240,684
were white, and 4,090 colored; and of unknown birth, 32,655 were white,
and 2,018 colored. This white and free colored population, it appears,
further, was thus distributed in the slave-holding and non-slave-holding
States and Territories:

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small]

The proportion of foreign to white and free colored native, in different sections of the country, may be stated to have been as follows, in 1850:

Eastern States,......

Middle States,....

Southern States,..........................................................................................1.86
Southwestern States,........

Northwestern and Territories,.........

66 66
66 66

66 66 "6

..5.34 66 ..........12.75

Of the native white population, 13,103,650 still resided in, and 4,176,225 resided out of the States in which they were born. Connecticut, South Carolina and Vermont, had more than half as many native born residing in other States, as remained at home; Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky and Tennessee, nearly one-half, and Massachusetts, New Jersey and Maryland, about one-third. No less than 726,450 persons were living in slave-holding States, who were natives of non-slave-holding States, and 232,112 persons living in non-slave-holding States, who were natives of slave-holding States. Whilst more than one-fourth of the free persons born in the Southern States had left those States for other parts of the Union, only one-sixth had left the Eastern and Middle States, about onetenth the Southwestern, and one-fortieth the Northwestern and the Territories. The following table, taken from the Census of 1850, will explain this fact more fully:

[blocks in formation]

Of the foreign white population, numbering 2,240,535 persons, in the United States, in 1850, there were from Ireland 961,719, being over forty-two per cent. of the whole number; from Germany, 583,774, being over one-fourth of the whole number; and from England, 278,675, being near one-eighth of the whole number. The Irish, German, and English, it will be thus seen, constituted considerably over two-thirds of the entire foreign population. Of the remainder, 147,711 were from British America; 70,550 from Scotland; 54,069 from France; 29,868 from Wales; 13,358 from Switzerland; 13,317 from Mexico; 12,678 from Norway; 9,848 from Holland; 5,772 from the West India Islands; 3,645 from Italy; 3,559 from Sweden; 3,113 from Spain; 1,838 from Denmark; 1,543 from South America; 1,414 from Russia; 1,313 from Belgium; 1,274 from Portugal; 946 from Austria; 758 from China; 588 from the Sandwich Islands; 141 from Central America; 106 from Turkey; 86 from Greece; 34 from Sardinia; and the balance from other countries,

and unknown. Of the immigrants who arrived in 1851 and '52, there were 278,793 Irish; 188,009 German; 59,828 English; 14,942 Scotch; 14,842 French; 10,954 Swiss; 4,720 Welsh; 4,001 Norwegian; 3,012 Hollanders; 2,938 Swedes; 976 Italians; 840 West Indian; 557 Belgians; 728 Spaniards; 341 South American; 328 Poles; and the remainder in small numbers from other countries. During the first six months of 1855, there arrived at New York 69,476 immigrants, 22,801 of whom were Irish, and 26,824 German.

But few of the Irish appear to be engaged in agricultural pursuits; they are chiefly in the commercial and manufacturing States. Of the 961,719 in the country in 1850, there then were 857,345 residents in the free States and Territories, being about 88 per cent. of the whole number; and of those there were 196,609 in the manufacturing States of New England, being 23 per cent. of the number in the free States. In the commercial and manufacturing States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, there were 525,926, being within a fraction over 61 per cent. of the number in the free States, and leaving but 134,810 scattered over the agricultural States and Territories of the West and Northwest, being only about 16 per cent. of the number in the free States and Territories, and the greater portion of those were probably engaged as laborers on canals and railroads. Of those in the slave States, numbering 104,374, there were 70,200 in the States of Louisiana, Maryland, Missouri and Virginia, being 69 per cent. of those in the slave States.

So with the English; they, too, were mainly in the Eastern, Middle and Northwestern States. Only 25,575 of the whole number were in the slave States, 19,211 of whom were in the States of Virginia, Maryland, Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky and Texas. Those in the free States numbered 253,100, of which number 31,240 were in the New England States, being 12 per cent. of the number in the free States; 134,245 in the Middle States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, being 53 per cent.; 87,615 in the Western and Northwestern States, being only 35 per cent., of which number 25,660 were alone in Ohio.

The Germans were found in greater numbers in the agricultural States, and but comparatively few of them in New England. Of the number in the country, 456,439 were in the non-slave-holding States, and only 127,335 in the slave States. Of those in the free States, only about 7,000 were in the six New England States, being but one out of every sixty-six of their number in the free States. In the Middle States of New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania, there were 210,360, being over 46 per cent. of the number in the free States; in New York alone, there were 120,609, being near one-fourth; and in the Western and Northwestern States and Territories about 240,000, being over 50 per cent., of which 112,022 were in Ohio. Of the 127,335 in the slave States,

of whom 58,854 were in the States of Missouri and Kentucky, being nearly one-half of those in the slave States.

The Hollanders, Norwegians, Swiss and Swedes, were principally in the agricultural States and Territories in the West and Northwest. Twothirds of the Norwegians were in Wisconsin, and one-fifth in Illinois; one-third of the Swedes were in Illinois; one-fourth of the Swiss in Ohio, and one-third in Illinois and Wisconsin; and about two-thirds of the Hollanders were in Iowa, Michigan, Wisconsin and New York. The French were principally in New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana and Ohio. One-half of the Mexicans were in California, one-third in Texas, and onetenth in New Mexico. Of 30,000 Welsh, 25,000 were in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Wisconsin. One-third of the Scotch were in New York, one-tenth in Pennsylvania, and about one-seventh in the New England States.

That a large part of the foreign born population resides in the cities and towns, may readily be perceived by examining the following table, showing the number of inhabitants, native and foreign, of the cities therein named:

NATIVE.

FOREIGN. SLAVE STATES.

NATIVE.

FOREIGN..

...277,752.........235,733 Baltimore,...... ........130,491...........35,492 Philadelphia,...286,346.........121,699 New Orleans,................................. ...50,470...........48,601 .88,948. .....46,667 St. Louis,.......... ..36,529..........,38,397 .60,558...........54,541 Washington,.... ..31,162...........16,591 Louisville,.............

FREE STATES.

New York,

Boston,..

Cincinnati,.

Albany,.......

[blocks in formation]

.4,282

.........31,755.............9,679 Charleston,..................17,809.............4,643
.13,693....... ..15,682 Richmond,..
..26,561....... .12,322 Mobile,

..11,055.............9,927

Portland,....................................... ..17,265.............3,512

........

New Haven,..........................................16,641. .........3,697

.....

..33,530.

.25,079...........12,461

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

...468,978

..........1,187,831 ..692,896

Milwaukie,.,...................................... ..7,181...........12,782 Aggregate,..........

..........868,917 .........542,832 Aggregate population,..................1,880,727

Total,

Aggregate,........

Native,

.1,411,749 Foreign,..........

It will be thus seen, that almost one-third of the entire foreign population in the country resided in the twenty cities named in the foregoing table, while they contained but about the fifteenth part of the native population of the United States. Of the 1,924,011 foreigners in the nonslave-holding States, 542,832 were in the cities named in the table; and of the 316,673 in the slave States, 150,64 were in the Southern cities named in the same table.

It will be seen, also, that of the foreign population of the New England States, there were in the cities of Boston, Providence, Portland, and New Haven, no less than 63,555, being over 20 per cent. of the whole number in these States. In the cities of New York, Philadelphia, Newark, and Albany, there were 386,345, being 38 per cent. of the foreign population of the three Middle States of New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »