This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
POPULATION]
UNITED STATES
635

were four extensions of population through as many gaps in the Appalachian barrier, constituting the four main paths along which migration westward first took place: the Mohawk Valley in New York, the upper Potomac, the Appalachian Valley, and around the southern base of the Appalachian system. Four outlying groups beyond the mountains, with perhaps a twentieth part of the total population of the nation,—one about Pittsburg, one in West Virginia, another in northern Kentucky, and the last in Tennessee: all determined in situation by river highways—bore witness to the qualities of strength and courage of the American pioneer. Finally, there were in 1790 about a score of small trading or military posts, mainly of French origin, scattered over the then almost unbroken wilderness of the upper Mississippi Valley and region of the Great Lakes.

Twelve decennial censuses taken since that time (1800–1910) have revealed the extraordinary spread of population over the present area of the country (see Census: United States). The large percentage of the population, particularly of the great urban centres, that is established to-day in the river lowlands, reflects the rôle that water highways have played in the peopling of the country. The dwindling and growths of Nevada down to the present day, and to not a slight degree the general history of the settlement of the states of the Rocky Mountain region, are a commentary on the fate of mining industries. The initial settlement of the Pacific coast following the discovery of gold in California in 1848, and of the eastern base of the Rocky Mountains after the discovery of gold in 1859, illustrates the same factor. The Mormons settled Utah to insure social isolation, for the security of their theological system. A large part of the Great Plains to the east of the Rockies was taken up as farms in the decade 1880–1890; abandoned afterwards, because of its aridity, to stock grazing; and reconverted from ranches into farms when a system of dry farming had proved its tillage practicable. The negro more or less consciously moves, individually, closer into the areas whose climate and crops most nearly meet his desires and capabilities as a farmer; and his race as a whole unconsciously is adjusting its habitat to the boundaries of the Austroriparian life zone. The country's centre of population in 110 years moved more than 500 m. westward, almost exactly ialong the 39th parallel of latitude: 9.5 degrees of longitude, with an extreme variation of less than 19 minutes of latitude.

Growth of the Nation in Population.—If the 19th century was remarkable with respect to national and urban growth the world over, it was particularly so in the growth of the United States. Malthus expressed the opinion that only in such a land of unlimited means of living could population freely increase. The total population increased from 1800 to 1900 about fourteen fold (1331.6%).[1] The rate of growth indicated in 1900 was still double the average rate of western Europe.[2] In the whole world Argentina alone (1869–1895) showed equal (and greater) growth. At the opening of the century not only all the great European powers of to-day but also even Spain and Turkey exceeded the United States in numbers; at its close only Russia. At the census of 1910, while the continental United States population (excluding Alaska) was 91,972,266, the total, including Alaska, Hawaii and Porto Rico, but excluding the Philippine Islands, Guam, Samoa and the Canal Zone, was 93,402,151.

 Census 
Years.
Continental United States, exclusive of Alaska.
Population enumerated. Number of
foreign
 immigrants 
entering in
preceding
decade.
Areas (excluding water), in square miles.
Population
 within area 
of 1790.
Population
 within added 
area.
Total population. Total area. Settled area.
Number. Dec-
 ennial 
incr-
ease
per
cent.
Total. Area
acquired in
preceding
decade.
Area with
not less than
two persons
per sq. m.
Total area covered by
census.
Density of population.
Estimated
area of
isolated
settlements
beyond the
general
frontier.
Total. Of area
with not
less
than two
persons
per
sq. m.
Of entire census area.
Area of
1790.
Added
area.
Whole
area.
 1790  3,929,625 3,929,214 819,466 239,935 13,850 417,170 16.4 9.4 9.6
 1800  5,247,355 61,128 5,308,483 35.1 819,466 305,708 33,800 434,670 17.4 12.6 0.2 12.2
 1810  6,779,308 460,573 7,239,881 36.4 1,698,107 878,641§ 407,945 25,100 556,010 17.7 16.3 0.8 13.0
 1820  8,293,869 1,344,584 9,638,453 33.1 250,000† 1,752,347 54,240|| 508,717 4,200 688,670 18.9 19.9 2.4 13.9
 1830  10,240,232 2,625,788 12,860,692* 33.5 143,439 1,752,347 632,717 4,700 877,170 20.3 24.5 4.3 14.5
 1840  11,781,231 5,288,222 17,063,353* 32.7 599,125 1,752,347 807,292 2,150 1,183,870 21.1 28.2 7.1 14.4
 1850  14,569,584 8,622,292 23,191,876 35.9 1,713,251 2,939,021 1,186,674¶ 979,249 38,375 1,519,170 23.7 34.9 5.3 15.2
 1860  17,326,157 14,117,164 31,443,321 35.6 2,598,214 2,970,038 31,017** 1,194,754 107,375 1,951,520 26.3 41.5 5.7 16.1
 1870  19,687,504 18,870,867 38,558,371 22.6 2,314,824 2,970,038 1,272,239 131,910 2,126,290 30.3 47.2 7.6 13.4
 1880  23,925,639 26,263,570 50,155,783 30.1 2,812,191 2,970,038 1,569,565 260,025 2,727,454 32.0 57.4 10.6 18.4
 1890  28,188,321 34,791,445 62,947,714 24.9 5,246,613 2,970,038 1,947,280 2,974,159 32.2 67.6 13.6 19.2
 1900   33,533,630 42,749,757 75,994,575* 20.7 3,844,420  2,970,138 100 1,925,590 2,974,159 39.5 80.4 16.7 25.5
 1910   91,972,266* 21.0 7,753,816‡  2,974,159 30.9

 *Excludes persons of the military and naval service stationed abroad (5318 in 1830; 6100 in 1840; 91,219 in 1900).
 †Estimates of total up to 1820.
 ‡Total, 27,604,509, exclusive of at least some hundreds of thousands of Canadians and Mexicans.
 §Louisiana purchase from France.
 ||Florida purchase from Spain; population counted first, 1830.
 ¶Annexation of Texas (385,926 sq. m.); peace cession from Mexico (520,068 sq. m.); extinction of British claims to Oregon (280,680 sq. m.).
 ** Gadsden purchase from Mexico.

In 1790 there were about 600,000 white families in the United States. Speaking broadly, there were few very rich and few very poor. Food was abundant. Both social traditions and the religious beliefs of the people encouraged fecundity. The country enjoyed domestic tranquillity. All this time, too, the land was but partially settled. Mechanical labour was scarce, and even upon the farm it was difficult to command hired service, almost the only farm labourers down to 1850, in the north, being young men who went out to work for a few years to get a little money to marry upon. A change was probably inevitable and came, apparently, between 1840 and 1850.

The accessions in that decade from Ireland and Germany were enormous, the total immigration rising to 1,713,251 against 599,125 during the decade preceding, and against only 143,439 from 1820 to 1830. These people came in condition to breed with unprecedented rapidity, under the stimulus of an abundance,

  1. Unless otherwise explicitly stated, by “United States” is to be understood continental United States exclusive of Alaska.
  2. According to Lavasseur and Bodio, 14.5% from 1860 to 1880; 21.2% from 1880 to 1900; from 1886–1900, 11.0%.