Editor's Table.
The seventh enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States, taken on the 1st of June, 1850, exhibits results which every citizen of the country may contemplate with gratification and pride. The Report of the Superintendent of the Census-office to the Secretary of the Interior, laid before Congress, in December, 1851, gives a full abstract of the returns, from which we select the most interesting portions; adding other statements showing the progress of this country in population and resources.
Since the census of 1840, there have been added to the territory of the Republic, by annexation, conquest, and purchase, 824,969 square miles; and our title to a region covering 341,463 square miles, which before properly belonged to us, but was claimed and partially occupied by a foreign power, has been established by negotiation, and has been brought within our acknowledged boundaries. By these means the area of the United States has been extended during the past ten years, from 2,055,163 to 3,221,595 square miles, without including the great lakes which lie upon our northern border, or the bays which indent our Atlantic and Pacific shores; all which territory has come within the scope of the Seventh Census.
In endeavoring to ascertain the progress of our population since 1840, it will be proper to deduct from the aggregate number of inhabitants shown by the present census, the population of Texas in 1840, and the number embraced within the limits of California and the new territories, at the time of their acquisition. From the best information which has been obtained at the Census-office, it is believed that Texas contained, in 1840, 75,000 inhabitants; and that when California, New Mexico, and Oregon came into our possession, in 1846, they had a total population of 97,000. It thus appears that we have received by accessions of territory, since 1840, an addition of 172,000 to the number of our people. The increase which has taken place in those extended regions since they came under the authority of our Government, should obviously be reckoned as a part of the development and progress of our population, nor is it necessary to complicate the comparison by taking into account the probable natural increase of this acquired population, because we have not the means of determining its rate of advancement, nor the law which governed its progress, while yet beyond the influence of our political system.
The total number of inhabitants in the United States, according to the returns of the census, was on the 1st of June, 1850, 23,258,760. The absolute increase from the 1st of June, 1840, has been 6,189,307, and the actual increase per cent. is slightly over 36 per cent. But it has been shown that the probable amount of population acquired by additions of territory should be deducted in making a comparison between the results of the present and the last census. These reductions diminish the total population of the country, as a basis of comparison, and also the increase. The relative increase, after this allowance, is found to be 35.17 per cent.
The aggregate number of whites in 1850 was 19,631,799, exhibiting a gain upon the number of the same class in 1840, of 5,436,004, and a relative increase of 38.20 per cent. 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 | 23,138,004 | 1870 | 40,617,708 |
| 1855 | 26,823,385 | 1875 | 47,087,052 |
| 1860 | 31,095,535 | 1880 | 54,686,795 |
| 1865 | 35,035,231 | 1885 | 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. | 1790 to 1800 | 1800 to 1810 | 1810 to 1820 | 1820 to 1830 | 1830 to 1840 | 1840 to 1850 |
| Whites | 35.7 | 36.2 | 34.19 | 33.95 | 34.7 | 38.28 |
| Free col. | 88.2 | 72.2 | 25.25 | 36.85 | 20.9 | 10.9 |
| Slaves | 27.9 | 33.4 | 29.1 | 30.61 | 23.8 | 28.58 |
| Total col. | 32.2 | 37.6 | 28.58 | 31.44 | 23.4 | 26.22 |
| Total pop. | 35.01 | 36.45 | 33.12 | 33.48 | 32.6 | 36.25 |
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 34.36 per cent.
The table given below shows the increase for the sixty years, 1790 to 1850, without reference to intervening periods:
| Number. | 1790. | 1850. | Absolute Increase. | Incr. per cent. |
| Whites | 3,172,364 | 19,631,799 | 16,459,335 | 527.97 |
| Free col. | 59,466 | 428,637 | 369,171 | 617.44 |
| Slaves | 697,897 | 3,198,324 | 2,500,427 | 350.13 |
| Total free col. and slaves | 757,363 | 3,626,961 | 2,869,598 | 377.00 |
| Total pop. | 3,929,827 | 23,258,760 | 19,328,883 | 491.52 |
Sixty years since, the proportion between the whites and blacks, bond and free, was 4.2 to one. 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
Natural increase, reckoned in periods of ten years: 47,560
Number of foreigners arriving from 1810 to 1820: 114,000
Increase of the above to 1820: 19,000
Increase from 1810 to 1820 of those arriving previous to 1810: 58,450
Total number of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in 1820: 359,010
Number of immigrants from 1820 to 1830: 203,979
Increase of the above: 35,728
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: 135,150
Increase from 1830 to 1840 of immigrants and descendants of immigrants in the United States in 1830: 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[8]: 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 States in 1840: 722,000
Total number of immigrants in the United States since 1790, and their descendants in 1850: 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: 14,280,885
Ditto of people of Louisiana, Texas, and other acquired territories: 1,000,000
Immigrants since 1790, and their descendants: 4,350,934
Descendants of Africans: 3,626,961
Total population: 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. From the time that the first German settlers came to this country, in 1682, under the auspices of William 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. | Area in sq. miles. | Population. | Inhab. to sq. m. |
| New Engl'd States (6) | 63,226 | 2,727,597 | 43.07 |
| Middle States, including Maryland, Delaware and Ohio (6) | 151,760 | 8,653,713 | 57.02 |
| Coast Planting States, including South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana (6) | 286,077 | 3,537,089 | 12.36 |
| Central Slave States: Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Arkansas(6) | 308,210 | 5,168,000 | 16.75 |
| Northwestern States: Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa (5) | 250,000 | 2,735,000 | 10.92 |
| Texas | 237,321 | 212,000 | .89 |
| California | 188,982 | 165,000 | .87 |
Table of the area, and the number of inhabitants to the square mile, in each State and Territory in the Union.
| Free States. | Area in sq. miles | Population in 1850. | Inhab. to sq. m. |
| Maine | 30,000 | 583,188 | 19.44 |
| New Hampshire | 9,280 | 317,964 | 34.26 |
| Vermont | 10,212 | 314,120 | 30.07 |
| Massachusetts | 7,800 | 994,499 | 126.11 |
| Rhode Island | 1,306 | 147,544 | 108.05 |
| Connecticut | 4,674 | 370,791 | 79.83 |
| New York | 46,000 | 3,097,394 | 67.66 |
| New Jersey | 6,320 | 489,333 | 60.04 |
| Pennsylvania | 46,000 | 2,311,786 | 50.25 |
| Ohio | 39,964 | 1,980,408 | 49.55 |
| Indiana | 33,809 | 988,416 | 29.23 |
| Illinois | 55,405 | 851,470 | 15.37 |
| Iowa | 50,914 | 192,214 | 3.77 |
| Wisconsin | 53,924 | 305,191 | 5.45 |
| Michigan | 56,243 | 397,654 | 7.07 |
| California | 188,982 | 165,000 | .87 |
| Minnesota Terr. | 83,000 | 6,077 | .07 |
| Oregon ditto | 341,463 | 13,293 | .04 |
| Mew Mexico ditto | 219,774 | 61,547 | .28 |
| Utah ditto | 187,923 | 11,380 | .06 |
| Total | 1,474,993 | 13,419,190 |
| Slaveholding States. | |||
| Delaware | 2,120 | 91,535 | 43.64 |
| Maryland | 9,356 | 583,035 | 62.31 |
| Dis. of Columbia | 60 | 51,687 | 861.45 |
| Virginia | 61,352 | 1,421,661 | 23.17 |
| North Carolina | 45,000 | 868,903 | 19.30 |
| South Carolina | 24,500 | 668,507 | 27.28 |
| Georgia | 58,000 | 905,999 | 15.68 |
| Florida | 59,268 | 87,401 | 1.47 |
| Alabama | 50,723 | 771,671 | 15.21 |
| Mississippi | 47,126 | 606,555 | 12.86 |
| Louisiana | 46,431 | 511,974 | 11.02 |
| Texas | 237,321 | 212,592 | .89 |
| Arkansas | 52,198 | 209,639 | 4.01 |
| Tennessee | 45,600 | 1,002,625 | 21.98 |
| Kentucky | 37,680 | 982,405 | 26.07 |
| Missouri | 67,380 | 682,043 | 10.12 |
| Total | 844,115 | 9,638,223 |
It will be observed that a large proportion of the area of the Free States and Territories is comprised in the unsettled country west of the Mississippi. The following Territories, inhabited by Indians, also lie west of the Mississippi.
Nebraska Territory: 136,700 square miles.
Indian Territory: 187,171 square miles.
Northwest Territory: 587,564 square miles.
The following is a comparative table of the population of each State and Territory in 1850, and 1840:
| Free States. | Pop. 1850. | Pop. 1840. | |
| Maine | 583,188 | 501,793 | |
| New Hampshire | 317,964 | 284,574 | |
| Vermont | 313,611 | 291,948 | |
| Massachusetts | 994,499 | 737,699 | |
| Rhode Island | 147,544 | 108,830 | |
| Connecticut | 370,791 | 309,978 | |
| New York | 3,097,394 | 2,428,921 | |
| New Jersey | 489,555 | 373,306 | |
| Pennsylvania | 2,311,786 | 1,724,033 | |
| Ohio | 1,980,408 | 1,519,467 | |
| Indiana | 988,416 | 685,866 | |
| Illinois | 851,470 | 476,183 | |
| Iowa | 192,214 | 43,112 | |
| Wisconsin | 305,191 | 30,945 | |
| Michigan | 397,654 | 212,367 | |
| California | 165,000 | ||
| Minnesota Territory | 6,077 | ||
| Oregon Territory | 13,293 | ||
| New Mexico Territory | 61,505 | ||
| Utah Territory | 11,380 | ||
| Total | 13,419,190 | 9,978,922 |
Increase of population, 3,440,268, or exclusive of California and Territories, 3,183,013—equal to 31.8 per cent.
| Slaveholding States. | Pop. 1850. | Pop. 1840 |
| Delaware | 91,536 | 78,085 |
| Maryland | 583,035 | 470,019 |
| District of Columbia[9] | 51,687 | 43,712 |
| Virginia | 1,421,661 | 1,239,797 |
| North Carolina | 868,903 | 753,419 |
| South Carolina | 668,507 | 594,398 |
| Georgia | 905,990 | 691,392 |
| Florida | 87,401 | 54,477 |
| Alabama | 771,671 | 590,756 |
| Mississippi | 606,555 | 375,651 |
| Louisiana | 511,974 | 352,411 |
| Texas | 212,592 | (est. 75,000) |
| Arkansas | 209,639 | 97,574 |
| Tennessee | 1,002,625 | 829,210 |
| Kentucky | 982,405 | 779,828 |
| Missouri | 682,043 | 383,702 |
| Total | 9,658,224 | 7,409,431 |
Total increase of population 2,248,793, equal to 30.3 per cent.
Comparative population of the United States, from 1790 to 1850.
| Census of | Total. | Whites. | Free col. | Slaves. |
| 1790 | 3,929,827 | 3,172,464 | 59,446 | 687,897 |
| 1800 | 5,345,925 | 4,304,489 | 108,395 | 893,041 |
| 1810 | 7,239,814 | 5,862,004 | 186,446 | 1,191,364 |
| 1820 | 9,654,596 | 7,872,711 | 238,197 | 1,543,688 |
| 1830 | 12,866,020 | 10,537,378 | 319,599 | 2,009,043 |
| 1840 | 17,063,355 | 14,189,705 | 386,295 | 2,487,355 |
| 1850 | 23,258,760 | 19,631,799 | 428,637 | 3,198,324 |
Table showing the number of the different classes of population in each State and Territory.
| Free States. | Whites. | Free col. | Slaves. |
| Maine | 581,863 | 1,325 | |
| New Hampshire | 317,385 | 475 | |
| Vermont | 313,411 | 709 | |
| Massachusetts | 985,704 | 8,795 | |
| Rhode Island | 144,000 | 3,544 | |
| Connecticut | 363,305 | 7,486 | |
| New York | 3,049,457 | 47,937 | |
| New Jersey | 466,240 | 23,093 | 222 |
| Pennsylvania | 2,258,463 | 53,323 | |
| Ohio | 1,956,108 | 24,300 | |
| Indiana | 977,628 | 10,788 | |
| Illinois | 846,104 | 5,366 | |
| Iowa | 191,879 | 335 | |
| Wisconsin | 304,965 | 626 | |
| Michigan | 395,097 | 2,537 | |
| California | 163,200 | 1,800 | |
| Minnesota Territory | 6,038 | 39 | |
| Oregon Territory | 13,089 | 206 | |
| New Mexico Territory | 61,530 | 17 | |
| Utah Territory | 11,330 | 24 | 26 |
| Total | 13,406,394 | 192,745 | 248 |
| Slaveholding States | Whites. | Free col. | Slaves. |
| Delaware | 71,289 | 19,957 | 2,289 |
| Maryland | 418,590 | 74,077 | 90,368 |
| District of Columbia | 38,027 | 9,973 | 3,687 |
| Virginia | 895,304 | 53,829 | 472,528 |
| North Carolina | 533,295 | 27,196 | 283,412 |
| South Carolina | 274,623 | 8,900 | 384,984 |
| Georgia | 521,438 | 2,880 | 381,681 |
| Florida | 47,167 | 925 | 39,309 |
| Alabama | 426,507 | 2,272 | 342,892 |
| Mississippi | 205,758 | 899 | 309,898 |
| Louisiana | 255,416 | 17,537 | 239,021 |
| Texas | 154,100 | 331 | 58,161 |
| Arkansas | 162,068 | 589 | 46,982 |
| Tennessee | 756,893 | 6,271 | 239,461 |
| Kentucky | 761,688 | 9,736 | 210,981 |
| Missouri | 592,077 | 2,544 | 87,422 |
| Total | 6,224,240 | 235,916 | 3,198,076 |
The following table shows the population west of the Mississippi River.
| Western Louisiana | 207,787 |
| Texas | 212,592 |
| Arkansas | 209,639 |
| Missouri | 682,043 |
| Iowa | 192,214 |
| Minnesota Territory | 6,077 |
| New Mexico Territory | 61,505 |
| Utah Territory | 11,293 |
| Oregon Territory | 13,293 |
| California | 165,000 |
| Total | 1,761,530 |
The population of the Valley of the Mississippi, comprising Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana, is 9,090,688, of whom the free population is 7,614,031, and 1,476,657 are slaves.
The Ratio of Representation, as determined by the recent census, and a late Act of Congress, will be about 93,716, and the relative representation of the States in Congress for the next ten years, will be as follows:
| New York | 33 |
| Pennsylvania | 25 |
| Ohio | 21 |
| Virginia | 13 |
| Massachusetts | 11 |
| Indiana | 11 |
| Tennessee | 10 |
| Kentucky | 10 |
| Illinois | 9 |
| North Carolina | 8 |
| Georgia | 8 |
| Alabama | 7 |
| Missouri | 7 |
| Maine | 6 |
| Maryland | 6 |
| New Jersey | 5 |
| South Carolina | 5 |
| Mississippi | 5 |
| Connecticut | 4 |
| Michigan | 4 |
| Louisiana | 4 |
| Vermont | 3 |
| New Hampshire | 3 |
| Wisconsin | 3 |
| Rhode Island | 2 |
| Iowa | 2 |
| Arkansas | 2 |
| Texas | 2 |
| California | 2 |
| Florida | 1 |
| Delaware | 1 |
| Total | 233 |
Agriculture.—The following is a summary of the returns of the Census for a portion of the statistics obtained respecting agriculture:
Number of acres of land improved: 112,042,000
Value of farming implements and machinery: $151,820,273
Value of live stock: $552,705,238
Bushels of wheat raised, 1849: 104,799,230
In 1839: 84,823,272
Increased production: 19,975,958
Bushels of Indian corn raised, 1849: 591,586,053
In 1839: 377,531,875
Increased production: 214,054,178
Pounds of Tobacco raised, 1849: 199,522,494
In 1839: 219,163,319
Decreased production: 19,640,825
Bales of cotton of 400 lb. each—1849: 2,472,214
In 1839: 1,976,199
Increased production: 495,016
Pounds of sheep's wool raised, 1849: 52,422,797
In 1839: 35,802,114
Increased production: 16,620,683
Tons of hay raised, 1849: 13,605,384
In 1839: 10,248,108
Increased production: 3,357,276
Pounds of butter made, 1849: 312,202,286
Pounds of cheese made, 1849: 103,184,585
Pounds of maple sugar, 1849: 32,759,263
Cane sugar—hhds. of 1000 lbs: 318,644
Value of household manufactures, 1849: $27,525,545
In 1839: 29,023,380
Decrease: 1,497,735
Manufactures.
The entire capital invested in the various manufactures in the United States, on the 1st of June, 1850, not to include any establishments producing less than the annual value of $500, amounted, in round numbers, to: $530,000,000
Value of raw materials used: 550,000,000
Amount paid for labor: 240,000,000
Value of manufactured articles: $1,020,300,000
Number of persons employed: 1,050,000
The following are the number of establishments in operation, and capital employed in cotton, woolens, and iron:
| No. of Estab. | Capital invested. | |
| Cotton | 1094 | $74,501,031 |
| Woolens | 1559 | 28,118,650 |
| Pig Iron | 377 | 17,356,425 |
| Castings | 1391 | 17,416,360 |
| Wrought iron | 422 | 14,495,220 |
The value of articles manufactured in 1849 was as follows, compared with 1839.
| 1849. | 1839. | |
| Cottons | $61,869,184 | $46,350,453 |
| Woolens | 43,207,555 | 20,696,999 |
| Pig Iron | 12,748,777 | |
| Castings | 25,108,155 | 286,903 |
| Wrought Iron | 16,747,074 | 197,233 |
The period which has elapsed since the receipt of the returns at Washington, has been too short to enable the Census-office to make more than a general report of the facts relating to a few of the most important manufactures. The complete statistical returns, when published, will present a very full view of the varied interests and extent of the industrial pursuits of the people.
The Press.—The statistics of the newspaper press form an interesting feature in the returns of the Seventh Census. It appears that the whole number of newspapers and periodicals in the United States, on the first day of June, 1850, amounted to 2800. Of these, 2494 were fully returned, 234 had all the facts excepting circulation given, and 72 are estimated for California, the Territories, and for those that may have been omitted by the assistant marshals. From calculations made on the statistics returned, and estimated circulations where they have been omitted, it appears that the aggregate circulation of these 2800 papers and periodicals is about 5,000,000, and that the entire number of copies printed annually in the United States, amounts to 422,600,000. The following table will show the number of daily, weekly, monthly, and other issues, with the aggregate circulation of each class:
| Published. | No. | Circulation. | Copies annually. |
| Daily | 350 | 750,000 | 235,000,000 |
| Tri-weekly | 150 | 75,000 | 11,700,000 |
| Semi-weekly | 125 | 80,000 | 8,320,000 |
| Weekly | 2,000 | 2,875,000 | 149,500,000 |
| Semi-monthly | 50 | 300,000 | 7,200,000 |
| Monthly | 100 | 900,000 | 10,800,000 |
| Quarterly | 25 | 29,000 | 80,000 |
| Total | 2,800 | 5,000,000 | 422,600,000 |
Of these papers 424 are issued in the New England States, 876 in the Middle States, 716 in the Southern States, and 784 in the Western States. The average circulation of papers in the United States, is 1785. There is one publication for every 7161 free inhabitants in the United States and Territories.
Mortality.—The statistics of mortality for the [pg 561] census year, represent the number of deaths occurring within the year as 320,194, the ratio being as one to 72.6 of the living population, or as ten to each 726 of the population. The rate of mortality in this statement, taken as a whole, seems so much less than that of any portion of Europe, that it must, at present, be received with some degree of allowance.
Indians.—The Indian tribes within the boundaries of the United States are not, as is well known, included in the census, but an enumeration of these tribes was authorized by an act of Congress, passed in March, 1847; and the census of the tribes east of the Rocky Mountains has been taken by Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq., under the direction of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. These returns have been published, with estimates for the Indian tribes in Oregon, California, Utah, &c., and the result shows the total Indian population to be 388,229, to which may be added from 25,000 to 35,000 Indians within the area of the unexplored territories of the United States. The Indian population of Oregon is estimated at 22,733; of California 32,231; of New Mexico 92,130; of Utah 11,500; of Texas 24,100. In round numbers, the total number of Indians within our boundaries may be stated at 420,000.
Census of 1840.—For the purpose of comparison, we here present a summary of the Sixth Census of the United States, June 1, 1840.
| Free States. | Whites. | Free col. | Slaves. |
| Maine | 284,036 | 537 | 1 |
| New Hampshire | 500,438 | 1,355 | |
| Vermont | 291,218 | 730 | |
| Massachusetts | 729,030 | 8,668 | |
| Rhode Island | 105,587 | 3,238 | 5 |
| Connecticut | 301,856 | 8,105 | 17 |
| Total of N. England | 2,212,165 | 22,633 | 23 |
| New York | 2,378,894 | 50,027 | 4 |
| New Jersey | 351,588 | 21,044 | 674 |
| Pennsylvania | 1,676,115 | 47,864 | 64 |
| Ohio | 1,502,122 | 17,342 | 3 |
| Indiana | 678,698 | 7,165 | 3 |
| Illinois | 472,254 | 3,598 | 331 |
| Michigan | 211,560 | 707 | |
| Wisconsin | 30,749 | 185 | 11 |
| Iowa | 42,924 | 172 | 16 |
| Total Free States | 9,557,065 | 170,727 | 1129 |
| Slaveholding States. | Whites. | Free col. | Slaves. |
| Delaware | 58,161 | 16,919 | 2,605 |
| Maryland | 318,204 | 62,078 | 89,737 |
| District of Columbia | 30,657 | 8,361 | 4,694 |
| Virginia | 740,968 | 49,842 | 448,987 |
| North Carolina | 484,870 | 22,732 | 255,817 |
| South Carolina | 259,084 | 8,276 | 327,038 |
| Georgia | 407,695 | 2,753 | 280,944 |
| Florida | 27,943 | 837 | 25,717 |
| Alabama | 335,185 | 2,039 | 253,532 |
| Mississippi | 179,074 | 1,369 | 195,211 |
| Louisiana | 158,457 | 25,592 | 168,451 |
| Arkansas | 77,174 | 465 | 19,935 |
| Tennessee | 640,627 | 5,524 | 183,059 |
| Kentucky | 590,253 | 7,317 | 182,258 |
| Missouri | 323,888 | 1,574 | 58,240 |
| Total Slave States | 4,632,640 | 215,568 | 2,486,226 |
| Total United States | 14,189,705 | 386,295 | 2,487,355 |
Total population of the United States in 1840, 17,063,355.
Atlantic States.—The progress of population in the Atlantic States, since 1790, is shown by the following table. The Middle States are New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
| New England. | Middle. | Southern. | |
| 1790 | 1,009,823 | 958,632 | 1,852,504 |
| 1800 | 1,233,315 | 1,401,070 | 2,285,909 |
| 1810 | 1,471,891 | 2,014,695 | 2,674,913 |
| 1820 | 1,659,808 | 2,699,845 | 3,061,074 |
| 1830 | 1,954,717 | 3,587,664 | 3,645,752 |
| 1840 | 2,234,822 | 4,526,260 | 3,925,299 |
| 1850 | 2,728,106 | 5,898,735 | 4,678,728 |
It may be interesting to notice in this sketch of the progress of the United States, the population of the country comprising the original thirteen States, while under the Colonial Government, as far as the same is known. The first permanent colony planted by the English in America was Virginia, the settlement of which commenced in 1607. This was followed by the colonization of Massachusetts, in two original settlements; first that commenced at Plymouth in 1620; the other at Salem and Boston in 1628 and 1630. Maryland was settled by English and Irish Catholics in 1634; and New York by the Dutch in 1613.
With the exception of Vermont, the foundation of all the New England States was laid within twenty years from the arrival of the first settlers at Plymouth. Hutchinson says that during ten years next prior to 1640, the number of Puritans who came over to New England amounted to 21,000. If this estimate is correct, the whole number of inhabitants in New England in 1640, taking the natural increase into consideration, must have been over 32,000. As the Puritans came into power in England, under Cromwell, their emigration was checked, and almost ceased, until the restoration, in 1660. Mr. Seaman, in his “Progress of Nations,” has estimated the population of New England to have increased to 120,000 in 1701, and gives the following statement of the population of the original United States, while British colonies, estimated for 1701, 1749, and 1775:
| 1701. | 1749. | 1775. | |
| New England | 120,000 | 385,000 | 705,000 |
| New York | 30,000 | 100,000 | 200,000 |
| New Jersey | 15,000 | 60,000 | 120,000 |
| Pennsylvania | 20,000 | 200,000 | 325,008 |
| Delaware | 5,000 | 25,000 | 40,000 |
| Maryland | 20,000 | 100,000 | 210,000 |
| Virginia | 70,000 | 250,000 | 540,000 |
| North Carolina | 20,000 | 80,000 | 260,000 |
| South Carolina | 7,000 | 50,000 | 160,000 |
| Georgia | -- | 10,000 | 40,000 |
| Total | 307,000 | 1,260,000 | 2,600,000 |
From 1750 to 1790 (Mr. Seaman states), the white population of the Southern Colonies or States increased faster than the same class in the Northern States, and about as fast from 1790 to 1800. But since that period the increase of whites has been greater in proportion in the Northern than in the Southern States.
In estimating the future progress of that part of the Continent of America within the boundaries of the United States, with reference to the march of population over the immense regions west of the Mississippi, it should be borne in mind that there is a large tract, of about one thousand miles in breadth, between the western boundaries of Missouri and Arkansas, and the Rocky Mountains, which is mostly uninhabitable for agricultural purposes, the soil being sterile, without timber, and badly watered. But the population flowing into California and Oregon, attracted by the rich mineral and agricultural resources of those extensive regions, leaves no doubt that our States on the Pacific will form a most important part of the Republic, and afford new fields for enterprise for many future years.
In taking the Seventh Census of the United States, there have been engaged 45 marshals, and 3231 assistants. The aggregate amount appropriated by Congress for the expenses was $1,267,500. On the 30th of September last there were employed in the Census-office ninety-one clerks, who in November were increased to one hundred and forty-eight.
The Immensity of the Universe!—How often has the grandeur of the conception been marred by the scientific puerilities that have been brought to its aid. Lecturers have astonished us with rows of decimals, as though these could vivify the imaginative faculty, or impart an idea in any respect more elevated than could have been entertained through an unscientific yet devout contemplation of the works and ways of God. They have talked to us of millions, and millions of millions, as though the computation of immense numbers denoted the highest exercise of the human intellect, or the loftiest sublimities of human thought. Sometimes they would vary the effect by telling us how many billions of years it would take for a railroad locomotive to travel across the solar system, or for a cannon ball to fly to the widest range of a comet's orbit, or for the flash of the electric telegraph to reach the supposed remotest confines of the Milky Way. And so we have known some preachers attempt to measure eternity by clocks and pendulums, or sand-glasses as large as the earth's orbit, and dropping one grain of sand every million of years, as though any thing of that kind could come up to the dread impression of that one Saxon word—forever, or the solemn grandeur of the Latin secula seculorum, or to the effect produced by any of those simple reduplications through which language has ever sought to set forth the immeasurable conception, by making its immeasurability the very essence of the thought, and of the term by which it is denoted.
Such contrivances as we have mentioned only weary instead of aiding the conceptive faculty. If any such help is required for the mind, one of the shortest formulas of arithmetic or algebra, we contend, would be the most effective. The more we can express by the highest symbol, the less is the true grandeur of the thought impaired by any of that imitating and ever-foiled effort of the imagination which attends those longer methods that are addressed solely to it. Let us attempt such a formula by taking at once, for our unit of division, the most minute space ever brought into visibility by the highest power of the microscope. Let our dividend on the other hand, be the utmost distance within which the telescope has ever detected the existence of a material entity. Denote the quotient by the letter x, and let r stand for the radius of the earth's orbit. Then rxx is the formula sought; and if any one think for a moment on the immense magnitude of the latter part of the expression (xx), and at what a rate the involution expands itself even when x represents a moderate number,[10] he may judge how immeasurably it leaves behind it all other computations. The whole of the universe made visible by Lord Rosse's telescope actually shrinks to the dimensions of an animalcule in the comparison. And yet, even at that distance, so utterly surpassing all conceivability, we may suppose the existence of worlds still embraced within the dominions of God, and still, in the same ratio, remote from the frontiers of his immeasurable empire.
But let us return from so fruitless an inquiry. There is another idea suggested by the contemplation of the heavens of no less interest, although presenting a very different, if not an opposite aspect. It is the comparative nothingness of the tangible material universe, as contrasted with the space, or spaces, occupied even within its visible boundaries. The distance of our sun from the nearest fixed star (conjectured by astronomers to be the star 61 Cygni) is estimated at being at least 60,000,000,000,000 of miles, or 600,000 diameters of the earth's orbit, or about sixty million diameters of the sun himself. Taking this for the average distance between the stars, although it is doubtless much greater, and supposing them to be equal in magnitude to each other, and to the sun, we have these most striking results. The sun and the star in Cygnus (and so of the others) would present the same relation as that of two balls of ten inches diameter placed ten thousand miles apart, or one a thousand miles above the North Pole, and the other a like distance below the South Pole of our earth. Preserving the same ratio, we might represent them again, by two half-inch bullets placed, the one at Chicago, and the other on the top of the City Hall in the City of New York; and so on, until finally we would come down to two points, less than a thousandth part of an inch in diameter, requiring the microscope to render them visible, and situated at the distance of a mile asunder. Suppose then an inch of the finest thread of thistle-down cut into a thousand sections, and a globular space as large as the sphere of our earth, occupied with such invisible specks, at distances from each other never less than a mile at least, and we have a fair representation of the visible universe—on a reduced scale, it is true, yet still preserving all the relative magnitudes, and all the adjusted proportions of the parts to each other, and to the whole. On any scale we may assume, all that partakes, in the lowest degree, of sensible materiality, bears but an infinitessimal proportion to what appears to be but vacant space. In this view of the matter it becomes more than a probability that there is no relatively denser solidity than this any where existing. Even in the hardest and apparently most impenetrable matter, the ultimate particles may be as sparse in their relative positions, as are, to each other, the higher compound and component bodies which we know are dispersed at such immense distances as mere points in space.
But not to dwell on this idea, there is another of a kindred nature to which we would call attention, although it must often have come home to every serious mind. Who can soberly contemplate the mighty heavens without being struck with what may be called the isolation of the universe, or rather, of the innumerable parts of which it is composed. To the most thoughtful spirit a sense of loneliness must be a main, if not a predominant element in such a survey. The first impression from these glittering points in space may, indeed, be that of a social congregated host. And yet how perfect the seclusion; so that while there is granted a bare knowledge of each other's existence, the possibility of any more intimate communion, without a change in present laws, is placed altogether beyond the reach of hope. What immeasurable fields of space intervene even between those that seem the nearest to each other on the celestial canvas!
We may say, then, that whatever may be reserved for a distant future, this perfect seclusion seems now to be the predominant feature, or law, of the Divine dispensations. No doubt our Creator could easily have formed us with sensitive powers, or a sensitive organization, capable of being affected from immensely remote, as well as from comparatively near distances. There is nothing inconceivable in such an adaptation of the nervous system to a finer class of etherial undulations as might have enabled us to see and hear what is going on in the most distant worlds. But it hath not so pleased Him to constitute us; and [pg 563] we think, with all reverence be it said, that we see wisdom in the denial of such powers unless accompanied by an organization which would, on the other hand, utterly unfit us for the narrow world in which we have our present probationary residence. If the excitements of our limited earth bear with such exhausting power upon our sensitive system, what if a universe should burst upon us with its tremendous realities of weal or woe!
It is in kindness, then, that each world is severed, for the present, from the general intercourse, and that so perfectly that no amount of science can ever be expected to overcome the separation. “He hath set a bound which we can not pass,” except in imagination. Even analogical reasoning utterly fails, or only lights us to the conclusion that the diversities of structure, of scenery, and of condition, must be as great, and as numberless as the spaces, and distances, and positions they respectively occupy. The moral sense, however, is not wholly silent. It has a voice “to which we do well to take heed” when the last rays of reason and analogy have gone out in darkness. It can not be, it affirms—it can not be, that the worlds on worlds which the eye and the telescope reveal to us are but endless repetitions of the fallen earth on which we dwell. What a pall would such a thought spread over the universe! How sad would it render the contemplation of the heavens! How full of melancholy the conception that throughout the measureless fields of space there may be the same wretchedness and depravity that have formed the mournful history of our earth, and which we fail to see in its true intensity, because we have become hardened through long and intimate familiarity with its scenes. And yet, for all that natural science merely, and natural theology can prove, it may be so, and even far worse. For all that they can affirm, either as to possibility or probability, a history of woe surpassing any thing that earth has ever exhibited, or inhabitant of earth has ever imagined, may have every where predominated. The highest reasoning of natural theology can only set out for us some cold system of optimism, which may make it perfectly consistent with its heartless intellectuality to regard the sufferings of a universe, and that suffering a million-fold more intense than any thing ever yet experienced, as only a means to some fancied good time coming, and ever coming, for other dispensations and other races, and other types of being in a future incalculably remote. To a right thinking mind nothing can be more gloomy than that view of the universe which is given by science alone, taking the earth as its base line of measurement, and its present condition (assumed to have come from no moral catastrophe, but to be a necessary result of universal physical laws) as the only ground of legitimate induction. But we have a surer guide than this. Besides the moral sense, we have the representations the Bible gives of God and Christ. These form the ground of the belief that our earth is not a fair sample of the universe, that fallen worlds are rare and extraordinary, as requiring extraordinary mediatorial remedies—that blessedness is the rule and not the exception, and that the Divine love and justice have each respect to individual existences, instead of being both absorbed in that impersonal attribute which has regard only to being in general, or to worlds and races viewed only in reference to some interminable progress, condemned by its own law of development to eternal imperfection, because never admitting the idea of finish of workmanship, or of finality of purpose, either in relation to the universe or any of its parts.