population had trebled. Much of this growth was due to immigration from European countries. To the small farmers of Europe the United States offered many inducements of rich soil, and to the laboring class, abundant opportunity to labor. The number of foreign immigrants increased rapidly from year to year, although varying somewhat with the years of scarcity of food in Europe and the years of plenty in America. The annual number of immigrants arriving in the United States had increased from 8,000 in 1820, to 23,000 in 1830.

When the first census was taken, nearly all the people lived between the Alleghany Mountains and the Atlantic Ocean. Only five out of every hundred of the total population had crossed the mountains, and most of these lived in what are now the states of Kentucky and Tennessee. As better roads were built through the mountain gaps and along the mountain streams, more and more settlers crossed to the fertile lands of the Mississippi valley. A glance at the map will show that the water

ways flowing east and west are far more numerous than those running north and south. These streams were in that early day the ready-made roads for the pioneers. And, too, the first settlers in a new country usually settle along the courses of these streams. These waterways were numerous in the north and thus it was that the northern section increased more rapidly in population and created states faster than did the southern section.

382. Growth of Cities.-One thing every census of this middle period showed-that the people of the United States were not always to be "American farmers," as the colonists had been called. With the growth of manufactures, the people were beginning to live in cities where the factories and workshops were located. In Europe the people lived for the most part in cities and villages and hence many immigrants were wont to make their homes in cities when they came to America. In Washington's time only three people out of every hundred lived in cities; and in John Quincy Adams's administration, only five out of every hundred dwelt in a city. It took a long time for people to learn how to pave and light their streets properly, to lay out parks, to erect statues, and to make the beautiful cities which are so numerous throughout the republic of the present day.

RELATIVE RANK OF TEN LEADING CITIES

383. Manner of Living.-As the people began to have better means of travel and to go more frequently from one sec

tion to another, they began to lose the differences of dress and customs of colonial days and to assume national characteristics. There always remained, however, a difference in daily life between the New Englander, with his modest house, his cool manner toward strangers, and his devotion to business, and the hospitable southern planter, with the door of his great plantation house always open to strangers, and his determination to get some enjoyment out of life. The southerner thought the northerner cared only for money, and the northerner called the southerner a spendthrift. One in traveling saw also a vast difference between the people. of the east and of the west. In the eastern states the people had easier lives, more wealth, and more leisure for study and enjoyment. In the newer western states, the "pioneers," as the first settlers were called, had to cut down the forests, to clear fields, and build cabins. They were poor and had often to borrow from the people of the east. This life was severe, but it taught people to endure, to be brave, and not to be ashamed to labor. Thus the new west gave to the older east vigor and crude manhood, and received from it civilization, art, and knowledge. The frontier produced such men as Daniel Boone, David Crockett, Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln.

384. Religion.-Many had feared that some attempt would be made to fasten a particular kind of church upon the United States. They thought that the government 'should not try to make people attend any church or believe any creed; but should allow each an opportunity of doing what his conscience prompted. Washington, when he became president, wrote a number of letters to various religious denominations, to assure them that the government would not interfere with anyone in his religious belief. Under this freedom, the various churches prospered, and extended themselves with the spread of the people. Since the Established church was strongest in the south, its descendant, the Episcopal church, remained the leading church in that sec

tion, although the Baptist church, which originated in Rhode Island, spread rapidly in the southern states. Likewise, the Congregational church, the offspring of the early Puritans, went with the New England people wherever they have settled in the northern states. The Presbyterian church, which had been strongest in the middle colonies, spread both north and south, as did the Methodist church, which reached America just before the Revolution. Under the constitution, the Roman Catholic church enjoyed a freedom which it never experienced in the colonies under Protestant England. With all this toleration from the government, the various sects began to tolerate each other and to prepare for the good feeling which now exists between denominations in the United States.

385. Mode of Travel.-As the people spread over the continent, better means of travel became necessary. Private companies were organized to build turnpikes on which tolls were charged. Some states undertook to build roads. The national government began the Cumberland National road. Over these turnpikes ran regular stage-coach lines, passing heavy freight wagons drawn by four or six horses. Companies, given charters by the different states to dig canals from one waterway to another, started to connect the Hudson with the Delaware, the Delaware with Chesapeake Bay, the Hudson with Lake Erie, and Lake Erie with the Ohio River. The national government gave millions of dollars for clearing the channels of rivers from snags and sandbars. In Jefferson's administration the first line of steamboats was started between New York and Albany. Just before the war of 1812, steamboats were built on the Great Lakes. Soon every navigable river and all the lakes had many lines of steamers carrying passengers and freight. When a river could not be made navigable, a canal was constructed beside it. Thus the Susquehanna and the Potomac canals were built. Just before John Quincy Adams went out of office, a railroad was begun at Baltimore. When people could go by

a railroad, they would no longer choose a stage coach or canal boat. It meant a new era of travel and trade.

EDUCATION

386. Public Schools and Colleges.-The public schools in colonial days had to compete with many private schools. Also, since they were supported at public expense, many looked upon them as a kind of charity. But in the newer states, the people were poor and could not support private schools. Thus the public school system grew in numbers and in dignity. People began to see that all children, both rich and poor, ought to have the advantage of an education. The public land granted by the United States in the Ordinance of 1787 helped to this end. The early idea of education which limited knowledge to a few subjects was broadened by putting into the schools such subjects as chemistry and "natural philosophy," which we now call physics. The course of study in the schools of the lower grades was made much more interesting than formerly, and school books had begun to improve, although Noah Webster's old "blue back speller," first printed in 1783, held its own. Thousands of this little book are still sold to-day. Since 1783 its sales have reached into the millions. This book was the forerunner of Webster's dictionary, first published in 1806—a book which has had a powerful influence in welding the American nation into a people of one language.

The Ordinance of 1787 also gave land for colleges, and two of these were opened in Ohio before 1825. Thus was begun our present system of state colleges and state universities. The graduates of the church colleges also established other colleges in the newer states as the people moved westward. These sectarian colleges were founded to train young men for the ministry of the various denominations, but they gradually opened their doors to anyone desirous of gaining an education. These newer colleges began to allow women as well as men to attend.