PERIOD III.

DEVELOPMENT.

CHAPTER I.

DEVELOPMENT OF POPULATION.

"Whilst our old European centre is like a volcano, consuming itself in its own crater, the two nations, Oriental and Occidental, proceed unhesitatingly toward perfection, — the one at the will of one man, the other by liberty. Providence has confided to the United States of America the care of peopling, and of gaining over to civilization, all that immense territory which extends from the Atlantic to the South Sea, and from the North Pole to the Equator."- LOUIS NAPOLEON.

THE stirring events which have passed before us indicate a grand providential preparation for the organized development of Christian civilization. This purpose would, of course, require a numerous population.

The severe trials of the Revolution had seriously retarded immigration. In 1775, the estimates of population made by Congress were as follows:

In a brief period, the plans of God for the ingathering of the people upon a larger scale would be evident and effectual.

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INCREASE OF POPULATION.

The country soon became more attractive to those who desired to improve their circumstances. The immense forests of valuable timber, the fisheries, the broad acres of productive grain-lands, and the extraordinary facilities for manufacturing and commerce, invited enterprise from every country of the Old World.

There was, moreover, in the idea of liberty, a charm which the aristocratic governments of Europe could in no way counteract. In the absence of steam and telegraphs, and on account of the limited circulation of newspapers, information forced its way slowly, but at length widely, through the masses; and, soon after the close of the Revolutionary War, considerable numbers found means to transport themselves to this land of liberty and plenty.

In 1800, the United States numbered 5,305,925; in 1810, 7,239,815; in 1820, 9,638,121; in 1830, 12,866,020; in 1840, 17,069,453; in 1850, 23,191,876; in 1860, 31,443,322; including Indian tribes, &c., 31,747,514; and, at the close of 1866, the number had risen to 34,605,882.

Sir Morton Peto remarks that "there is nothing in the Old World to equal this rate of progress. The population of Great Britain and Ireland in 1800 was 16,000,000, and in 1861 was under 30,000,000. Since 1830, the population. of the United States has increased 19,000,000, whilst that of our kingdom has increased less than 6,000,000."

In 1860, the fifteen then slaveholding States contained 12,240,000 inhabitants; a gain, in ten years, of 2,627,000, or 27.33 per cent. The nineteen free States, seven Territories, and District of Columbia, contained 19,201,546 persons; showing an increase, in ten years, of 5,598,603, or 41.24 per cent. The whole gain in the decade from which most of our figures are taken was 8,225,603 souls; and from 1860 to 1866 the increase was 3,162,560.

SOURCES OF POPULATION.

It is a remarkable fact, that not more than one-third of this rapidly-increasing population is native in birth and descent; or, in other words, two-thirds are immigrants and their descendants. Without this element, it is estimated that, in 1863, our population would have reached less than 10,500,000; while the population from abroad, and their descendants, exceeded 21,000,000.

The ratio of increase from immigration is as follows: In the ten years ending 1829, the number was 128,502; in ten years ending 1839, we received 538,381; in ten years ending 1849, 1,427,337; in eleven years ending 1860, 2,968,194; making, in some forty-one years, 5,062,414.

The following figures will show us in detail the sources of our incoming population for forty years, ending with 1860:

It thus appears that Providence designs to bring accessions to our Anglo-Saxon population from all the peoples and civilizations of Europe, with considerable numbers from Asia and the islands of the ocean.

The native stock, amounting, as we have seen, to over ten millions, may be found pervading all our communities, and mingling with all classes of immigrants in active business relations, organizing American institutions, and developing the resources of the Great Republic.

The people of African descent, in 1860 numbering

4,435,709, have by unparalleled toil, despite all the disabili ties of a cruel servitude, contributed largely to the material wealth of the country. They have been used, in the order of Providence, to impose upon us some of the hardest problems which civil liberty has ever had to solve. In regard to them, the plans of God are becoming more evident, culminating in the severest rebuke of caste, and punishment of despotic usurpation, and in the forced acknowledgment of universal manhood and equal rights.

Only a small number of the aborigines of our territory, estimated in 1860 at 294,431, have become citizens. Generally they roam through our vast forests, retaining their barbarous habits, adopting only the vicious customs of the whites; sometimes receiving with artless gratitude the acts of justice or paternal care bestowed by the government; sometimes submitting in passive sullenness to the wrongs inflicted upon them, and then rousing in terrific revenge for real or fancied injuries. The benevolent labors of Christian missionaries have, however, greatly ameliorated the condition of many of their tribes, securing to considerable numbers the blessings of Christian education and experience, and the arts of civilized life; thus bringing out the fact of their manhood, and revealing capabilities of honorable rank among the families of earth. It is painful to think of the savage cruelties and bloody wars which might have been avoided by a prompter Christian civilization.

CHARACTER OF POPULATION.

High rank, professional ability, and capital seeking investment, have found their way to this country from abroad; but immigrants have generally been of the industrial classes. These, together with our native-born people, have given to our frontier settlements an unusual degree of enterprise and vigor, and brought out rapidly the resources of our virgin soil.

The employments of our foreign-born population strikingly indicate their habits of thought and feeling, and the character of their influence upon American industry and society. The public registers give their occupations only to a limited extent, and yet sufficiently for our present purpose. Of, say two millions, 872,317 are laborers; 764,837, farmers; 407,524, mechanics; 231,852, merchants; 49,494, servants; 39,967, miners; 29,484, mariners; 11,557, weavers and spinners; 5,246, seamstresses and milliners; 7,109, physicians; 4,326, clergymen; 3,882, clerks; 3,634, tailors; 3,474, shoemakers; 3,120, manufacturers; 2,676, lawyers; 2,490, artists; 2,310, masons; 2,016, engineers; 1,528, teachers; 1,272, bakers; 945, butchers; 729, musicians; 705, printers; 647, painters; 631, millers; 588, actors.

These figures show that the people were used to work in the Old World, and that they came here to work.

The employments of a large number of the whole nation at any one time will furnish a broader view of the character of the American population.

In 1860, there were about 8,217,000 heads of families. The occupations of some 6,000,000, of various conditions, were as follows: