DISTRIBUTION of the Population into the Three Classes of Whites, Free Persons of Colour, and Slaves, at each Census; with the Decennial Increase of each Class. White RELATIVE Proportions of the Three Classes, at each Census. CLASSES. Free Coloured Slaves NUMBERS of the two Sexes, and the relative Proportion of one to the other, as exhibited by each Census, were as follows : : It appears by the preceding table, that while both in the white and the slave population, the males always exceed the females, commonly between three and four per cent, in the free coloured portion the females exceed the males from seven to eleven per cent. This diversity is to be ascribed principally to the roving habits of the free class, many of whom take to a seafaring life, and some travel and even settle abroad. It will be also perceived, that there was, both in 1830 and 1840, a greater preponderance of males on the part of the whites than of the slaves, owing partly to the excess of males, of the white emigrants from Europe, and partly to the diminution of male slaves by running away. Of the whites, the excess of males was the greatest in 1800; being to the females as 100 to 95.3. This was probably owing to the great number of French emigrants who thronged to the United States about the close of the last century. A similar flow of emigrants from Europe, between 1830 and 1840, has caused the like excess of white males, that is shown by the last census. By this it appears that there has been a steady increase in the proportion of females during the last forty years. But the greater disproportion between the sexes, which is shown by the two first enumerations, than that which appears in the three last, seems to require explanation. Perhaps it is to be found in the interruption given to navigation from 1806 to 1815, by which the number of boys formerly going to sea, or on board fishing vessels and coasters, being diminished, augmented the proportion of males. The proportion of males to females in the different races, under the two last enumerations, were: In 1830. In 1840. 95.4 97.2 97.4 98.4 99.7 The white males under 10, were to the females, as 100 to 95.3 If we suppose that the excess of boys over girls, among the emigrants from Europe, is gradually decreasing in its relative influence, that would apply only to the whites. The only solution that occurs, as applicable to both races, is, that those occupations by which the lives and health of boys are more exposed than are those of girls, have been slightly but gradually increasing; and it may be remarked, that the excess of males under ten is less, in the New England states, which are most maritime, than in the southern and western states, which are least so. It deserves notice, that in the slave population, although the females, between fourteen and twenty-six, in the fourth census, approach to or exceed the males, yet after twenty four, the preponderance of the males is restored. In the fifth census, too, of the slaves between twenty-four and thirty-six, the females slightly exceed the males, but with all those at both the earlier and later periods of life, the males exceed the females; from which it would appear that the diversity in their respectiv eemployments, which takes place in the vigour of manhood, abridges life with males more than with females; but that in subsequent periods the chance of life is in favour of the male sex. According to the sixth census, the two sexes approach to equality in the slaves between ten and twenty-four, but at all other ages the males exceed the females. INCREASE OF POPULATION FROM EUROPE TO AMERICA. Emigration from the old world to the new, from which nearly the whole present population of the United States is directly or remotely derived, still continues. "This tide of European emigration ceases to be an object of wonder, when it is recollected that labour and skill are more than twice as well rewarded in the United States as in Europe; that capital receives nearly twice the profits; and, above all, that land can be here purchased in absolute property at a smaller cost than would there be its annual rent. In addition to these strong inducements, which apply to nearly all Europeans, the British and Irish emigrants find here the language, laws, usages, and manners to which they have been accustomed. They, therefore, constitute the larger part of the emigrants from Europe to the United States. Next to these, the Germans are the most numerous; for they, too, with the recommendations of cheap land and high-priced labour, meet in many of the states thousands whose language and manners are the same as those they have left behind. 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 emigrants from Germany, principally to the middle states, and, of late years, to the west. "The coloured part of the population, which also owes its origin exclusively to the old continent, has, since 1808, received no accessions from abroad; but is, on the contrary, constantly losing by emigration a part of what it gains by natural increase. "It is obvious, that if the number of persons thus migrating to and from the United States could be ascertained, the census, periodically taken, would enable us to determine As early as 1739, a journal, in the German language, was established at Germantown, in Pennsylvania. From that time to the present, the number of German newspapers has continued to increase in that state. The number of Indians, or descendants of Indians, comprehended in the decennial enumerations of the people of the United States, is too small to deserve to be regarded as an exception. It certainly would not amount to a thousandth, perhaps not to a ten-thousandth, part of the whole population. the precise rate of our natural multiplication. But such certainty is, as yet, unattainable. Of the coloured race, we have no means of knowing the loss sustained, either from the free portion who settle abroad, or from runaway slaves; and our estimates of the whites who migrated hither before 1819, were purely conjectural. In that year, indeed, an act of congress required accounts to be taken by the collectors at the seaports of all passengers who arrived from abroad, distinguishing foreigners from citizens, and to be returned to the office of the secretary of state. But even this regulation has not afforded the desired certainty, for, besides that the returns are defective, a part of the British emigrants who arrive at New York, take that route to Canada, in preference to a voyage up the St. Lawrence; whilst, on the other hand, a part of those who pass directly from Great Britain or Ireland into Canada, migrate thence by land into the United States; and the numbers of neither portion have we any means of ascertaining. With these sources of uncertainty, our estimates of the amount of emigration to and from the United States, with all the collateral aid to be derived from the census, can be considered only as approximations to the truth. "Let us first estimate, from such data as we possess, the number of white persons who have migrated to the United States from 1790 to 1840. "In the twenty years between the census of 1790 and that of 1810, Dr. Seybert supposes the number of foreign emigrants to the United States to be 120,000, averaging 6000 per annum. From 1810 to 1820, I have been able to procure no data, except Dr. Seybert's estimate for the year 1817, founded on the records of the custom-houses at the principal seaports; according to which estimate, the number of passengers who arrived in the United States that year, was 22,840. He supposes that the number, in any preceding year, did not amount to 10,000, except, perhaps, in 1794. In three of the years of this decennial term, that is, during the war with Great Britain, migration to this country was almost totally suspended. If, then, we suppose that in the three years from 1818 to 1820, both inclusive, the number of passengers was the same as in 1817, and if we deduct from the whole number 2840 (1840 for the American citizens, that being about the proportion at that time,) we shall have 84,000 for the number of foreign emigrants to the United States for those four years. If we further suppose that in the remaining six years the number was 30,000,* we shall have 114,000 for the whole number of white emigrants from 1810 to 1820. "From 1820 to 1830, when the collectors of the customs were required to report to the state department the number of foreigners who had arrived in their respective ports by sea, we might have expected entire accuracy; but these reports are so much at variance with other documents entitled to respect, and are confessedly so defective, that they cannot be relied on. Thus, to give an example, the number of emigrants who left the United Kingdom in 1829 for the United States, was, according to the British official returns, 15,678; yet the whole number of foreign emigrants from all parts of the world, reported to the state department in the same year, was but 15,285, there being, besides less important omissions, that of New York for the third quarter. Again, the number of foreign emigrants returned to the state department for 1830, is but 9466, though 30,224 landed in New York alone, in that year, for the whole of which the proper officer had failed to make any return. In consequence of these and like instances of failure of duty, the number of foreign emigrants returned to the state department for the six years from 1825 to 1830, both inclusive, was only 87,140; † whilst the number who emigrated from the United Kingdom to the United States for the same six years, according to the official accounts in that country, was 80,522, which allows but 6618 for the number of emigrants from all That is, 10,000 per annum for three years, excluding the three years of war. I have not ventured to go beyond 10,000 a year, from respect to Dr. Seybert's opinion; and I could not take a less number, from a regard to the progressive increase of immigration both before and after this period. This number is obtained partly by computation, that is, by adding to the official number returned for five and a quarter years, (from the 30th Sept. 1825, to the 31st Dec., 1830,) threefourths of the number returned for the year 1825. This was necessary, as the annual returns to the state department were, before 1828, closed on the 30th September, and subsequently, at the end of the year. the other parts of the world, though it is known that these (including the emigrants from the rest of the British dominions) are nearly equal to the number from the United Kingdom. "The more accurate returns, subsequently made to the state department, furnish us with some data for correcting these errors. By the official returns of British consuls residing in America, the number of emigrants from Great Britain and Ireland to the United States, for the five years from 1833 to 1837, was 163,447; but according to the reports of the collectors here to the state department, the whole number of foreigners who came to to the United States, in the same period, was 324,750, which is very nearly double the number of those who were from Great Britain and Ireland. "If, then, we suppose that the British accounts were not less accurate in the last period of five years than in the first period of six, (and they were probably more so,) and that the emigrants from other countries to the United States, bore as large a proportion to those from Great Britain and Ireland in the first period as the last, (which there is no reason to question,) then the British returns of emigrants to the United States would be to the whole number from all parts of the world in the ratio of 163,447 to 324,750, unless it were proper to make a deduction from the last number for those British emigrants who took their route to Upper Canada by way of New York. "To some, this deduction may not seem to be necessary, because they would consider that the number of those who came to the United States from Canada was likely to equal those who went to Canada by the route of New York, and especially during the civil commotions that broke out within the five years in question. Yet, as since 1834 the proportion of British emigrants who take the New York route is said to be "considerable," let us assume, in the absence of all precise data, that as many as one-third of those emigrants who land in New York afterwards proceed to Canada, and see how far the above-mentioned ratio is affected by that proportion. "The number of British and Irish emigrants who arrived at New York from 1833 to 1837, inclusive, was 152,164; and the number of those who left Canada for the United States, in the years 1834, 1835, 1836, and 1837, was 10,256. Supposing the number, in 1833, to have been in the same proportion, the whole number for five years would be 12,820. With these facts, the whole number of emigrants to the United States would be thus reduced, viz. :: The total number who arrived in the United States 324,750 12,820 38,001 286,749 "On this liberal estimate, then, of the number of British emigrants from New York to Canada, the proportion which the number from the United Kingdom to the United States bears to the whole number from all countries, is as 163,447 to 286,749, or nearly as 4 to 7. Applying, then, this rule to the 80,522 who emigrated from the United Kingdom to the United States, from 1825 to 1830, we have 141,300 for the whole number of immigrants for the same six years. In the remaining four years, from 1821 to 1824, the number of foreign emigrants returned to the state department was 31,158, which we may presume bore the same proportion to the actual number as 87,140 to 141,300, and consequently would be 50,500. This number for the four years, added to 141,300 for the six years, would give us 191,800 for the whole number of immigrants from 1820 to 1830. If we make a lower estimate of the number who proceed from New York to Canada, as probably we ought, and allow something for deficient returns to the state department, we cannot suppose the whole number to be short of 200,000, and I shall accordingly so consider it. "From 1830 to 1840, we have better materials than in any preceding decennial term, for estimating the number of foreign emigrants to this country. The following is a summary of the returns that have been made to the state department of the number of passengers who arrived in the United States in that period : It appears, however, that this account, though far more accurate than any preceding it, is not free from errors, some of which are considerable. Thus, the numbers of foreigners in the preceding statement for 1831 and 1832, are set down at 15,713 and 34,970, making together 50,683; whereas the number who arrived in New York alone in those years, was 80,328. If to this number we add one-fourth for the ordinary proportion arriving at other ports, we shall have 107,104, thus showing omissions in those two years amounting to 56,421. The omissions in the subsequent years are believed to be comparatively small. Correcting, then, these errors, the whole number of emigrants who arrived at all the ports in the United States from all parts of the world, between 1830 and 1840, would be 631,417. Allowing the number of those who left New York for Canada to be in the same proportion as before, that is, as 38,000 to 324,750, we have 58,690 for the number of persons thus migrating in the whole ten years. Deducting this number, and 100,000 for the emigration of American citizens to Texas and Canada, from 631,417, we have 472,727 for the whole gain to the white population by immigration in the same period. "To the number of foreign emigrants in the several decennial terms should be added their probable natural increase during each term. If the number was the same every year of a decennial term, and if the number of females was in the same proportion as in the rest of the population, we might estimate the increase at half its ordinary amount in ten years, or at about 16 per cent. Emigrants from the United Kingdom to Quebec, in 1834 and 1837. "Thus the females over 14 were about 30 per cent of the whole number. But inasmuch as the females between 16 and 45 constitute but about 19 per cent of the whole population, and as a very small proportion of the female immigrants are over 45, if we make a deduction for the excess, and also for the number between 14 and 16 years of age (which does not exceed 23 per cent of the whole number), we shall find the proportion of women within the child-bearing ages greater with the emigrant class than with the whole population. Thus : "After making some deduction for the decrease of this proportion, the number of females under 16 not being sufficient to keep up the number of marriageable women, we should be justified in estimating the average increase of the emigrants for the ten years at 20, instead of 16 per cent. |