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Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957

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Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1957 chapter Z Colonial S tatistics Z 1 -405. General note. records. A lso of general assistance in the preparation of many It w ould have been possible to distribute these series for series presented in this chapter are the compilations from the colonial period among the chapters covering each of the naval office lists prepared by a Works Progress Administra appropriate subject fields. It was felt, however, that a sepa tion project conducted at the University of California, entitled rate chapter especially organized to cover this period would be "Trade and Commerce of the English Colonies in America," more valuable in itself and would also provide a more suitable, and referred to below as WPA compilations. less-exacting context for the statistics, many of which are rela tively roughhewn. Z 1 -19. Estimated population of American Colonies, 1610- 1780. In t he past, statistics for the colonial period were largely dependent on compilations made during the 17th and 18th Source: C ompiled by Stella H. Sutherland, Oakland City Col centuries by historians such as Whitworth and Macpherson. lege, Oakland City, Indiana, chiefly from the following sources: Present-day scholars, however, no longer solely rely upon such B. J. Brawley, A Short History of the American Negro, Mac- compilations. They are ferreting out statistical information Millan, 1913; Elizabeth Donnan (editor), Documents Illustrative from original records hitherto left unused in archives and of the History of the Slave Trade to America, 4 vols., Carnegie reconstructing statistical series of their own from other sources. Institution of Washington, D.C., 1930-35; Evarts B. Greene and Only f ive of the tables presented here might be said to be Virginia D. Harrington, American Population Before the Feder old standbys. Twenty-two are the work of modern scholars, al Census of 1790, Columbia University Press, New York, 1932; half reprinted as originally published, and half supplemented Stella H. Sutherland, Population Distribution in Colonial Amer by reference to other data. ica, Columbia University Press, New York, 1936; E. R. Turner, Of t hose which never before have appeared in print, Stella "The Negro in Pennsylvania," Prize Essays of the American H. Sutherland compiled series Z 1-19; Jacob M. Price, series Historical Association, Washington, D.C., 1911; Bureau of the Z 223-237 and part of series Z 238-240; J. R. House, series Census, A Century of Population Growth, 1909; Thomas J. Z 267-273; Austin White, series Z 388-405; and Lawrence A. Wertenbaker, The Planters of Colonial Virginia, Princeton, Harper (assisted by graduate students), the remainder. 1922; and George W. Williams, The History of the Negro Race in America From 1619 to 1880, 2 vols., New York, 1883. (Also, The P ublic Records Office in London (sometimes hereafter a wide variety of source material was consulted for general abbreviated PRO) contains many collections of records which information.) throw light on commerce between England and the colonies and to some extent on the development of agriculture and man The o riginal data were obtained from the reports of the ufacturing in the colonies, particularly when considered with colonial officials to the Lords Commissioners of Trade and reference to the mercantilist laws passed by the mother coun Plantations. Not infrequently a census supplied sworn evi try, as has been done here. The laws in question are cited dence of the number of inhabitants; for other reports, the at various points in the text below by reference to' their militia or the tax lists or both were used, commonly accom regnal year and chapter numbers — for example, 5 Geo. II panied by an estimate of the whole population as indicated c 22 (the fifth year of the reign of King George II, chapter 22). by the rolls or lists. Estimates made by colonial officials and The c ollections in the Public Records Office in London, which by other informed contemporaries who did not disclose the are the original sources for much of the data presented here, figures upon which their conclusions were based have occasion are identified there by title and call numbers. For example, ally been included in these series. However, such estimates one collection is titled "American Inspector General's Ledgers" were selected in accordance with the general pattern of popula and is further identified as "PRO Customs 16/1." The most tion growth. important of these collections or ledgers of imports and ex The r atio of the militia to the whole population was generally ports are the following: The English Inspector General's 1 to 5%, but there were many exceptions. In Massachusetts, Ledgers (PRO Customs 3) ; the Scottish Inspector General's it was 1 to 6 in 1751 and 1 to 4 in 1763; in Connecticut, 1 Ledgers (PRO Customs 14); the American Inspector General's to 6 in 1722 and 1756 and 1 to 7 in 1749, 1761, and 1774; Ledgers (PRO Customs 16/1) ; and the colonial naval office it was 1 to 6 in Virginia and 1 to 7 in South Carolina at lists (usually found in C. 0. 5). various times. No generalization can safely be made as to The E nglish, Scottish, and American Inspector Generals' the ratio borne by the northern polls and ratables and by the Ledgers are conveniently arranged for statistical purposes, but southern taxables and tithables to the whole population of the are so voluminous that it is far more convenient to utilize Colonies. In every Province the figure was different. In the contemporary tabulations drawn from them when such sec North, it ranged from 1 to 4 to 1 to 5% ; in Pennsylvania, ondary sources are available. The lists kept by the naval it was 1 to 7 in the 1750's, but 1 to 5.8 was the more common officers of that period (for the purpose of helping to enforce figure; in Maryland and Virginia, where both male and female the navigation laws) merely provide chronological data concern slaves appeared on the tax lists, the ratio was 1 to 3 or 3.5 ing the ships which entered and cleared port, together with in the 17th century and 1 to 2.4 or 2.6 in the 18th century. their cargoes and destinations. The North Carolina white taxables were multiplied by 4 and The t ask of using the naval office lists has in some instances the Negro taxables by 2. been lightened by colonial newspapers, such as the South Caro The f igures for Negroes for the 17th century, which are lina Gazette, which published data taken from customhouse doubtlessly too low, are largely estimates based upon references 743 486910 O - 6 0 - 49 Z 2 0-75 COLONIAL STATISTICS to p urchase and sale, to laws governing slavery, and occasion but i ncreased their usefulness as a rough-and-ready index of ally to reports of more or less exact numbers. the relative increase or decrease of the volume of trade. Z 2 0. Percent distribution of the white population, by nation See also general note for series Z 1-405. ality, 1790. Z 3 5-42. Value of exports to and imports from England by Source: A merican Council of Learned Societies, "Report of New York, 1751-1775. Committee on Linguistic and National Stocks in the Population Source: V irginia D. Harrington, The New York Merchant of the United States" (based on studies by Howard F. Barker on the Eve of the Revolution, Columbia University Press, New and Marcus L. Hansen), Annual Report of the American His York, 1935, p. 354. torical Association, 1931, vol. I, Washington, D.C., 1932, p. 124. Foreign m anufactures "In time" are those which could re Distribution w as made primarily on the basis of family ceive a drawback (refund) of duties; "Out of time" are those names. For explanation of methods used, see source. which could not. Outports are all ports in England other than London. Z 2 1-34. Value of exports to and imports from England, by American Colonies, 1697-1776. Z 4 3-55. Tonnage capacity of ships and value of exports and Source: 1697-1773, Charles Whitworth, State of the Trade imports of American Colonies, by destination and origin, of Great Britain in Its Imports and Exports Progressively from 1769 and 1770. the Year 1697, G. Robinson, London, 1776; 1774-1776, David Source: D avid Macpherson, cited above in source for series Macpherson, Annals of Commerce, Manufactures, Fisheries and Z 21-34, vol. Ill, pp. 571-572. Navigation, vol. Ill, Mundell & Son, Edinburgh, 1805, pp. 564, The t onnage figures shown are those used commercially — 535, and 599. not those computed when the Royal Navy was purchasing The E nglish Inspector General's Ledgers (Public Records vessels (see text for series Z 56-75). The statistics given by Office, London, Customs 2 and 3) provide the original source Macpherson are substantially the same as those given in Public for these figures. Unfortunately, Whitworth's erroneous title Records Office, London, Customs 16/1, except that Macpherson has caused many to believe the figures relate to Britain rather put the 1769 inward-bound tonnage data for Southern Europe than to England but otherwise his volume has much value. in the West Indies column (and vice versa) — an error which The source tables cover all countries and appear in two for has been corrected here. mats: One gives England's trade with any one country, an The v alue figures for 1769 provide only a rough-and-ready nually; the other shows all the countries with which England index of the relationship among the different trades. Totals traded each year.
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