Governing Impasse
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TO RULE ONESELF IN ANTEBELLUM AMERICA THE CONCEPT OF SELF-GOVERNMENT FROM REVOLUTION TO SECESSION IN THREE VOLUMES WHO SHALL RULE GROWTH AND GOVERNANCE 3. GOVERNING IMPASSE RICHARD L GARNER Download from www.toruleoneself.com (without charge) For printed copy, email [email protected] All Rights Reserved, 2010 GOVERNING IMPASSE Volume 3 GOVERING IMPASSE NATION IN 1850 AND 1860 As the 31st Congress debated territorial questions, it was also preparing for the 7th Census, which began on 1 June 1850.1 This was the first census to try to enumerate by sex and age each member of the household. Heretofore, the head of the household was listed along with the number of persons in a range of ages. Counting each member improved the accuracy of the census. By 1850 the white population was set at 19.6 million, up from 14.2 million (increase of 38 percent) in 1840, the slave population at 3.2 million, up from 2.5 million (increase of 28 percent) and the remaining 435,000 classified as “free colored” for a total of 23.2 million up from 17.1 million in 1840 (rise of 36 percent). The nation including territories encompassed 3.3 million square miles for a density of 7.2 persons per square mile. The Census recognized 31 states plus the District of Columbia. The following territories were noted: Indian Territory of about 200,000 square miles, Minnesota Territory of about 142,000 square miles, Nebraska Territory (proposed) of 137,000 square miles, New Mexico Territory of 211,000 square miles, Northwest Territory of 524,000 square miles, Oregon Territory of 341,000 square miles and Utah Territory of 188,000 square miles. The most populous state was New York with 3.2 million at 67.3 persons per square mile followed by Pennsylvania at 2.3 million at 49.2 persons per square mile. The most densely populated states, however, were Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 137.2 and 123.0 per square mile respectively. The least populous state was Florida with about 88,000 or 1.5 per square mile followed by Delaware and California (just admitted) with about 92,000 or 43.2 and .4.0 persons per square mile respectively. The District of Columbia had a higher density (1,034 people per square mile) than any state but encompassed only 50 square miles.2 In 1850 17 of the 31 states plus the District reported a population of slaves. In the prior census 27 states and the District reported slaves. Ten states, usually identified as northern, had small slave populations in 1840 but only New Jersey had a small slave population of 200 plus 1The enacting legislation was passed on 23 May 1850 with additional legislation in the following months and years. “Abstract of Census Legislation…,” The Seventh Census of the United States 1850… (Washington DC, 1853), xix- xx. Available on-line at http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1850a-02.pdf. 2Tables X-Population of the United States & XII–Population, Square Miles, Density, Etc., under “Population”, Seventh Census, xxxi & xxxiii. Available on-line at http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/ 1850a-02.pdf. 2 GOVERNING IMPASSE in 1850. Virginia had the highest number of slave, under 500,000, while Delaware and the District counted several thousand each. The great concentration of the slave population was shaped like a crescent, extending from Virginia through Alabama, across Mississippi and Louisiana and up through Tennessee and Kentucky, all of which had between 210,000 and 385,000 slaves. Texas, which had entered the Union as a slave state, had fewer than 60,000 slaves compared to Maryland and Missouri with between 85,000 and 90,000 slaves.3 Maryland had the largest number of the free colored followed by Virginia and Pennsylvania. These three states had 180,000 of the 425,000 (rounded) or 42 percent of those counted in this category. Every state plus the District reported a population of free colored. Twenty states had fewer than 10,000 free colored and and nine states had fewer than 1,000. Four states with substantial slave population – Georgia, Mississippi, Texas and Arkansas – had fewer than 1,000 free colored. No doubt, a bigger population spread out over more space but with varying densities.4 With millions more, what did Americans do, how did they pursue their dreams? The 1860 census will provide more such information, but even with the 1850 census a portrait can be drawn. In the year of the Great Compromise (1850) census-takers found that American males – “free males under 15 years” – worked at approximately 325 occupations or about 5.4 enumerated workers per category. The 1850 census did not include females, although the prior 1840 census had (thus, making comparison straight-away comparison difficult. Although compared to modern standards, collecting and assembling of the data in the mid-nineteenth century had many deficiencies, my use of the data has a narrow intent. In a rapidly developing nation, to what were the economic and business pursuits of Americans changing? In the 1850 census more than 2.4 million were agriculturalists, 1.6 million were traders, manufacturers, artisans and miners (proprietors rather than workers) and nearly 1 million were non-agricultural laborers. The remaining half million were seafarers, professionals, domestics and “others”. Agriculture still predominated, but since it had been declining, by how much? The 1840 data were different in that women and slaves figured into the totals. Accordingly, there were 3.7 million classified under agriculture and 950,000 under mining, commerce and manufacturing. No category for laborer existed. Since the total population had grown by more than a third, one can assume the total employment must have increased as well. Even without counting females and slaves in the 1850 employment figures, the total number employed was higher by more than a half 3Table XXIII-Classification of…Slave Population…, in Aggregate Column, under “Population”, Seventh Census, xliv. Available on-line at http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1850a-02.pdf. 4Table XXII-Classification of…Free Colored Population…, in Aggregate Column, under “Population”, Seventh Census, xliii. Available on-line at http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1850a-02.pdf. 3 GOVERNING IMPASSE million. If females and slaves had been counted, the total employment in 1850 could have been as much as a million more than in 1840, and that’s a minimal calculation. In other words, if the same ratio of employed to total population in 1840 were used in 1850, the total employment figure would be at least 6.5 million, maybe approaching 7 million.5 And since there were nearly 1 million laborers and more than 1 million merchants, miners, etc. in 1850, the total number of agricultural workers – proprietors, laborers and slaves – may have risen, but the proportion of those employed in agricultural pursuits had certainly fallen. By 1860, the next decennial census, even more changes had been recorded. There were 34 states, the District of Columbia and seven territories. Kansas and Oregon had joined the Union since the last census. The total population (free, slave, indigenous) was 31.5 million of which nearly 300,000 lived in the District and the territories. There were nearly 4 million slaves. Counting all categories, free, slave and other, the nation had grown by eight million or by 36 percent, about the same percentage as the decade 1840 to 1850.6 For comparative purposes the 1860 census calculated densities of population by regions for the 32 states in the Union in 1850 and 1860. Texas and California were treated separately from the other 30 states, which were divided into five groups of six each: New England, Middle Atlantic (including Ohio), Coastal Planting (from South Carolina to Louisiana), Central Slave and North Central. The 32 states had about 1.6 million square miles. In 1850 they had 14.5 persons per square mile and in 1860 19.5 per square mile. All five regions plus the two excluded states saw an increase in the densities of their populations with North Central recording nearly a doubling of persons per square mile. (Both Texas and California witnessed a tripling in population densities, as might be expected for new states.) Of the five regions the Middle Atlantic (plus Ohio) had the greatest concentration with 61 persons per square mile, and the Coastal Planting region had the lowest at 15. Despite the intense growth in the North Central region, it had at 16 persons per square mile just one more person than the Coastal Planting region. It is not surprising that the New England and Middle Atlantic regions with 50 to 60 persons per square mile also had the largest cities and expanding manufacturing economies.7 Perhaps a fifth of the population was urban and engaged 5See Table Li-Employments of the Free Male Population…1850 and Table Lii-Occupations of the Free and Slave Population…Both Sexes…1840, “Population”, Seventh Census, lxxx. Available on-line at http://www2.census.gov/ prod2/decennial/documents/1850a-02.pdf. 6“Recapitulation: Population, Nativity, and Occupation,” Population of the United State…Eighth Census… (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, 1864), 598-599. Available on-line at http://www2.census.gov/. 7“Introduction,” Population…Eighth Census, xvi-xvii. Available on-line at http://www2.census.gov/. 4 GOVERNING IMPASSE Occupational data-gathering, which was expanded in 1850, was further refined in 1860. Nearly 600 occupations, or almost double the 1850 figure, were listed for a total of 8.3 million (slaves not counted) in 1860. New York and Pennsylvania had the highest counts of 1.3 million and 900,000 respectively of those with occupations, and Oregon and Florida had the lowest.