Section #1 - Quantifying America: Statistical Tables 1650-1860

Chapter 2: Total Population

Estimates vary widely on the size of the Native American population in North America when the British arrive at Jamestown in 1607. But several scholars, including U. Wisconsin Professor William Denevan in his 1994 book, peg the number at around 3.8 million.

From that point on, the Tribes suffer what some regard as genocide brought on by disease, warfare, forced removal from their homelands and erosion of their entire culture. Professor Russel Thornton (U. California) estimates the decline as follows:

2.0 Estimates of Native American Population (Thornton

Years	1650	1700	1750	1800	1850
Millions	2.50	1.75	1.40	0.65	0.50

Meanwhile the population of various European immigrants grows dramatically according to estimates from the State University of New York (SONY).

2.1 Estimates of Early U.S. Population

Years	1610	1620	1630	1640	1650	1660	1670	1680	1690	1700	1710	1720	1730	1740	1750	1760	1770	1780
Total	350	2,302	4,646	26,634	50,368	75,058	111,935	151,507	210,372	250,888	331,711	466,185	629,445	905,563	1,170,760	1,593,625	2,148,076	2,780,369

This population boom continues unabated between the formation of the United States and the approach of the Civil War.

2.2 Total U.S. Population (000): Census Data

	1790	1800	1810	1820	1830	1840	1850	1860
Total	3,929	5,308	7,240	9,646	12,861	17,063	23,191	31,443
% Ch		35%	36%	33%	33%	33%	35%	36%

By 1840 the U.S. population surpasses that of its two early rivals for North America, England and Spain. By 1860 it almost equals the third, France.

2.3 Population (MM) of Other Nations

	1800	1820	1840	1850	1860
China	297.6			430.0
Russia	56.0			76.0
France	27.5	30.3	34.1		36.5
Germany	22.4			33.4
Italy	17.2			24.4
Spain	10.8	11.0	14.0		15.6
England	8.8	11.9	15.7		17.3
America	5.3	9.6	17.1	23.2	31.4