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 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
Total
350
2,302
4,646
26,634
50,368
75,058
111,935
151,507
Years
1690
1700
1710
1720
1730
1740
1750
Total
210,372
250,888
331,711
466,185
629,445
905,563
1,170,760
Years
1760
1770
1780
Total
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.