All of the threatening phases of the slave question had been compromised by the various provisions in the Constitution, and the common territory of the nation had been practically partitioned between Freedom and Slavery, with the Ohio River as the dividing line. With some exceptions the Northern States still possessed a large number of slaves, New York and New Jersey having the greatest number (33,000 out of the 40,000 still in the North), but not only in these States, but throughout the North, emancipation was making rapid progress. The population of the country was scattered along the Atlantic seaboard, but the migration to the west of the Alleghanies had set in strongly both north and south of the Ohio River; the settlers from Virginia and the States south of her carrying with them, westward, the prejudices and customs of their mother States, while the settlers north of the Ohio River took with them into the wilderness the energy and thrift of the East, and its spirit of freedom and emancipation for all individuals, laying the foundation of those great States which, in later years, untrammeled by the commercial conservatism of the East, were so outspoken and sturdy in their expressions against slavery. The first census, taken in 1790, showed a population of 3,929,827, classed and divided between the North and South as follows: Free White. Negroes. Slave. North .......... 1,900,976 27,109 40,370 South .......... 1,271,488 32,357 657,527 These figures are interesting because of the political effect that the population of the two sections had upon the representation in the House. The South was still devoting herself to the raising of tobacco, rice, indigo, and several lesser staples, but since the close of the Revolution, owing to the dying out of the indigo plant, a new staple had received considerable attention. Cotton had been cultivated in Virginia by the early settlers, but little attention had been paid to it, and only enough was produced for domestic use; but after the close of the Revolution it gradually came to be cultivated in all the Southern States, and it was quickly discovered that being an indigenous plant it grew very rapidly, and the climate, soil and the great number of slaves at hand were favorable toward making it, with some attention, a most promising and valuable product. The development of cotton manufacture had been gradual but certain to this period, which saw the triumph and use of the mechanical inventions of Hargreave, Arkwright, Crompton and Cartwright. The steam engine was introduced to supply motive power, and only one thing stood in the way of an enormous production of the new staple. The separation of the seed from the cotton fibre was a tedious and time-consuming task; one negro could only remove the seeds from about two pounds of cotton a day, and consequently only a small amount could be sent to market.