A Short History of the United States for School UseChanning, Edward
History
A Short History of the United States for School Use
Channing, Edward
United States -- History
364. The States.--As it was with the cities so it was with the
states--the North had grown beyond the South. In 1790 Virginia had as
many inhabitants as the states of New York and Pennsylvania put
together. In 1860 Virginia had only about one-quarter as many
inhabitants as these two states. Indeed, in 1860 New York had nearly
four million inhabitants, or nearly as many inhabitants as the whole
United States in 1791 (p. 156). But the growth of the states of the
Northwest had been even more remarkable. Ohio now had a million more
people than Virginia and stood third in population among the states of
the Union. Illinois was the fourth state and Indiana the sixth. Even
more interesting are the facts brought out by a study of the map showing
the density of population or the number of people to the square mile in
the several states. It appears that in 1860 Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and
Massachusetts each had over forty-five inhabitants to the square mile,
while not a single Southern state had as many as forty-five inhabitants
to the square mile. This shows us at once that although the Southern
states were larger in extent than the Northern states, they were much
less powerful.
[Illustration: DENSITY OF POPULATION IN 1860.]
[Sidenote: Improvements in living.]
365. City Life.--In the old days the large towns were just like the
small towns except that they were larger. Life in them was just about
the same as in the smaller places. Now, however, there was a great
difference. In the first place the city could afford to have a great
many things the smaller town could not pay for. In the second place it
must have certain things or its people would die of disease or be killed
as they walked the streets. For these reasons the streets of the
Northern cities were paved and lighted and were guarded by policemen.
Then, too, great sewers carried away the refuse of the city, and
enormous iron pipes brought fresh water to every one within its limits.
Horse-cars and omnibuses carried its inhabitants from one part of the
city to another, and the railroads brought them food from the
surrounding country.
[Illustration: AN OMNIBUS]
[Sidenote: Growth of the railroad systems.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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