456
UNITED STATES
The District of Columbia is the seat of the United States Government, provided by the State of Maryland for the purposes of government in 1791. It is co-extensive with the city of Washington, and embraces an area of 60 square miles. The district has no municipal legislative body, and its citizens have no right to vote either in national or municipal concerns. By an Act of Congress of 1878, its municipal government is administered by three commissioners, appointed by the President.
The unit of local government in the North, especially in the New England States, is the rural township, governed directly by the voters who assemble annually or oftener if necessary, and legislate in local affairs, levy taxes, make appropriations, and appoint and instruct the local officials (select men, clerk, school-committee, &c). Where cities exist the township government is superseded by the city government. Townships are grouped to form counties, each with its commissioners and other paid officials who have charge of public buildings, lay out highways, grant licences, and estimate and apportion the taxation necessary for county purposes. In the South the counties are them- selves the units, though subdivided for educational or other special purposes. Their officials have in general additional functions, as the care of the poor and the superintendence of schools. In the Middle and North-Western States the two systems of local government are mixed. In the West all the public land is already divided into townships six miles square.
Area and Population.
I. Progress and Present Condition.
Population of the United States at each census from 1790. Residents of Hawaii, Alaska, Porto Rico, the Philippine Islands, Guam, Samoa, and Panama Canal zone, and persons in the military and naval service stationed abroad are not included in the figures of this table. The residents of Indian reservations are not included prior to 1890.
Year
White
Coloured or Free Negroes
59,527
Slave 697,681
Total
Increase per cent, per ann.
1790
3,172,006
3,929,214
1800
4,306,446
108,435
893,602
5,308,483
3-51
1810
5,862,073
186,446
1,191,362
7,239,881
364
1820
7,866,797
233,634
1,538,022
9,638,453
3 31
1830
10,537,378
319,599
2,009,043
12,866,020
3 35
1840
14,195,805
386,293
2,487,355
17,069,453
3-27
1850
19,553,068
434,495
3,204,313
23,191,876
3-59
1860
26,922,537
488,070
3,953,760
31,443,321
3-56
1870
33,589,877
4,880,009
—
38,558,371
2-26
1880
43,402,970
6,580,793
—
50,155,783
3-01
1890
55,101,258
7,488,676
—
62,947,714
2-55
1900
66,809,196
8,833,994
—
75,994,575
207
1910
81,731,957
9,827,768
—
91,972,266
210
1920
—
_
—
105,683,108
149
There are also included in the total for 1860, 34,933 Chinese and 44,021
