Fletcher W. Hewes & Henry Gannett, Growth of States in Population (1883)

This is the first of two pages with a series of charts showing the growth of population in the states from 1790 to 1880, published in Scribner's Statistical Atlas of the United States, Showing by Graphic Methods Their Present Condition and Their Political, Social and Industrial Development. The original thirteen states, displayed on the first page, are listed in the order in which they ratified the U.S.Constitution, and the other states on the next page are shown in the order in which they were admitted to the Union. The area of each state is also displayed and compared to the area of Ohio. At the time that this series of charts was made following the 1880 Census, the United States had been experiencing a considerable increase in immigration, which led to population growth in the Eastern United States throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century. Between the years 1850 and 1880, for example, the population of the state of New York increased by nearly two million people. New York City, which had become known as The Golden Door, allowed for the passage of thousands of immigrants into the United States. New York is not the only state that saw a massive increase in population due to the immigration of the late 1800s; Pennsylvania saw a population increase from 2.3 million people in 1850 to just over 4.2 million people by the year 1880.