Data Literacy for Social Studies, White Males of Military Age, 1860

We created this bar graph using a data table from the 1860 U.S. Census to depict the total number of white males of military age in the free states, slave-holding border states (those states that would remain in the Union), and slave-holding Confederate states. The spreadsheets found here include the original table, recreated table, and bar graph. White males of military age were defined in the U.S. Census as all white men aged 18 to 45 years. The graph highlights the difference in military-age population between the Union and Confederacy on the eve of the Civil War. We chose to disaggregate Border States' population data (excluding West Virginia, which did not split from Virginia until 1863) because, according to Margo J. Anderson in The American Census: A Social History, Abraham Lincoln himself was interested in analyzing Census statistics in this way. The graph clearly illustrates the advantage the Union had over the Confederacy in terms of military strength. In the Census report, Superintendent Joseph Kennedy pointed out that most of the men that immigrated to the United States were also of military age, contributing to the total.