1860 US Census: Population, Economy, Demographics, Immigration, and Slavery | Eve of the Civil War

What was the population of the United States during the Civil War?
How many slaves were there in the United States?
How many immigrants were in the United States in 1860?
Which cities were the biggest in the United States during the Civil War?

The US Census answers very important questions. Many population figures and statistics, or demographics, are very interesting.

In 1860, on the eve of the American Civil War...

New York City and Brooklyn combined had about one million people. New York State had by far the largest population in the US at almost 4 million.

Philadelphia had more residents than the population of Arkansas.

New Orleans was the one city in the South that had the population of a large Northern city.

Most of the population of South Carolina was enslaved in 1860.

The percentage of slaves in Tennessee was about half that of those in the Deep South.

The American Midwest had, in just a few generations, achieved the same population as the old Northeast. Cincinnati, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, and Milwaukee had already emerged as major metropolitan centers by 1860.

Many important urban centers in 1860 would be small towns today. Atlanta, Georgia and Harrisburg, Pennsylvania were both around 10,000 people. These were big numbers in 1860, but small towns today.

About 4 million Americans were born in a different country in 1860. Over a million Americans were born in Ireland, and a similar number were born in Germany.

This film was made by Jeffrey Meyer, librarian and historian.

Images from the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division