Growth of Population. 101 



THIRD PERIOD. 1846-1861. PERIOD OF EXPANSION. 

 INCREASED EXPENDITURES AND TAXATION. 



A. Growth of Population. 

 A study of the population of Connecticut from 1790 to 1860 as 

 shown by the United States census reports ^ will help to explain 

 the changed conditions of the state finances which appear in this 

 period. 



Year. Population. 



1790 237,946 



1800 251,002 



1810 261,942 



1820 275,148 



1830 297,675 



1840 309,978 



1850 370,792 



1860 460,147 



These figures show that while the normal increase for the entire 

 United States for every decade except one was more than one for 

 every three persons, the average rate of increase for Connecticut 

 up to 1840 was only about one in twenty for each decade. This 

 is a proof that emigration from Connecticut was then taking place 

 to a degree that prevented even the normal rate of increase. This 

 fact is further verified by the figures given in the last chapter where 

 it was shown that the number of children between the ages of four 

 and sixteen actually decreased from 1820 to 1845.'^ Notice, however, 

 the great change that occurred during the decade ending in 1850. 

 In this decade the population of Connecticut increased by nearly 

 sixty-one thousand. The increase for this decade was 1838 more 

 than the increase for the four decades that immediately preceded it. 

 In the succeeding decade the increase was still more rapid, the gain 

 being eighty-nine thousand three hundred fifty-five. From 1846 

 to 1860 the population of the state increased more than it did from 

 1790 to 1846, and this is the most important factor in the increased 

 expenditures of this period. There is little need for considering 

 the state expenditures for the third period except to note the general 

 increase in most of the items and to point out a few changes in the 

 laws which caused increased expenditures. 



1 Cf. United States Census Reports. 



2 Cf. p. 82. 



