DEVELOPMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 1 69 



crease between that period and 1820 was less than between 

 1800 and 1810, in the latter period being but 9000, or 37^ per 

 cent. At the next census (1830) the increase was still less, 

 being but 6795, or 20.57 percent; and still lower in 1840, 

 when the total population was 43,712, an increase in ten years 

 of but 3878, or 9.75 percent, the lowest percent of increase 

 during the history of the District. 



Washington was at a very low ebb in 1840. The city govern- 

 ment proved entirely inadequate in its comprehension of the real 

 future of the city ; Congress had been criminally neglectful of 

 its interest and it was left to grow without stimulation and with- 

 out exertion. In 1850, however, there was a little improvement, 

 the increase in the number of the population being double what 

 it had been between 1830 and 1840, for the census of 1850 

 showed a population of 51,687, an increase of 7975 or over 18)^ 

 percent in the ten years. In i860 the results were still better, the 

 population being 75,000, the increase in numbers being 23,393, 

 as against 7975 in the previous decade, the percentage of in- 

 crease being 45.25 percent. 



During the next ten years a more remarkable increase was 

 shown and it demands special consideration. The war began 

 in 1861 and the city of Washington attracted the attention not 

 only of the country but of the world. Troops from all parts 

 were brought here, Washington being the central post of the 

 armies. Strangers who knew nothing of Washington but the 

 brief statements they had seen in their school geographies were 

 now brought to see the town itself. The business of supplying 

 the great armies, everything connected with the equipment and 

 dispatching of large bodies of troops brought business men in 

 great numbers to the capital. Washington received its greatest 

 advertisement through these means, but another force came in. 

 Slavery had never amounted to very much in the District. In 

 i860 the population of 75,080 consisted of 60,763 white and 

 14,317 colored people. Of this number of the colored, only 

 3185 were slaves. There had been a constant reduction in the 

 number of slaves through various causes, the largest number at 

 an}^ one time being 6377 in 1820. At the next census there 

 was a slight reduction, while in 1840 the number was reduced 



