The population growth from both migration and natural causes is illustrated by region and race in Table 2.1. Note the remarkable similarity in the timing, rise, and levels of the total populations in New England and the Upper South. The latecomers—the Middle colonies and the Lower South—displayed slightly higher growth rates, which allowed them to catch up somewhat. The rate of population expansion was quite steady for the colonies as a whole, slightly over 3 percent per year. From 300 settlers in Virginia in 1610,1.7 million people of European origin and half a million of African origin resided in the 13 colonies by 1770.
The period of greatest absolute migration occurred in the eighteenth century—particularly after 1720, when between 100,000 and 125,000 Scotch-Irish and about 100,000 Germans arrived in North America. Most immigrants in the seventeenth century were British, and another strong surge of British migration occurred between 1768 and 1775. Perhaps as many as 300,000 white immigrants came to the New World between 1700 and 1775, and a somewhat smaller number of blacks came as well. Plenty of highly fertile land and a favorable climate attracted Europeans and provided motives for securing African slaves. Nevertheless, migration was the dominant source of population growth in only the first decades of settlement in each region.
In New England, immigration virtually halted in the late 1640s, and natural causes became the source of population growth after 1650. For areas settled later, such as Pennsylvania, the forces of migration remained dominant later, but natural forces swiftly took over even there. Even the enslaved black population grew swiftly and predominantly from natural sources after 1700. On the eve of the Revolution, only one white in 10 was foreign born; the figure for blacks was between two and three in 10.
Commercial successes, favorable economic circumstances, and the high value of labor powered a high rate of reproduction in the colonies. White birthrates in North America per 1,000 women ranged between 45 and 50 per year, compared with near 30 in Europe or 12 in the United States today. The colonial population was exceptionally young. By the 1770s, 57 percent of the population was under the age of 21. Moreover, a higher percentage of the colonial population was of childbearing age. Typically, colonial women tended to marry rather early, between the ages of 20 and 23, which was a couple of years younger than the average marriage age of European women. The cheapness of land
Encouraged early marriage in the colonies, and it was generally easier for colonists than for Europeans to strike out on their own, acquire land, and set up a household. Childbearing was a major cause of death for women, and many men remarried to sustain their families. The average European married man produced four or five children, but earlier marriages and higher proportions of mothers in their childbearing years resulted in an average colonial family of about seven to eight children. Greater emphasis on rural economic activity also encouraged higher birthrates in the colonies. Children were more costly to raise in urban areas, and their labor contribution tended to be less there.
Also of great significance was the fact that once the first few years of starvation had passed, the colonies experienced rather low mortality rates. The annual death rate in Europe was about 40 per 1,000 people; in the colonies, it was 20 to 25 per 1,000.
The lower age structure of the colonial population accounts in part for this, but the exceptionally low rate of child mortality was an even more impressive statistic. On average, white mothers in the colonies were better fed and housed than mothers in Europe. Consequently, colonial babies were healthier. The harsh winters of North America and the inferior medical technology of the frontier were more than offset by plentiful food supplies, fuel, and housing. And because the population was predominantly rural, epidemics were rare in the colonies. Once past infancy, white colonial males typically lived to be 60 or older. Because of the hazards of childbirth, however, the comparable age for early colonial women was normally slightly over 40.9
World History
