Semi-weekly Camden journal. [volume] (Camden, South-Carolina) 1851-1852, 1851-12-19
PROGRESS OF THE U. STATES.

If the progress of country, in mere ma
tcrial respects, were entirely significant, e l.
Their Of its tastes, its virtues or its happiness,
the philosopher of the United States might
well cxul, in the wonder fu advance which
has been made bv our own. Without quail
| fying what may be said in behalf of its pro.
gress, By advertng now to those respects in
whlch5it IS confesscdly wanting. let us in
dull ge in a grateful contemplation OF the
physical results of our institutions, AS con-
densed from the returns of the las, census.
In l776. when we first run up the standard
!: of American independence. our population
! was estimated in round numbers. at three
millions. But it probably did not then ex-
! coed two and a half At that time we en-
jnycd not single clue, beyond the openIn g
of tho interior country upon our vision, t.
any Of the thousand sources of our present
prosperity. Railways and steamboats, were
undreamcd Of; our staples were 'nslgnIh-
cant, and nothing could be more feeble than
the infant experiments ofour manufacturers
Even our farming was rude and barbarous
practice. From l776 to the close of the
century, the stride was prndlg,nuS, as CONF
pared with that OF other nations; yet notlf
inc in comparison with our own subsequent
career. This is sufficiently illustrated by
til" increase Of population. since ii is through
such increase chiefly that VIC arrive sam
marily al all the physIra improvements of a
people. in 1900. according ly. our p"puIa-
lalron was five millions. three hundred thou
sand, nearly or quite double what i. was in
l776. This was the increase of twenty
four years. IN 1851, our population Is n
triflc under twenty. FIVE millions. In l776
our States were thirteen in number; IN
1900. sivtccn they are now thirty -onc. with
several in embryo. Our territory in 1900
was, 100000 square miles; il is now s.
100000. All our present domain west OF
the Mississippi then bcI"ngcd to France and
Spain, and was an unbroken wilderness.
Florida belonged to Spain. and Georgia was
the only State Oh the Gulf OF Mexico. West
Of New York there was no States but Ken
tucky and Tennessee, and these had spent
mnsi of their feeble energies in The b>ndy
slrifes with savage foe. Illinois, Indiana,
Michigan, and half Of our Western States,
were ve, but hunting grounds where lndl-
ans rnanrd unmnlrs'cd. AT that period the
total vaiuc Of at kinds of manufacturers anI
products Of industry In The United States
hardly "xcecded hundred millions OF dol
lars. The cxporlaIi"n Of cotton alone has
increased from S5.OGO.OOO annually. to 10
or $4,000, 600. Oar ;nIand lake trade has
increased from all amoun; too insignificant to
he estimated 10 Inc enormous value Ot
s2oe,OOO,OOO annually. Our foreign marine
is now hardly inferior in extent or value TO
that Of Great Britain, and we arc now gam
ing faster than ever on our gigantic rival.
Fifty years ago, scarcely ono of our thou.
sand miles of canal existed, and not one of
our present eight or ten thousand miles Of
railway, or our present sixteen thou sand
miles of telegraph were either known or
dreamed of.-Char. Eve. News,