Foreign born by state, 1860

[TDAS04]

The states are shaded according to the percentage of the population in each that consisted of foreign born right before the Civil War, according to the 1860 US census.  

In descending order from darkest to lightest green:

30% or higher=darkest green  
25-29%
20-24%
15-19%
10-14%
5-9%
0-4%=lightest green

Not yet a state=gray

Virginia and West Virginia are the same color since they were one state.

Thoughts?  What sticks out to you?

[TDAS04]

Nationwide, the census reported that 13% of the US population consisted of the foreign born in 1860.  

The three states in the darkest shade--those with at least 30%:
California-39%
Wisconsin-36%
Minnesota-34%

Of course, those states had few people at the time.  New York clearly had the largest total immigrant population.  In terms of percent of population, New York ranked fourth among the states, with 26%.

[TDAS04]

My 8th grade history textbook (which I still have) contains two maps using 1860 census data.  One shows the percentage of each state's population consisting of German immigrants, and the other map displays the same with the Irish.  The maps don't show the West, not even the existing states of California or Oregon.

The map of German immigrants:

In descending order from darkest to lightest shade of green:
8% or higher
4-7%
2-3%
0-1%

I'll do the map of the Irish-born in my next post.

[TDAS04]

Irish immigrants by state, 1860:

Again, in descending order from darker to lighter green:
10% or higher
5-9%
2-4%
0-1%