Have you heard of the group called GRIVA ? Can you tell what the letters in this acronym stand for? They put out a newsletter and I am using material by Jan Nutter Alpert from Volume XXIV, Number 2.
Second question. What was the total population of the fifteen states in 1790?
Third question. What were the three most populous states? What was the spread (as a ratio) between the most populous state and the least populous state? What was the least populous state?
To answer a few of the questions, GRIVA stands for Genealogical Research Institute of Virginia . Its aim is to promote, foster, and encourage serious and accurate genealogical and historical research by all means possible, including instruction, seminars, workshops, and field trips. Their USPS address is:
GRIVA
PO Box 29178
Richmond, VA 23242-0178
The total population of the fifteen states (including Maine and Vermont) was less than four million people, including whites, Native Americans, and African-Americans. Seven hundred thousand of these people were slaves. Only two states reported no slaves, and they were Maine and Massachusetts.
The three most populous states were Virginia, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina in that order. That North Carolina rated so high was a surprise to me. Massachusetts was not far behind, and it was followed by New York and Maryland. Virginia had three-quarters of a million people living in it. On the other hand, Delaware was just shy of sixty thousand, so the ratio between Virginia and Delaware was in the order of twelve-to-one. It is no wonder that there was some difficulty in finding a compromise between the large states and the smallest states (by population). The three smallest states were Delaware, Rhode Island, and Georgia. Even Vermont had more population than Georgia.
The decision to build the national Capital on land from Virginia and Maryland was perhaps a concession to the populous Virginia. The legislative balance between the House and the Senate was a compromise to satisfy the large and the small. It also was an inheritance from England and Colonial practice. Another major problem was the balance between the rights of the states and the needs of a federal government.
(19 May 04)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.