In 1860, they had reversed
their positions, and New York was the first, and Virginia the fifth.
(Rep. p. 120.) At the same rate of progress, from 1860 to 1900, as from
1790 to 1860, Virginia, retaining slavery, would have sunk from the
first to the twenty-first State, and would still continue, at each
succeeding decade, descending the inclined plane toward the lowest
position of all the States. Such has been, and still continues to be,
the effect of slavery, in dragging down that once great State from the
first toward the last in rank in the Union. But if, as in the absence of
slavery must have been the case, Virginia had increased from 1790 to
1860 in the same ratio as New York, her population in 1860 would have
been 7,789,141, and she must always have remained the first in rank of
all the States.
AREA.--The natural advantages of Virginia far exceed those of
New York. The area of Virginia is 61,352 square miles, and that of New
York 47,000. The population of Virginia per square mile in 1790 was
12.19, and in 1860, 26.02. That of New York, in 1790, was 7.83, and in
1860, 84.36. Now, if New York, with her present numbers per square mile,
had the area of Virginia, her population, in 1860, would have been
5,175,654, and that of Virginia, reduced to the area of New York, on the
basis of her present numbers per square mile, would have been 1,320,000.
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