Maxwell Museum Blog
Did you know that the American Colonies had been on an amazing demographic roll for forty years before the Declaration of Independence was signed, triggering the Revolutionary War? Between 1740 and 1780 the average attained height of children born in the "American" colonies had risen more than an inch. Their average life spans had increased by nearly 10 years to 56, and infant mortality was half that of children born in the British Isles.
These biological benefits made "American" born children the tallest and longest lived in the Anglo & European Worlds. That advantage became an integral colonial expectation and shaped the core cultural identity of "American". The Declaration acknowledges this in the phrase "and the pursuit of Happiness"...which meant "well-being" in the parlance of that era. The Revolutionary War was fought to protect the Colonies' economic and demographic advantages from rapidly rising British taxes and King George III's policy of forcing the colonies to pay an increasing part of his Army's support. That army ,mind you, only averaged a height of of 5'4.7", and an average life span of only 36 years!
At long odds, the Americans won, but a massive ten fold population increase during the 45 years following the Constitution's signing , had overwhelmed the nation's capacity to produce cheap food, sustain the buying power of wages, or to deal with recurring epidemics of Cholera, Yellow Fever and the like. By 1850 the attained height of American born children had declined by nearly an inch and their average lifespan had declined by 8 years! A disappointed nation grew quarrelsome , focusing on what had gone wrong. Two decades of bitter regional politics erupted into the Civil War in 1860. The losses of life and of property were immense....but drove subsequent industrialization. Massive wealth was created, but became so concentrated in the "Robber Baron's hands, that the demographics of general well-being remained disappointing. By 1890, American born children's average lifespan was 45.2 years..more than ten fewer years than in 1780, and their average height was 1.5 inches shorter than in the Founders Era.
American born children's height and longevity did not rise enough to equal the statistics of the Founders era until 1930!! Those demographic statistics continued upward until height peaked in 1960, and longevity peaked in 2010. Since then , America has been on a slow downward trend! In the Summer of 2020, the nation faces those disappointing statistics amplified by a deadly pandemic and ,once again, by angry, divisive politics. For those who follow such statistics, these factors suggest that change is on the horizon.
To learn more, read:
1)Robert Fogel, "The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death", 1700-2000, Cambridge Univ. Press,2004.
2) David E. Stuart, "A Fragile Legacy of Well-being: Three families and the Trajectory of America", Cultural Impacts Publishing, 2018.
3) Michael R. Haines, "Vital Statistics", in "Historical Statistics of the United States:Millennial Edition", vol. 1, Ed. by Susan B. Carter, et al. , Cambridge Univ. Press, 2002