Irish."

Whatever may be the actual proportions of these British elements, as
revealed by a study of the patronymics of the population at the time
of American independence, the fact that the ethnic stock was
overwhelmingly British stands out most prominently. We shall never
know the exact ratios between the Scotch and the English, the Welsh
and the Irish blended in this hardy, self-assertive, and fecund
strain. But we do know that the language, the political institutions,
and the common law as practiced and established in London had a
predominating influence on the destinies of the United States. While
the colonists drifted far from the religious establishments of the
mother country and found her commercial policies unendurable and her
political hauteur galling, they nevertheless retained those legal and
institutional forms which remain the foundation of Anglo-Saxon life.

For nearly half a century the American stock remained almost entirely
free from foreign admixture. It is estimated that between 1790 and
1820 only 250,000 immigrants came to America, and of these the great
majority came after the War of 1812. The white population of the
United States in 1820 was 7,862,166. Ten years later it had risen to
10,537,378. This astounding increase was almost wholly due to the
fecundity of the native stock. The equitable balance between the
sexes, the ease of acquiring a home, the vigorous pioneer environment,
and the informal frontier social conditions all encouraged large
families. Early marriages were encouraged. Bachelors and unmarried
women were rare. Girls were matrons at twenty-five and grand-mothers
at forty. Three generations frequently dwelt in one homestead.
Families of five persons were the rule; families of eight or ten were
common, while families of fourteen or fifteen did not elicit