by Wildwell » Tue 24 Jan 2006, 10:00:37
I was reading about the history of America last night, it’s a shockingly young country, in the 1860s slavery was rife and the country was still divided. They clearly didn’t like tax, that’s why they kicked the British out. But interestingly the whole growth of the country came about in the early 1800s. Thomas Malthus, our old population pessimist from Dorking, just south of London, got so worried about population in England, after an especially bad agricultural period he lobbied for the first census…which took place in 1801. Panic ensured when they discovered that Britain had nearly 11 million people, so they decided to encourage people to colonise America in their droves. A lot of Irish went too, the potato famine had made it’s mark. A few years later a bet between two Welsh industrial tycoons produced the first ever workable steam locomotive. The technology was exported America, which opened up the country rapidly, and after a bit of fisticuffs with the locals, the country was United and opened up to immigration and breeding. The rest as they say is history.