Fertility in Massachusetts from the Revolution to the Civil War

ContentsAcknowledgmentsIntroduction1 Levels and Trends in Fertility in the United States before 1860 The Decline in Fertility in the United States before 1860 Fertility Levels and Trends in Massachusetts and the Other New England States before 1860 Rural-Urban Fertility Differentials Conclusion 2 Mortality Rates and Trends in Massachusetts before 1860 Mortality Rates in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Massachusetts Mortality Rates and Trends in Antebellum Massachusetts Conclusion 3 Marriage Patterns in Massachusetts Age at Marriage in Massachusetts Analysis of Births per Marriage among Massachusetts Communities 4 Socioeconomic Characteristics of Antebellum Massachusetts Population Changes Urban Development Economic Development Educational Development 5 Availability of Easily Accessible Land Interstate Fertility Variations and the Land Availability Thesis Fertility Differentials among Massachusetts Towns and Regions and the Land Availability Thesis The Relationship between Land Availability and Fertility at the Household Level 6 The Impact of Urban and Industrial Development on Fertility Differentials and Trends Urbanization and Fertility Differentials in the United States in 1850 and 1860 The Relationship between Measures of Urban and Industrial Development and Fertility Differentials among Massachusetts Towns in 1765, 1790, 1820, 1840, and 1860 Analysis of Rural—Urban Differentials at the Household Level Rural-Urban Fertility Differentials and Trends 7 Demographic and Social Explanations of Variations in the White Refined Fertility Ratios Sex Ratio of the Population Ethnic Composition of the Population Religious Composition of the Population The Relationship between the Levels of Education of the Population and Fertility Differentials 8 Speculations on Modernization and the Fertility Decline in Antebellum America Modernization and the Decline in Fertility Modernization in America in the Late Eighteenth Century and the First Half of the Nineteenth Century Levels and Trends in Education in Antebellum America Levels and Trends in Information Consumption in Antebellum America Changes in the Occupational Structure of the American Economy Changing Perception of the Role of the Individual as a Reformer and Shifts in Achievement Orientation Changes in the Value and Cost of Children Modernization and the Fertility Decline in Antebellum America 9 Conclusion The Experience of Nineteenth-Century America as a Model for Developing Countries Today? Appendix A The Use of Fertility Ratios as Indexes of Birth Rates Appendix B Reliability and Usefulness of Mortality Data Appendix C Results of Regression Analysis of Interstate Fertility Differentials in the United States in 1850 and 1860 Appendix D Results of Regression Analysis of Fertility Differentials among Massachusetts Townships from 1765 to 1860 Appendix E Tables for the Charts and Graphs Used in the Text Bibliography Primary Sources Secondary WorksSubject Index