PHILADELPHIA IN TRANSITION: A DEMOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE CITY AND ITS OCCUPATIONAL GROUPS, 1720-1830

Little is known of the demographic history of the 18th and 19th century urban areas. Less is known of the demographic experiences of the various classes in any society prior to the 20th century. This study examines the marriage, fertility and mortality rates of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1720-1830, by occupational class. The method employed is family reconstitution: a procedure designed to uncover vital statistics from church registers. Six Philadelphia denominations are included in this study; the Society of Friends, the Anglican/Episcopalians, the German Lutherans, the German Reformed Church, the Swedish Lutherans and the Presbyterians. The 744 reconstituted families were cross-classified by three variables. The first was church affiliation. The second assigned these families into one of four time periods based on the birth date of the wife. The third classification was occupational class. The upper class consists of merchants, professionals and gentlemen, the middle class of skilled artisans and shopkeepers, the lower middle class of semi-skilled mechanics, the lower class of unskilled laborers and the poor. The introductory chapter is a discussion of sources and methods. Marriage rates, age at marriage, premarital pregnancy rates, length of marriage, widowhood and remarriage are examined in chapter II. The third chapter discusses age-specific fertility rates, family size, and contraceptive knowledge. The final chapter studies mortality by age, sex and cause of death. One major conclusion of this study was that occupational class and not religious or ethnic affiliation was the major determinant of demographic behavior. The demographic rates of the churches were but a pale reflection of the rates of their dominant occupational groups. The major exception was that the Quaker rates tended to be exaggerations of upper class rates. Philadelphia passed through the demographic transition in this period. Mortality, and especially infant mortality, fell for all groups in the city in the 18th century. Modern fertility schedules were adopted by the wives of lawyers and government employees in the late 18th century and by all groups in the early 19th century. The two decades from 1790-1810 exist as a watershed in Philadelphia\u27s demographic history. For the upper and middle classes risks to infants and children continue to decline. Mortality rates of the working classes begin to rise. Reduced fertility in the upper and middle classes was the result of changes in mentality about women\u27s role and about the future. Lower fertility in the working classes was the result of unemployment, the deteriorating environment and population pressure. The working classes faced a medical and economic crisis in the industrializing city. But if the biological regime of Philadelphia moved towards a division expressive of the growing economic stratification of society, other changes blurred those differences between rich and poor. Secularization, romanticism and notions of propriety affected attitudes towards marriage, premarital sexuality, breastfeeding and childrearing. This culture was superficial however; each group interpreted these norms differently and the fulfillment of normative behavior was enhanced or hampered by the economic position of the various classes. The work of demographic historians has been largely based upon studies of small populations. The theories derived from these studies make an assumption of unity--that because the population is treated as a single entity, a single set of assumptions will account for changes in behavior. Philadelphia\u27s history reveals that the different conditions of the occupational classes produced divergent demographic responses