1801 to 1861
- 4.01 Chain Bridge, 1828 (full view and close up)
- 4.02 Route of the Alexandria Canal, 1838
- 4.03 TimeTable for Alexandria, Loudoun, and Hampshire Railroad Company
- 4.04 1800 Census
- 4.05 1820 Census
- 4.06 1840 Census
- 4.07 1860 Census
- 4.08 Virginia map of enslaved people, 1860
- 4.09 Abolitionist poster (full poster and three close ups)
- 4.10 Exterior of Alexandria slave pen
- 4.11 Interior of Alexandria slave pen
- 4.12 Registry of Free Negroes
Source 4.01: Smith, John Rubens, Artist. Draw bridge over Potomac at George Town, D.C. 1828. Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
Source 4.02: Stone, William James, et al. Chart of the head of navigation of the Potomac River shewing the route of the Alexandria Canal: made in pursuance of a resolution of the Alex’a Canal Company Oct. 1838. [Washington: U.S. Senate, 1838] Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
Source 4.03: [Time Table for Alexandria, Loudoun, and Hampshire Railroad Company] 1860. In Netherton, Nan, and Ross De Witt Netherton. Arlington County in Virginia: A Pictorial History. Norfolk: Donning Co, 1987. Print.
These three documents (S4.01-3) illustrate aspects of the First Industrial Revolution reaching Arlington, namely canal building and railroads.
Source 4.04: Return of the Whole Number of Persons within the Several Districts of the United States According to an Act Providing for the Second Census or Enumeration of the Inhabitants of the United States: Passed February the Twenty Eighth, One Thousand Eight Hundred. Washington: Duane, Printer, 1801. Print.
Source 4.05: Census for 1820. Washington: Printed by Gales & Seaton, 1821. The link below takes you to a zipped file of pdfs. Print.<http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1860a.zip>.
Source 4.06: United States. Census Office. 6th Census, 1840. Compendium of the Enumeration of the Inhabitants and Statistics of the United States as Obtained at the Department of State, from the Returns of the Sixth Census, by Counties and Principal Towns … to Which Is Added an Abstract of Each Preceding Census. Washington: T. Allen, 1841. Print. The link below takes you to a zipped file of pdfs. <http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1840b.zip>.
Source 4.07: Kennedy, J. C. G. Population of the United States in 1860: Compiled from the Original Returns of the Eighth Census under the Direction of the Secretary of the Interior. Washington: G.P.O., 1864. Print. The link below takes you to a zipped file of pdfs. <http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decennial/documents/1860a.zip>.
More than just tracing Arlington’s growth in population, these census schedules (S4.4-7) document the politics of slavery, freedom, gender, and race. The census is also an authentic way to review and exemplify the Three-Fifths Compromise in action. More census records can be found here.
Source 4.08: Graham, H. S, and E Hergesheimer. Map of Virginia: showing the distribution of its slave population from the census of 1860. Washington: Henry S. Graham, 1861. Map. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
This map is useful for comparing slavery in Arlington to other parts of Virginia which before the Civil War included West Virginia.
Source 4.09: Dorr, William S, and American Anti-Slavery Society. Slave Market of America. New-York: Published by the American Anti-Slavery Society, 1836. Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
Source 4.10: Russell, Andrew J, photographer. Front of “slave pen,” Alexandria, Va. [between 1861 and 1865] Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress.
Source 4.11: Slave pen, Alexandria, Va. [photographed Between 1861 and 1865, Printed Between 1880 and 1889] Image. Retrieved from the Library of Congress,
This poster and photos (S4.08-11) document the slave trade in Alexandria. Note that the Price, Birch & Co. building in the photographs was owned by the slave-trading firm Franklin & Armfield mentioned in the abolitionist poster.
Source 4.12: [Registry of Free Negroes] 1851?. In Netherton, Nan, and Ross De Witt Netherton. Arlington County in Virginia: A Pictorial History. Norfolk: Donning Co, 1987. Print.
This registry (S4.12) reinforces the message of the abolitionist poster that being a free black person was different from being a free white person.