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 Table 6-1. Great Natural Divisions for Summarizing Mortality Statistics From the 1850 and 1860 Censuses

Contrasted with the 1850 and 1860 census reports, the 1870 census publication tables showed scarcely any further development or use of State groupings. The agriculture volume included one table showing the distribution of sheep and wool. Although it grouped States geographically, this table did not provide titles for the various groupings. By 1880, except for the consolidation of Oklahoma and the division of the Dakota Territory into North and South, the boundaries and areas of States and territories in the contiguous 48 States resembled those of today.

Henry Gannett, Geographer of the Census Office during the 1880s, presented a plan for grouping States into larger summary units. Gannett divided the country primarily into three great divisions: the Atlantic, the Great Valley, and the Western, which corresponded to the three primary topographical divisions of the country. The two eastern divisions were divided by a line running approximately east and west. The line between the two sections of the Atlantic Division followed Mason’s and Dixon’s line; the line between the two sections of the Great Valley followed the Statistical Groupings6-11