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"The Distribution of Ability in the United States" by Henry Cabot Lodge is published.

1892

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This essay, published in Lodge's book Historical and Political Essays, is an assessment of the overall productivity and "quality" of different types of white Americans. Lodge reviews states and regions based on the European-descended communities who live there. The report relies on persistent tropes of "small, dark, drunk" Celts (Irish) and taller, "stately" Anglo-Saxons. It also compares populations in the South against the North, stating that slavery "dwarfed" the natural abilities of the white population in the South, thereby stopping the advance of civilization.