On the Biological Standard of Living of Eighteenth-Century Americans: Taller, Richer, Healthier

This study analyses the physical stature of runaway apprentices and
military deserters based on advertisements collected from
18th-century newspapers, in order to explore the biological welfare
of colonial and early-national Americans. The results indicate that
heights declined somewhat at mid-century, but increased
substantially thereafter. The findings are generally in keeping
with trends in mortality and in economic activity. The Americans
were much taller than Europeans: by the 1780s adults were as much
as 6.6 cm taller than Englishmen, and at age 16 American
apprentices were some 12 cm taller than the poor children of
London.