1850: The population of the United States is 23,191,876.

2000s: In 2000, the population of the United States is 281,421,906.

1850: Hawthorne purchases a house in Concord, Massachusetts for $1,500.

2000s: In 2004, with prices ranging from $275,000 to $4.8 million, the average home price in Concord, Massachusetts is $600,000.

1850: Working women often work as shopkeepers, seamstresses, domestic servants, teachers, or hat and fan makers.

2000s: Working women can be found in most every occupation, including corporate management, medicine, dentistry, construction, marketing and communications, trucking, accounting, small business ownership, and software programming.