What are the differences between a "standard American accent" and a standard one in mid-19th century America?

by real_shitlord

Would I(from the Pacific Northwest) have trouble communicating with someone else from say San Francisco circa 1860?

arkansas_travler

I doubt you'd have trouble understanding the sounds they make, but you'd probably have more trouble understanding some of the old fashioned words used and would also stumble over the different shades of meanings that the words possessed then.