By the middle of the nineteenth century, the United States had reached a point where a simple decade-by-decade household tally no longer satisfied federal goals. The country was larger, more complex...
Category - Census Through Time
U.S. Census Records 1790 to 1840, Why The Government Counted And What Changed
The first six U.S. federal censuses, from 1790 through 1840, were created primarily for government purposes. They were designed to measure population for representation, to support national...
Counting People Before America, Why Governments Counted, And Where The Records Hide
If you use United States census records often, you notice that the questions change when the country changes. The format changes when technology changes. The people being counted change when laws and...