1790 United States census | ||
---|---|---|
| ||
General information | ||
Country | United States | |
Authority | Office of the United States Marshal | |
Results | ||
Total population | 3,929,214 | |
Most populous | Virginia (747,610) | |
Least populous | Delaware (59,094) |
The 1790 United States census was the first United States census. It recorded the population of the whole United States as of Census Day, August 2, 1790, as mandated by Article 1, Section 2, of the Constitution and applicable laws. In the first census, the population of the United States was enumerated to be 3,929,214 inhabitants. [1] [2]
Congress assigned responsibility for the 1790 census to the marshals of United States judicial districts under an act, which with minor modifications and extensions, governed census taking through the 1840 census. "The law required that every household be visited, that completed census schedules be posted in 'two of the most public places within [each jurisdiction], there to remain for the inspection of all concerned...' and that 'the aggregate amount of each description of persons' for every district be transmitted to the president." [3]
The census was published in 1791. [4] It was 56 pages and cost $44,377.28. [4]
Both Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and President George Washington expressed skepticism [5] over the results, believing that the true population had been undercounted. If indeed an undercount was the result, possible explanations for it include dispersed population, poor transportation links, limitations of contemporary technology, and individual refusal to participate. [6]
Although the census was proved statistically factual, based on data collected, the records for several states (including Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, and Virginia) were lost sometime between 1790 and 1830. [7] Almost one-third of the original census data have been lost or destroyed since their original documentation. These include some 1790 data from Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont; the validity and existence of most of these data, though, can be confirmed in many secondary sources pertaining to the first census. [8]
No microdata from the 1790 population census are available, but aggregate data for small areas, together with compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. [9]
Under the direction of the Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, marshals collected data from all thirteen states (Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts including the District of Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia), and from the Southwest Territory. [3] The census was not conducted in Vermont until 1791, after that state's admission to the Union as the 14th state on March 4 of that year. (From 1777 until early 1791, and hence during all of 1790, Vermont was a de facto independent country whose government took the position that Vermont was not then a part of the United States.)
At 17.8 percent, the 1790 census's proportion of slaves to the free population was the highest ever recorded by any census of the United States. [10]
State or territory | Free white males of 16 years and upward [a] | Free white males under 16 years | Free white females [a] | All other free persons | Slaves | Slaves % of state population | Total | % of U.S. population |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Vermont [11] [12] | 22,435 | 22,328 | 40,505 | 255 | 16 [b] [13] [14] | 0.0% | 85,539 [c] | 2.2% |
New Hampshire [15] [12] | 36,086 | 34,851 | 70,160 | 630 | 158 | 0.1% | 141,885 | 3.6% |
Maine [16] [12] | 24,384 | 24,748 | 46,870 | 538 | 0 | 0.0% | 96,540 | 2.4% |
Massachusetts [17] [12] | 95,453 | 87,289 | 190,582 | 5,463 | 0 | 0.0% | 378,787 | 9.8% |
Rhode Island [18] [12] | 16,019 | 15,799 | 32,652 | 3,407 | 948 | 1.4% | 68,825 | 1.7% |
Connecticut [19] [12] | 60,523 | 54,403 | 117,448 | 2,808 | 2,764 | 1.2% | 237,946 | 6.0% |
New York [20] [21] [12] | 83,700 | 78,122 | 152,320 | 4,654 | 21,324 | 6.3% | 340,120 | 8.6% |
New Jersey [12] | 45,251 | 41,416 | 83,287 | 2,762 | 11,423 | 6.2% | 184,139 | 4.6% |
Pennsylvania [22] [12] | 110,788 | 106,948 | 206,363 | 6,537 | 3,737 | 0.9% | 434,373 | 11.0% |
Delaware [12] | 11,783 | 12,143 | 22,384 | 3,899 | 8,887 | 15.0% | 59,094 [d] | 1.5% |
Maryland [23] [12] | 55,915 | 51,339 | 101,395 | 8,043 | 103,036 | 32.2% | 319,728 | 8.1% |
Virginia [24] [12] | 110,936 | 116,135 | 215,046 | 12,866 | 292,627 | 39.1% | 747,610 [e] [25] [12] | 18.9% |
Kentucky [12] | 15,154 | 17,057 | 28,922 | 114 | 12,430 | 16.9% | 73,677 | 1.9% |
North Carolina [26] [12] | 69,988 | 77,506 | 140,710 | 4,975 | 100,572 | 25.5% | 393,751 | 9.9% |
South Carolina [12] | 35,576 | 37,722 | 66,880 | 1,801 | 107,094 | 43.0% | 249,073 | 6.3% |
Georgia [12] | 13,103 | 14,044 | 25,739 | 398 | 29,264 | 35.5% | 82,548 | 2.1% |
Southwest Territory [12] | 6,271 | 10,277 | 15,365 | 361 | 3,417 | 9.6% | 35,691 | 0.9% |
Total | 813,365 | 802,127 | 1,556,628 | 59,511 | 697,697 | 17.8% | 3,929,326 | 100% |
Windsor County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 57,753. The shire town is the town of Woodstock. The county's largest municipality is the town of Hartford.
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. Named after George Washington, its shire town is the city of Montpelier and the most populous municipality is the city of Barre. As of the 2020 census, the population was 59,807, making it the third-most populous county in Vermont, but the third-least populous capital county in the United States after Hughes County, South Dakota and Franklin County, Kentucky. Washington County comprises the Barre, Vermont micropolitan statistical area. In 2010, the center of population of Vermont was located in Washington County, in the town of Warren.
Grand Isle County is a county in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 7,293, making it Vermont's second-least populous county. Its shire town is North Hero. The county was created in 1802 and organized in 1805.
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 49,946. Its county seat is the city of St. Albans. It borders the Canadian province of Quebec. The county was created in 1792 and organized in 1796. Franklin County is part of the Burlington metropolitan area.
Essex County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Vermont. As of the 2020 census, the population was 5,920, making it the least-populous county in both Vermont and New England. Its shire town is the municipality of Guildhall. The county was created in 1792 and organized in 1800. Bordered by the Connecticut River next to New Hampshire, Essex County is south of the Canadian province of Quebec. It is the county with the lowest household-income in Vermont.
Maidstone is a town in Essex County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2020 census, the town had a population of 211. It is part of the Berlin, NH –VT Micropolitan Statistical Area. There is no town center or gas station, but there is a town office building in the southern part of the town.
Hinsdale is a town in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 3,948 at the 2020 census. Hinsdale is home to part of Pisgah State Park in the northeast, and part of Wantastiquet Mountain State Forest in the northwest.
Westminster is a town in Windham County, Vermont, United States. The population was 3,016 at the 2020 census. It was also the first capital of the Republic of Vermont. It borders the state of New Hampshire.
In the United States census, the US Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) define a set of self-identified categories of race and ethnicity chosen by residents, with which they most closely identify. Residents can indicate their origins alongside their race, and are asked specifically whether they are of Hispanic or Latino origin in a separate question.
British Americans usually refers to Americans whose ancestral origin originates wholly or partly in the United Kingdom. It is primarily a demographic or historical research category for people who have at least partial descent from peoples of Great Britain and the modern United Kingdom, i.e. English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Scotch-Irish, Orcadian, Manx, Cornish Americans and those from the Channel Islands and Gibraltar.
The National Origins Formula is an umbrella term for a series of quantitative immigration quotas in America used from 1921 to 1965, which restricted immigration from the Eastern Hemisphere on the basis of national origin. These restrictions included legislation and federal acts. Since there is no one formula that can account for each law or restriction across the decades, as the scale, variables, and demographic characteristics change per law, the concept of National Origins Formula is best described as a collection of quantitative data considerations in immigration and migration laws in the United States.
The 1840 United States census was the sixth census of the United States. Conducted by U.S. marshals on June 1, 1840, it determined the resident population of the United States to be 17,069,453 – an increase of 32.7 percent over the 12,866,020 persons enumerated during the 1830 census. The total population included 2,487,355 slaves. In 1840, the center of population was about 260 miles (418 km) west of Washington, D.C., near Weston, Virginia.
The 1800 United States census was the second census conducted in the United States. It was conducted on August 4, 1800. It showed that 5,308,483 people were living in the United States, of whom 893,602 were slaves. The 1800 census included the new District of Columbia. The census for the following states were lost: Georgia, Kentucky, New Jersey, Tennessee, and Virginia.
The 1810 United States census was the third census conducted in the United States. It was conducted on August 6, 1810. It showed that 7,239,881 people were living in the United States, of whom 1,191,362 were slaves.
The 1820 United States census was the fourth census conducted in the United States. It was conducted on August 7, 1820. The 1820 census included six new states: Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama and Maine. There has been a district wide loss of 1820 census records for Arkansas Territory, Missouri Territory, and New Jersey.
The 1830 United States census, the fifth census undertaken in the United States, was conducted on June 1, 1830. The only loss of census records for 1830 involved some countywide losses in Massachusetts, Maryland, and Mississippi.
English Americans are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. Country-wide, as of 2024, there are about 25.5 million U.S. residents who declare English ancestry, 7.4% of the U.S. population representing (19.8%) of the White American population. English Americans represent the 5th largest ancestry group in the United States after Mexican Americans, Irish Americans, German Americans and French Americans, based on the self-reporting ancestry data from the U.S. Census Bureau.
The urbanization of the United States has progressed throughout its entire history. Over the last two centuries, the United States of America has been transformed from a predominantly rural, agricultural nation into an urbanized, industrial one. This was largely due to the Industrial Revolution in the United States in the late 18th and early 19th centuries and the rapid industrialization which the United States experienced as a result. In 1790, only about one out of every twenty Americans lived in urban areas (cities), but this ratio had dramatically changed to one out of four by 1870, one out of two by 1920, two out of three in the 1960s, and four out of five in the 2000s.
Vermont was amongst the first places to abolish slavery by constitutional dictum. Although estimates place the number of slaves at 25 in 1770, slavery was banned outright upon the founding of Vermont in July 1777, and by a further provision in its Constitution, existing male slaves became free at the age of 21 and females at the age of 18. Not only did Vermont's legislature agree to abolish slavery entirely, it also moved to provide full voting rights for African-American males. According to the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture, "Vermont's July 1777 declaration was not entirely altruistic either. While it did set an independent tone from the 13 colonies, the declaration's wording was vague enough to let Vermont's already-established slavery practices continue."
Media related to 1790 United States Census at Wikimedia Commons