1790 United States census explained

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]

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."^[2]

The census was published in 1791.^[3] It was 56 pages and cost $44,377.28.

Contemporary perception

Both Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and President George Washington expressed skepticism^[4] 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.^[5]

Questions

1. Name of the head of family
2. Number of free white males age 16 and over
3. Number of free white males under age 16
4. Number of free white females
5. Number of all other free persons (excluding slaves)
6. Number of slaves^[6]

Loss and availability of data

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]

Data

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.^[2] 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]

Vermont[11] [12]	22,435	22,328	40,505	255	16[13] [14] [15]	0.0%	85,539[16]	2.2%
New Hampshire[17]	36,086	34,851	70,160	630	158	0.1%	141,885	3.6%
Maine[18]	24,384	24,748	46,870	538	0	0.0%	96,540	2.4%
Massachusetts[19]	95,453	87,289	190,582	5,463	0	0.0%	378,787	9.8%
Rhode Island[20]	16,019	15,799	32,652	3,407	948	1.4%	68,825	1.7%
Connecticut[21]	60,523	54,403	117,448	2,808	2,764	1.2%	237,946	6.0%
New York[22] [23]	83,700	78,122	152,320	4,654	21,324	6.3%	340,120	8.6%
New Jersey	45,251	41,416	83,287	2,762	11,423	6.2%	184,139	4.6%
Pennsylvania[24]	110,788	106,948	206,363	6,537	3,737	0.9%	434,373	11.0%
Delaware	11,783	12,143	22,384	3,899	8,887	15.0%	59,094[25]	1.5%
Maryland[26]	55,915	51,339	101,395	8,043	103,036	32.2%	319,728	8.1%
Virginia[27]	110,936	116,135	215,046	12,866	292,627	39.1%	747,610[28] [29]	18.9%
Kentucky	15,154	17,057	28,922	114	12,430	16.9%	73,677	1.9%
North Carolina[30]	69,988	77,506	140,710	4,975	100,572	25.5%	393,751	9.9%
South Carolina	35,576	37,722	66,880	1,801	107,094	43.0%	249,073	6.3%
Georgia	13,103	14,044	25,739	398	29,264	35.5%	82,548	2.1%
Southwest Territory	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%

Urban centres

Cities and towns by population

City	State	Population[31]	Region (2016)[32]	Population (2020)
		33,131		1,694,251[Manhattan only]
		28,522		69,433[Center City only]
		18,320		675,647
		16,359		150,227
		13,503		585,708
		11,942		91,184
		9,913
		8,318
		7,921		44,480
		7,419		10,375
		7,333		11,831
		6,795		2,791
		6,716		25,163
		6,692		1,570
		6,380		190,934
		6,156		3,660
		5,941		24,226
		5,932		11,541
		5,661		20,441
		5,661
		5,375		47,717
		5,317		29,729
		5,201
		5,189		4,522
		4,996		1,952
		4,975		28,633
		4,837		18,289
		4,826		39,087
		4,720		21,956
		4,710		12,502
		4,673		1,076
		4,661		8,330
		4,607		4,037
		4,594		3,628
		4,562		13,785
		4,556		1,831
		4,555		14,255
		4,526		24,245
		4,484		135,081
		4,440		3,572
		4,330		8,012
		4,261
		4,225		12,884
		4,166		7,142
		4,131		31,913
		4,097		301,332
		4,090		121,054
		4,025		9,974
		4,009		61,512
		3,972		6,716
		3,929		24,069
	Massachusetts[33]	3,894		7,950
		3,828		793,409
		3,806		27,298
		3,804		59,408
		3,785		35,369
		3,773		58,039
		3,761		226,610
		3,662		7,548
		3,603		32,027
		3,602		25,662
		3,597		14,172
		3,563		23,322
		3,520		103,639
		3,498		99,224
		3,472		67,047
		3,460		22,073
		3,442		7,273
		3,408		69,036
		3,406		8,382
		3,404		3,240
		3,401		2,971
		3,375		44,396
		3,313		102,882
		3,290		42,670
		3,262		6,058
		3,260		204,127
	Massachusetts[34]	3,259		10,070
		3,241		52,355
		3,233		4,415
		3,230		12,717
		3,225		67,106
		3,224		485,773
		3,219		23,732
		3,171		22,118
		3,170		22,105
		3,167		28,115
		3,132		63,518
		3,100		3,439
		3,078		3,769
		3,071		5,808
		3,071		9,022
	Massachusetts[35]	3,070		11,314
		3,051		7,149
		3,035		6,711
		3,030		86,518
		3,027
		3,016		51,045
		2,995		61,217
		2,994		12,325
	Massachusetts[36]	2,994		12,444

External links

• Historic US Census data
• 1790 Census of Population and Housing official reports
• Population of 24 Urban Places: 1790
• Web site: Heads of Families at the First Census 1790. U.S. Census Bureau.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Census History Staff . 1790 Fast Facts - History . US Census Bureau . April 20, 2023 . EN-US.
2. Web site: Census History Staff . 1790 Overview - History - U.S. Census Bureau . US Census Bureau . April 20, 2023 . EN-US.
3. Lunt . Edward C. . 1888 . History of the United States Census . Publications of the American Statistical Association . 1 . 2/3 . 63–93 . 10.2307/2276342 . 1522-5437.
4. Web site: Census History Staff . 1790 Overview - History - U.S. Census Bureau . US Census Bureau . April 20, 2023 . EN-US.
5. Web site: U.S. Marshals Overcame Hardships and Challenges to Count 3,929,214 People in a Young America . Census.gov . April 20, 2023.
6. Web site: 1790 Census: Heads of Families. U.S. Census Bureau.
7. Book: Dollarhide, William . The Census Book: A Genealogists Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes. HeritageQuest. North Salt Lake, Utah. 2001. 7.
8. Web site: 1790 Census . 1930 Census Resources for Genealogists.
9. Web site: About IPUMS NHGIS IPUMS NHGIS . www.nhgis.org . April 20, 2023.
10. Web site: Slave, Free Black, and White Population, 1780-1830 . userpages.umbc.edu . April 20, 2023.
11. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Vermont . 1907 . U.S. Government Printing Office . 978-0-87152-015-9 . en.
12. Web site: Free and Slave Populations by State (1790) . Teaching American History . April 20, 2023.
13. 0 is the correct figure, and the 16 here should be added to the "All other free persons" column. When the census of 1790 was published in 1791, it reported 16 slaves, which were illegal in Vermont. Subsequently, and up to 1860, the number is given as 17. An examination of the original manuscript by the Census Bureau superintendent found that there never were any slaves in Vermont. The original error occurred in preparing the results for publication, when 16 persons, returned as "Free colored," were classified as "Slave" in Bennington County. See the history of slavery in Vermont.
14. Web site: Slavery in Vermont . slavenorth.com . April 20, 2023.
15. https://archive.org/details/headsoffamiliesa00nort Heads of families at the first census of the United States taken in the year 1790 : records of the State enumerations: 1782–1785, Virginia
16. Corrected figures are 85,425, or 114 less than figures published in 1790, due to an error of addition of several towns.
17. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: New Hampshire . 1907 . Clearfield Company, Incorporated . en.
18. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Maine . 1908 . U.S. Government Printing Office . April 20, 2023 . en.
19. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Massachusetts . 1908 . U.S. Government Printing Office . 978-0-87152-021-0 . April 20, 2023 . en.
20. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Rhode Island . 1907 . U.S. Government Printing Office . April 20, 2023 . en.
21. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Connecticut . 1908 . U.S. Government Printing Office . 978-0-87152-362-4 . April 20, 2023 . en.
22. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: New York . 1908 . U.S. Government Printing Office . April 20, 2023 . en.
23. Book: Heads of families at the first census of the United States taken in the year 1790: New York .. . 1907 . Washington, Govt. Print. Off. .
24. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Pennsylvania . 1908 . U.S. Government Printing Office . April 20, 2023 . en.
25. Corrected figures are 59,096, or 2 more than figures published in 1790, due to error in addition.
26. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Maryland . 1907 . U.S. Government Printing Office . April 20, 2023 . en.
27. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: Virginia . 1908 . U.S. Government Printing Office . April 20, 2023 . en.
28. The figures for Virginia do not include the population of Kentucky. Though Kentucky was then a part of Virginia, the Kentucky figures were compiled separately, and are shown on the line for Kentucky. The Virginia figures do include the portion of Virginia that later became the state of West Virginia.
29. Web site: Census Office. United States. 1909. A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900. 47.
30. Book: Census . United States Bureau of the . Heads of Families at the First Census of the United States Taken in the Year 1790: North Carolina . 1908 . U.S. Government Printing Office . April 20, 2023 . en.
31. Web site: Population of Connecticut Towns 1756–1820. Connecticut Secretary of the State. State of Connecticut. April 13, 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20170113205538/http://www.sots.ct.gov/sots/cwp/view.asp?a=3188&q=392394. January 13, 2017. dead.
32. Web site: Regions and Divisions . U.S. Census Bureau . September 9, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161203020637/http://www.census.gov/econ/census/help/geography/regions_and_divisions.html . December 3, 2016 . dead .
33. In present day Maine.
34. In present day Maine.
35. In present day Maine.
36. In present day Maine.