The First National Census
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in August 1790, David Howe, an assistant federal marshall, began the difficult
task of counting all the people who lived in Hancock County, Maine. One of 650 federal census takers, charged
with making "a...perfect enumeration...of all persons" in the United
States, he began by writing down his own name followed by his wife's and
child's. He then listed the names of all
the other people who lived in his hometown of Penobscot and proceeded to
criss-crss the Maine coast, recording the names of 9,549 residents. In March 1791, he submitted his findings:
2,436 free white males, 16 and older; 4,544 free white females; and 38 "other
free persons" (including Peter Williams, "a black," and his wife
and child).
The
United States was the first nation in history to institute a periodic national
census. Since 1790, the country has
tried to count each woman, man, and child every ten years. The first census
asked just six simple questions, yet when supplemented by other statistical
information, it provides a treasure chest of information about the social and
economic life of the American people.
Taking
the nation's first census was an extraordinarily difficult challenge. The nation's
sheer physical size--stretching across 867,980 square miles--made it impossible
to make an accurate count. Many people
refused to speak to census takers; some because they feared that this was the
first step toward enactment of new taxes, others because they felt that the
Bible prohibited census taking. To make
matters worse, census takers were abysmally paid, receiving just $1 for every
150 rural residents and $1 for every 300 city dwellers counted. Indeed, the pay was so low that one judge
found it difficult to find "any person whatever" to take the census.
What was the United States like in 1790?
The
population was quite small--only about a quarter the size of England's and just
a sixth the size of France's. Just 3,929,214 people lived in the country, about
half in the northern states, half in the South.
The
population was also overwhelmingly rural. In a popular of nearly four million,
only two cities had more than 25,000 residents and just 202,000 people lived in
the 24 towns or cities with at least 2,500 inhabitants.
In
1790, the population remained clustered along the Atlantic coast. The center of
population was located on Maryland's eastern shore, a few miles from the ocean.
By
European standards, the American population was exceptionally diverse. A fifth
of the entire population was African-American.
Among whites, three-fifths were English in ancestry and another fifth
was Scottish or Irish. The remainder
was of German, Dutch, French, Swedish, or other background. The population was also extraordinarily
youthful, with half of the people under the age of 16.
The
economy was still quite undeveloped. There were fewer than 100 newspapers in
the entire country; three banks (with total capital of less than $5 million);
and three insurance companies. And yet, the United States was perched on the
edge of an extraordinary decade of growth.
During
the 1790s, the American population grew exceptionally rapidly, climbing over 20
percent to over five million in 1800.
Population growth was particularly rapid in cities and in the West. The population of Kentucky and Tennessee
grew nearly 300 percent in the 1790s, and by 1800, Kentucky had more people
than five of the original 13 states.
American
society also made tremendous economic advances. During the 1790s, states
chartered almost ten times more corporations, banks, and transportation
companies than during the 1780s. Cotton production rose from 3,000 bales to
73,000. The growth of foreign trade was particularly rapid, climbing from just
$19 million in 1790 to $85 million in 1800. The number of patents issued rose
from just three in 1790 to 44 in 1800.
In
1791, an English immigrant named Samuel Slater introduced the factory system
into the United States in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Other factories erected in the 1790s produced iron, brass, paper,
glass, firearms, nails, umbrellas, and hats. In 1790, a Connecticut Yankee
named John Fitch started the first commercial steamship service connecting
Philadelphia with Trenton, New Jersey.
In
1800, as in 1790, the United States remained a nation of farms, plantations,
and small towns, of yeoman, slaves, and artisans. Nevertheless, the nation was undergoing far-reaching social and
economic transformations. During the 1790s, the number of newspapers doubled.
Between 1783 and 1800, Americans founded 17 new colleges and a large number of
female academies. During the 1790s, 266 circulating libraries opened; New
Hampshire and Kentucky founded new medical schools; and literary, historical,
and philosophic societies, like the Massachusetts Historical Society organized
in 1791, multiplied.
The
transformations in the economy had far-reaching social implications. Older
hierarchies and bonds of dependency broke down. Indentured servitude began to disappear. Servants became
"help." Wealth became more unequally distributed. For the first time
in American history, labor unions in American history. The gap between rich and
poor widened.
Why did the United States experience such rapid growth during the
1790s?
Part
of the answer lies European wars, pitting France against Britain, which
increased demand for U.S. products substantially and stimulated American
shipping and trade. But the answer also lies in critical political
developments, especially enactment of a financial program that secured the
nation's credit.