What does the Census Ask?

From the earliest years of the census, the number and types of questions began to grow. Beginning with the very first census, lawmakers were divided as to what “features” of the population would be most beneficial to capture in a census, whose end goal they perceived, was to provide a broad view of the “state of society” at the time. In the First Session of Congress, on February 2, 1790, James Madison stated to a colleague, “I take it, sir, that in order to accommodate our laws to the real situation of our constituents, we ought to be acquainted with that situation.”

Only questions pertaining to head of household and numbers of free white persons and slaves were asked through the first thirty years. To carry out the first census, U.S. Marshals were sent out to every household in the original 13 States, plus the districts of Kentucky, Maine, and Vermont, and the Southwest Territory (Tennessee) asking six questions: name of head of household, number of free white males over age 16, number of free white males under age 16, number of free white females, number of all other free persons, and number of slaves. Marshals could be fined for not fulfilling their reporting duties, but so too could every person over age 16 who did not render a true account of their households!

In the 1820 Census a question was added, asking for numbers of “foreigners not naturalized” or, the first non-US citizen question. The 1820 Census was also the first to ask about numbers of people employed in agriculture, commerce and manufactures. In the 1830 Census, the occupational question was dropped; the “non-naturalized” question retained, and a question was added, counting “the number of White persons and ‘slaves and colored persons’ who were blind respectively.” This was also the first time a printed schedule “of uniform size’ was used throughout the country.