The Census: a 230 year tradition

May 3

May 3 The Census: a 230 year tradition

Every ten years your home is mailed a questionnaire that by law you are required to fill out and return. This form asks a few simple questions about you and the members of your household and is known collectively as the census. This year, the 2020 Census, is the 23rd time we as a nation have taken the census. When we became a nation with the signing of the U.S. Constitution we included a provision that a census of the population would be taken every ten years (Article 1, Section 2). We were not the first come up with the idea to regularly count our population. Going back to 3800 BCE the Babylonian Empire took the first known census and in 1086 the Romans were collecting information in the Domesday Book. We were the first country to use it as a way to dole out political power as most early census' were conducted to understand military power or to tax citizens.

In 1790, just one year after President Washington was elected, Congress created a committee to prepare the census questions. The six chosen questions were on gender, race, relationship to the head of household, name of the head, and number of slaves, if any. The U.S. Marshall’s in each judicial district were tasked, under the direction of Thomas Jefferson (Secretary of State at the time), with carrying the work out in the 13 states plus the districts of Kentucky, Maine and Vermont, and the Southwest Territory of Tennessee. The price tag for the first census was $44,000, a fraction of the $12.9 billion 2010 census. The most expensive part of the census is getting people to actually fill it out. If households went online it would be free, mailing the form is the cost of a stamp, but if a census taker has to follow up door to door it costs $25 per person.

Beginning with the first census the U.S. Marshall’s hired assistants to help take the census which was inefficient and lead to many leaders assuming inaccuracies in the data. One hundred years later in 1879, trained enumerators were hired to help solve improve the process. The task remained relatively inefficient for several more decades until 1902 when the U.S. Census Bureau was formed as a government agency to focus solely on the census. The greatest inefficiency was counting everyone by hand. It took nearly the entire decade to get an full count in those early years, but in 1887 the electric tabulating machine, invented by statistician Herman Hollerith cut the time by two-thirds. The machine read data from holes punched on paper cards revolutionized the process. The machine was used for nearly a century until the first non-military computer was obtained by the Census Bureau to conduct the count.

While the census asks basic questions, to some they may be more personal. Not to worry, algorithms are used to randomize the data, so its nearly impossible to pinpoint where an response originated. For extra security the records are kept confidential for 72 years at which time they are released by the National Archives. If you have ever done genealogy research you know how important the census data is to tracking your ancestors down. Every ten years historians and genealogists get a another set of data to use. As an architectural historian use census data to track the history and lives of a buildings early inhabitants to tells its story. The most frustrating part of using the old census data however is the spotty records, especially those from 1890. A fire in 1921 at the Commerce Department destroyed more than 99 percent of the 1890 census records.

The census has grown and changed with our population over the years. Slaves were only counted as three-fifths of a person in 1790 (finally changed after the Civil War) and Native American's were not even counted until 1870. There were only two possible races, white or black, until 1850 when terms for mixed-race populations arose. Economic data was not collected until 1810 when quantity and value of manufactured goods was included. Information on taxes, education, crime and estate value, as well as mortality data was asked beginning in 1850. It's really sad to review census information from that time because of the column that asks number of children next to number living today. Often, as was the case for my great-great grandmother, there were nearly double the number of children listed in the first column as compared to the second.

As the census has grown and changed over the years, the importance of getting an accurate count has not. While many more questions have been added and its analysis has expanded, it still is intended to get an accurate count on where people live to provide equal representation in the House of Representatives. It is also used when doling out federal funds and grants to support states, counties, and cities. Under-counted communities risk losing out on needed funding from the federal level. This means less funds going to your children's schools, your hospitals, fixing your roads and funding water and sewer upgrades. In my field, we use the data to help communities plan for their future and supporting growth in their housing markets.

There are only 12 questions on today’s census questionnaire and most can be answered in under 10 seconds. A list of the questions and why they are asked is located on the Census Bureaus website. If you are a small household like mine, it wont take more than 5 minutes to fill out. Those with more children will have to spend some extra time, but again, you know your family pretty well so it should not take more than a few minutes per person to complete. So while you are cooped up in your homes, staying safe and socially distancing, take a few minutes to participate in a 230 year old tradition that helps your community thrive.