The Time Line
1787 / The U.S. Constitution mandates that a national census be conducted every ten years to determine seats in the House of Representatives and to guide tax policy.
1790 / The first census records the head of household’s name and counts occupants (slaves are tallied as three fifths of a person). Total cost: $44,000.
1810 / To get a sense of the national economy, Congress orders census takers to tally manufacturers too.
1830 / Census-taking marshals and their assistants are finally given officially printed census forms so they won’t have to use whatever blank paper they find handy.
1840 / Census grows to more than 70 questions, including the number of “insane and idiotic” in each household.
1850 / All free household residents are now recorded, in addition to the head.
1860 / The census, especially its industrial statistics, will prove useful in assessing the relative strengths of the North and South during the Civil War.
1880 / The government gives federal marshals a break and hires “enumerators.”
1890 / Hands-free! Electronic punch-card machines are introduced.
1930 / Census takers begin to mea¬-sure unemployment. Jobless respondents not hard to find.
1950s / Gigantic UNIVAC I computer helps tabulate results; still relies on punch cards to do so.
1980 / The ever more exact census becomes ever more politicized: States, local governments, and civil rights groups file lawsuits challenging the results.
1998 / Cities and states that lost funding after the ’90 census support a suit to use statistical sampling to adjust for under- and overcounts, with President Clinton’s endorsement. The Supreme Court rules against them 5 to 4 in 1999.
2010 / In March, more than 120 million census forms will be mailed out. If you don’t reply, expect to hear from one of the Census Bureau’s 1.4 million temporary hires.
Sharon LaMothe
Infertility Answers, Inc.
http://infertilityanswers.org/
LaMothe Services, LLC
http://lamotheservices.com/
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