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What is a census?

The United States Census provides the means to count the population of each state. This is done in order to determine the allocation of Taxes as per the Constitution - Articcle I section 2.
United States Census Bureau

Article 1 Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution (excerpt)

Representatives and taxes apportioned by population

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons.]amd The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; [and until such enumeration shall be made, the state of New Hampshire shall be entitled to chuse three, Massachusetts eight, Rhode Island and Providence Plantations one, Connecticut five, New York six, New Jersey four, Pennsylvania eight, Delaware one, Maryland six, Virginia ten, North Carolina five, South Carolina five, and Georgia three

Constitutional Amendment 14 - Section 2

Rights of Citizenship

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several states according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each state, [excluding Indians not taxed]amd. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the executive and judicial officers of a state, or the members of the legislature thereof is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such state, being twenty-one years of age and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged except for participation in rebellion or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such state.

History

  • 1790
    First census taken for a total population of 3,929,326, and a slave population of 694,280.
  • 1800
    Second census taken for a total population of 5,308,483, and a slave population of 893,605.
  • 1810
    Third census taken for a total population of 7,239,881, and a slave population of 1,191,362.
  • 1820
    Fourth census taken for a total population of 9,638,453, and a slave population of 1,538,022.
  • 1830
    Fifth census taken for a total population of 12,866,020, and a slave population of 2,009,043.
  • 1840
    Sixth census taken for a total population of 17,069,453, and a slave population of 2,487,355.
  • 1850
    Seventh census taken for a total population of 23,191,876, and a slave population of 3,204,313.
  • 1860
    Eight census taken for a total population of 31,443,321, and a slave population of 3,953,761.
  • 1870
    Ninth census taken for a total population of 39,818,449.
  • 1880
    Tenth census taken for a total population of 50,189,209.
  • 1890
    Eleventh census taken for a total population of 62,947,714.
  • 1900
    Twelfth census taken for a total population of 76,212,168.
  • 1910
    Thirteenth census taken for a total population of 92,228,496.
  • 1920
    Fourteenth census taken for a total population of 106,021,537.
  • 1930
    Fifteenth census taken for a total population of 122,775,046.
  • 1940
    Sixteenth census taken for a total population of 132,164,569.
  • 1950
    Seventeenth census taken for a total population of 150,697,361.
  • 1960
    Eighteenth census taken for a total population of 179,323,175.
  • 1970
    Ninteenth census taken for a total population of 203,302,031.
  • 1980
    Twentieth census taken for a total population of 226,545,805.
  • 1990
    Twenty-first census taken for a total population of 248,709,873.
  • 2000
    Twenty-second census taken for a total population of 281,421,906.
  • 2010
    Twenty-third census taken for a total population of 308,745,538.