1790 United States census

1790 United States Census
August 2, 1790 (1790-08-02)
Seal of the United States Census Bureau
Title page of 1790 United States Census
General information
Country	United States
Results
Total population	3,893,635
Most populous ​state	Virginia 747,610
Least populous ​state	Delaware 59,094

The United States Census of 1790 was the first United States Census. It recorded the population of the United States as of August 2, 1790. In the First Census, the population of the United States was 3,929,214.^[1]

Data was collected from all thirteen states (Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia), and districts and territories that would become Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Maine.^[2]

Reaction

Both Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and President George Washington didn't fully believe in the results.^[3] They believed that there were more people in the United States than what the census said. A reason why there may be more people would be because of the people living farther apart, bad roads that would go to where people may live, limited technology, and people simply not giving any information.

Loss of information

The records for many states were lost sometime between 1790 and 1830.^[4] Almost one third of the original census data have been lost or destroyed since the original census. These include some 1790 data from: Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont. The data can still be proven in many secondary sources about the first census.^[5]

Data

Census data included the name of the head of the family. They put people into these categories: free white males at least 16 years old (to figure out the country's industrial and military potential), free white males under 16 years old, free white females, all other free persons (reported by sex and color), and slaves.^[6] The Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson told marshals to get data from all thirteen states (Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia), and from the Southwest Territory.^[2]

17.8% of the people were slaves. This is the highest percentage of slaves in any American census.

State	Free white males of 16 years and upward, including heads of families	Free white males under 16 years	Free white females, including heads of families	All other free persons	Slaves	Enslaved % of state population	Total	% of US population
Vermont	22,435	22,328	40,505	255	16[a][7]	0.02%	85,539[b]	2.2%
New Hampshire	36,086	34,851	70,160	630	158	0.1%	141,885	3.6%
Maine	24,384	24,748	46,870	538	0	0.0%	96,540	2.5%
Massachusetts	95,453	87,289	190,582	5,463	0	0.0%	378,787[c][8]	9.7%
Rhode Island	16,019	15,799	32,652	3,407	948	1.4%	68,825	1.5%
Connecticut	60,523	54,403	117,448	2,808	2,764	1.2%	237,946	6.1%
New York	83,700	78,122	152,320	4,654	21,324	6.3%	340,120	8.7%
New Jersey	45,251	41,416	83,287	2,762	11,423	6.2%	184,139	4.7%
Pennsylvania	110,788	106,948	206,363	6,537	3,737	0.9%	434,373	11.2%
Delaware	11,783	12,143	22,384	3,899	8,887	15.0%	59,094[d]	1.5%
Maryland	55,915	51,339	101,395	8,043	103,036	32.2%	319,728	8.2%
Virginia	110,936	116,135	215,046	12,866	292,627	39.1%	747,610[e][8]	19.2%
Kentucky	15,154	17,057	28,922	114	12,430	16.9%	73,677	1.9%
North Carolina	69,988	77,506	140,710	4,975	100,572	25.5%	393,751	10.1%
South Carolina	35,576	37,722	66,880	1,801	107,094	43.0%	249,073	6.4%
Georgia	13,103	14,044	25,739	398	29,264	35.5%	82,548	2.1%
Total	807,094	791,850	1,541,263	59,150	694,280	17.8%	3,893,635	99.9%

1. The census of 1790, published in 1791, reports 16 slaves in Vermont. Subsequently, and up to 1860, the number is given as 17. An examination of the original manuscript allegedly shows that there never were any slaves in Vermont. The original error occurred in preparing the results for publication, when 16 persons, returned as "Free colored", were classified as "Slave". But this claim is disputed by at least one historian.
2. Corrected figures are 85,425, or 114 less than the figures published in 1790, due to an error of addition in the returns for each of the towns of Fairfield, Milton, Shelburne, and Williston, in the county of Chittenden; Brookfield, Newbury, Randolph, and Strafford, in the county of Orange; Castleton, Clarendon, Hubbardton, Poultney, Rutland, Shrewsburg, and Wallingford, in the county of Rutland; Dummerston, Guilford, Halifax, and Westminster, in the county of Windham; and Woodstock, in the county of Windsor.
3. The figures for Massachusetts do not include the population of Maine. Though Maine was then a part of Massachusetts, the Maine figures were compiled separately, and are shown on the line for Maine.
4. Corrected figures are 59,096, or 2 more than figures published in 1790, due to error in addition.
5. The figures for Virginia do not include the population of Kentucky. Though Kentucky was then a part of Virginia, the Kentucky figures were compiled separately, and are shown on the line for Kentucky. The Virginia figures do include the portion of Virginia that later became the state of West Virginia.

City rankings

Commemorative pitcher with census results

Rank	City	State	Population[9]	Region (2016)[10]	Population (2010)
01	New York	New York	33,131	Northeast	1,585,873 [Manhattan only]
02	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	28,522	Northeast	1,526,006
03	Boston	Massachusetts	18,320	Northeast	617,594
04	Charleston	South Carolina	16,359	South	120,083
05	Baltimore	Maryland	13,503	South	620,961
06	Northern Liberties	Pennsylvania	9,913	Northeast	N/A
07	Salem	Massachusetts	7,921	Northeast	41,340
08	Newport	Rhode Island	6,716	Northeast	24,672
09	Providence	Rhode Island	6,380	Northeast	178,042
10	Marblehead	Massachusetts	5,661	Northeast	19,808
11	Southwark	Pennsylvania	5,661	Northeast	N/A
12	Gloucester	Massachusetts	5,317	Northeast	28,789
13	Newburyport	Massachusetts	4,837	Northeast	17,416
14	Portsmouth	New Hampshire	4,720	Northeast	21,233
15	Sherburne	Massachusetts	4,555	Northeast	10,172
16	Middleborough	Massachusetts	4,526	Northeast	23,116
17	New Haven	Connecticut	4,487	Northeast	129,779
18	Taunton	Massachusetts	3,804	Northeast	55,874
19	Richmond	Virginia	3,761	South	204,214
20	Albany	New York	3,498	Northeast	97,856
21	New Bedford	Massachusetts	3,313	Northeast	95,072
22	Beverly	Massachusetts	3,290	Northeast	39,502
23	Plymouth	Massachusetts	2,995	Northeast	56,468
24	Norfolk	Virginia	2,959	South	242,803
25	Rochester	New Hampshire	2,857	Northeast	29,752
26	Petersburg	Virginia	2,828	South	32,420
27	Alexandria	Virginia	2,748	South	139,966
28	Hartford	Connecticut	2,683	Northeast	124,775
29	Londonderry	New Hampshire	2,622	Northeast	24,129
30	Gilmanton	New Hampshire	2,613	Northeast	3,777
31	Hudson	New York	2,584	Northeast	6,713

References

1. "History: 1790 Fast Facts". U.S. Census Bureau.
2. "History: 1790 Overview". U.S. Census Bureau.
3. "1790 Overview". U.S. Census Bureau.
4. Dollarhide, William (2001). The Census Book: A Genealogists Guide to Federal Census Facts, Schedules and Indexes. North Salt Lake, Utah: HeritageQuest. p. 7.
5. "1790 Census". 1930 Census Resources for Genealogists.
6. "1790 Census of Population and Housing". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on April 26, 2015.
7. "Slavery in Vermont".
8. Census Office, United States (1909). "A Century of Population Growth from the First Census of the United States to the Twelfth, 1790–1900". p. 47.
9. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, U.S. Census Bureau, 1998
10. "Regions and Divisions". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2016.