A census is an official count of a population carried out at regular intervales. Censuses have been taken for many centuries. The Bible recounts that censuses were taken by Rome.

Over the centuries, censuses were taken for purposes of taxation, to determine legislation representation, to analyze trends in population growth and movement, and for planning purposes. Census records are now most used by genealogists in the United States and their use here and in other countries continues to accelerate and grow. In the United States, there have been censuses taken by the federal government every ten years, beginning in 1790 and continuing to the present. A number of state censuses also have be taken periodically and these can supplement your use of federal census records in American research.

The United States Constitution, which took effect on March 4, 1789, established the taking of the a national census on a regular basis. Article I, Section 2 specifically called for a census to be taken every 10 years. Direct taxation of the population to support the federal government's operation was to be based on census information. The Constitution stated that each free person counted as a whole number, including those bound for service for a term of ten years, and that free males would be taxed and could vote. Indians living on treaty land were excluded from direct taxation and representation. Other, non-free persons were to be counted as three-fifths of a free person for legislative representation.

Federal decennial censuses have been taken every decade from 1790-2000. Census forms for the 1850-2000 censuses. An official Census Day was established for enumerators to ask questions "as of" that date. The official United Census Day for each decade:

• August 2, 1790
• August 4, 1800
• August 6, 1810
• August 7, 1820
• June 1, 1830-1900
• April 15, 1910
• January 1, 1920
• April 1, 1930
  
  

The earliest census enumerations, 1790-1870, were performed by assistant marshals of the U.S. judicial districts. At the time of the 1790 census, there were 16 federal court districts. These represented each of the original 13 states and Vermont, which was included in the first census even though it did not become a state until 1791. The two additional districts comprising the 16 were due to the area of Virginia that became Kentucky and the area of Massachusetts that became Maine.

The first Census Office established in Washington D.C., to coordinate the taking of a decennial enumeration, was opened in 1850. When the tabulation was complete, the office was disbaned and all census activity was discontiuned until the next census. The same process was used in both 1860 and 1870. A Congressional act established and provided funding for a permanent Census Office beginning in 1880. For the first time, the assistant federal marshals were removed from the process. Federal census forms only contained the names of heads of household, with other members of the household represented numerically in categories organized by sex, age, and race. It was not until the 1850 census that the names of all persons within a household were listed. In the 1880 census, the revision of the Population Schedule format called for names of all inhabitants and their relationhsip to the head of the household to be included and this is an important addition for genealogists.

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