ALT-GENEALOGY-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: 1784 US Census
Date: Thu, 02 Apr 1998 06:34:45 -0800

I have been requested to post the results of my earlier question of did
the Continental Congress order a census prior to the creation of the
Federal Government? This question was one of historical curiosity which
arose when I found (on line) 1784 documents labeled as the First United
States Census.

First, thank all of you who replied both here and in private. The
conclusions:

First, it was necessary to get people to answer the question asked. This
was never about a Federal Census, there was no Federal Government in
1784.

Second, that the Continental Congress did not order a population census
is the consensus and is most likely accurate. The Continental Congress
was composed of equal states, not based on population and had no need of
a population census where the Federal Government had very much a need in
order to determine representation in the House of Representatives.

Third. Did the Continental Congress ever order or request a REVENUE
enumeration? This is unanswered at this time, but given the
administrative make up of the national government at the time, it would
have had to depend upon the states to conduct it anyway. A revenue
enumeration of some kind would have been required to finance the
national government. No one who responded cited any act of the Congress
in this respect and the question of who asked for the tax enumerations
is far less important than are they of the time and place claimed.

I have posted URLs to many documents dating from the early 1600s,
labeled by the transcriber or individual who placed them on line, as a
census. The question of if these are a population census, or a tax
census (as one respondent pointed out, the word census meant tax list in
Latin) is far less important than are they of the time and place
indicated.

Which brings us to the final part of the answer. It was pointed out by
more than one respondent that these could have been an attempt to
reconstruct the partially lost 1790 census by use of tax records. I have
come across a number of on line documents claiming to be a reconstructed
1790 or 1890 census using tax list. In almost no case, do these
documents (the on line versions) list what tax lists were used.
Reconstructing a 1790 census from 1789, 90 or 91 tax lists may be
useful, but using documents as early as 1784 would, in my opinion, not.
I am wondering, and this is just wondering, if records should not be
allowed to speak for themselves and that reordering and combining tax
lists into a reconstructed document and labeling it a reconstructed
census might in some cases do more harm than good in distorting time
lines, especially in cases where there are numerous examples of the same
or similar name?
--
Robert L. George ------ Surprise, Arizona
The Crooked Tree; The Taulbee Pages; The Census On Line;
List Manager,
http://www.doitnow.com/~moravia/index.html On line data base plus sixty
years of poetry.
Researching Bailey, Birchfield, Brady, Brown, Childers/Childress,
Dressback, Dunn,
George, Taulbee/ Tolby, and related families.

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