May 19, 2017 Orange County Review
Undoubtedly, the 1870 census was the most important census record in the history of the United States. Many of you are shaking your heads as if to say, “Geez, Zann, tell me something I do not know.” However, there are those who have not thought about the significance of this census and subsequently, dismissed it as only so-so in the realm of relevance. They would be terribly mistaken.
Bear with me as we have a look, very generally, at the nature and history of the U.S. Census. In layman’s terms, the census is a compilation of information related to the human population in a specific area.
You may be surprised to learn that it was one of the first mandates by the Founding Fathers and can be found in Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution. The purpose of the act is explained in this manner, “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states ... according to their respective numbers.” The first census was conducted in 1790 under Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson and has continued every 10 years since.
One might argue that “Big Brother” was present--digging into pockets deep or otherwise, manipulating political representation and in general, keeping the lid on the teapot--since the dawn of United States independence.
Who was counted? The jury is still out on that one for a foolproof answer, but what is certain is that only those who were considered free people were included in the record by name until 1870. To be clear, until the 1850 Census, only the free head of household was listed by name. All others were simply marked in a category associated with gender and an age range. Beyond that reality (which we will come back to shortly) it is interesting to consider the complexity of and its accompanying privilege regarding the selection of representation and taxation.
For longer than a couple of centuries (some longer than others), women, free people of color (except in a handful of states), children, and white males who did not own a minimum amount of acreage that varied by state, were not allowed to participate in the selection of their representatives. Hmmmm? Were any of those folks taxed? Did anyone say, “Taxation without representation?”
There are some fascinating aspects of the census data that reveal quite a lot about the political environment of the day. But it’s far too much for one weekly news column and would only serve to distract us from the point of today’s piece: that being the extraordinary significance of the 1870 records.
According to the 1860 Census records, there were 3,950,528 enslaved people in the U.S. At least those were the number counted. By December of 1865, the 13th Constitutional Amendment had been ratified and the institution of slavery was officially abolished. We can debate the exception of those incarcerated on another day.
The point worthy of contemplation is this: the United States Census Bureau had an estimated four years to re-tool the census forms and train the census takers to include an additional group of people whose numbers approximated 4 million. An incredible undertaking rife with multiple challenges. The challenges from all angles will be the subject of another column.
For those of us dedicated to finding ancestors of color, it is a treasure trove of data with names, family members, estimated birth years, place of birth and of course, place of residence. Once those isolated factoids are analyzed and cross-referenced with other pieces of data a light begins to illuminate the life of the previously unknown.
Until next week, be well.