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### Maps

### Also in this Section:

                          - 1881 Tombstone, AZ
                          - 1950 Enumeratin District Map
                          - 1820 Map: VA, MD, DC
                          - District of Columbia Tracts
                          - 1850 Political Map of the United States
                          - Distribution of Slaves in 1860
                          - Population Distribution Over Time
                          - 1890 Population Distribution
                          - DeBow's 1854 Map
                          - 1820 Population Map
                          - 1790 Population Map

## 1790 Population Map

The first enumeration began on Monday, August 2,1790, little more than a year after the inauguration of President Washington and shortly before the second session of the first Congress ended. The Congress assigned responsibility for the 1790 census to the marshals of the U.S. judicial districts under an act that, with minor modifications and extensions, governed census-taking through1840. The law required that every household be visited and that completed census schedules be posted in ‘‘two of the most public places within [each jurisdiction], there to remain for the inspection of all concerned...’’ and that‘ ‘the aggregate amount of each description of persons’’ for every district be transmitted to the President. The six inquiries in 1790 called for the name of the head of the family and the number of persons in each household of the following descriptions: Free White males of 16 years and upward (to assess the country’s industrial and military potential), free White males under 16 years, free White females, all other free persons (by sex and color), and slaves.

The map below illustrates the population density of the United States, excluding Indians not taxed, as compiled from the records of the 1790 census.

View larger image.1790 Population Map

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Measuring America's People, Places, and Economy

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