The American Census: A Social HistoryThis book, published on the eve of the bicentennial of the American census, is the first social history of this remarkably important institution, from its origins in 1790 to the present. Margo Anderson argues that the census has always been an influential policymaking tool, used not only to determine the number of representatives apportioned to each state but also to allocate tax dollars to states, and, in the past, to define groups-such as slaves and immigrants-who were to be excluded from the American polity. "As a history of the census, this study is a delight. It is thoroughly researched and richly detailed. Anderson is to be commended for covering such an expansive chronology with such skill. . . . Anderson has woven together not only social history but also intellectual, institutional, political, and military history into a thoroughly readable book that examines not only changes in the census but also the remarkable changes that have taken place in the US."-Choice "This book is valuable, clearly written and contains many interesting facts. It should be read not only by national policymakers and the statistical community, but by all who are interested in American society."-Bryant Robey, Population Today "A solid and readable piece of social, political, and institutional history. It will be essential reading not only for historians of American politics but also for census and population experts, for any public policy formulators who rely on census figures, and for those interested in the history of numeracy and statistics."-Patricia Cline Cohen, University of California, Santa Barbara |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Sectional Crisis and Census Reform in | 32 |
The Census and Industrial America in | 83 |
Building the Federal Statistical System | 116 |
Counting the Unemployed and the | 159 |
The HighTech Census and the | 191 |
The 1980 Census and the Politics of | 213 |
Bibliographic Essay | 247 |
Common terms and phrases
1st sess administration agency apportion apportionment bill areas began Census Advisory Committee Census Bureau census data census director Census Office census taking century cities Civil collected Commerce Cong Congress Congressional Constitution count debate DeBow decade decennial census demographic developed direct tax early economic efforts enumeration federal government federal statistical Fourteenth Amendment Francis Amasa Walker Francis Walker Herbert Hoover Hispanic History Hoover House immigration income industrial issues J. D. B. DeBow Joseph C. G. Kennedy Joseph Hill Labor legislation major ment method million national origins percent permanent person Peyton Young planning political population growth problems programs published questions quotas reapportion reapportionment representation Republican Roosevelt Ross Eckler sample schedules seats secretary Senate slaves social South southern staff statistical system statisticians Stuart Rice survey tabulation three-fifths compromise tion tionment undercount unemployed unemployment United University Press urban vote Walter Willcox Washington William York