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Title: Census Technology, Politics, and Institutional Change, 1790-2020

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2020

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ISSN:

DOI: doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaaa007

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Abstract: A census is a political construct that reflects the ideological orientation of its creators. Legislators, intellectuals, and the public have contested the content and purposes of the U.S. census for 230 years. In each period, the meaning and uses of the census reflected the politics and priorities of the moment. In the 1850s, census planners suppressed information about slavery at the behest of southern legislators; in the 1880s, the census director promoted nativist theories of race suicide; and in the 1940s, census officials helped plan Japanese internment. The census is inherently political: its original purpose was reapportionment of political representation, and in virtually every decade, winners and losers of the demographic contest have debated the legitimacy of the results. In one case—the census of 1920—the results were ignored altogether and no reapportionment took place, as rural legislators feared losing power to the cities...

Url: https://doi.org/10.1093/jahist/jaaa007

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Authors: Ruggles, Stephen; Magnuson, Diana

Periodical (Full): Journal of American History

Issue: 1

Volume: 107

Pages: 19-51

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Other

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