Census time. Still tricky.

The U.S. Constitution empowers the Congress to carry out the Census in “such manner as they shall by Law direct” (Article I, Section 2). Every 10 years since 1790 a Census has been taken. The Founders wanted to empower the people over their new government by using the count to determine representation in the Congress.

You would have to go back to a Supreme Court ruling in 1870 to understand why so much more information is now gathered. For general information about the constitutionality of the Census and issues of privacy, etc. see  https://www.census.gov/  

The question of who should be or not be included in the count is tricky. The safety of knocking on doors in a pandemic is tricky. Suspicions about how the Census information will be used is tricky. And none of these issues are new to this century. I was surprised to see some of the questions my ancestors were asked during a family history search. 

In the 1920 Census, the questions asked were head of household, relation to head of household, age, gender, marital status, employment and industry, country of origin and literacy. You were asked to list when you were naturalized if not a citizen of the United States. In addition, there were questions about language you spoke, where your parents were from and what language they spoke. The head of household was also asked to provide information about whether they owned their home or rented. 

Accuracy could be challenging, Many recent immigrants had unfamiliar sounding names and were recorded incorrectly. I searched both the annual Savannah City Directory and the Census records for my great-grandmother. Her first name was Taube, but she was listed variously as Tolby, Tulba, Tolie, Teresa, Thresa, Tessa, Teresia and Taubie in the first half of the 1900’s.  It is also not surprising that so many people that came to this country to escape despotic rulers and religious dicrimination would be a bit leery of the “government” coming to their door…