| From 1790 through 1860, each census tended to be slightly more comprehensive than its predecessor. In 1810 Congress, anxious to reduce imports of manufactured goods and thereby avoid being drawn into the Napoleonic Wars, authorized the first census of manufacturers in order to determine what products we did produce at home. The manufacturing census was repeated in 1820, but proved so unsatisfactory that it was not repeated until 1850. The 1820 population count also classified the free black and slave populations by age and sex for the first time and collected some rudimentary information on occupations. In 1830 Congress requested additional information on the number of deaf, dumb, and blind persons in each family as well as the alien population. In 1840 a renewed attempt was made to gauge the country's occupational structure, and questions on literacy, schools and colleges, newspapers and printing offices, and the number of Revolutionary war pensioners were added to the schedule. The 1850 and 1860 censuses collected agricultural and religious statistics for the first time. The growth of the decennial censuses can be analyzed by examining figures on the number of questions asked, enumerators employed, total number of pages published, and total cost of each enumeration. |