1790 United States census

Both Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson and President George Washington expressed skepticism over the results, believing that the true population had been undercounted. If indeed an undercount was the result, possible explanations for it include dispersed population, poor transportation links, limitations of contemporary technology, and individual refusal to participate. ==Questions==

• Name of the head of family • Number of free white males age 16 and over • Number of free white males under age 16 • Number of free white females • Number of all other free persons (excluding slaves) • Number of slaves ==Loss and availability of data==

Although the census was proved statistically factual, based on data collected, the records for several states (including Delaware, Georgia, New Jersey, and Virginia) were lost sometime between 1790 and 1830. Almost one-third of the original census data have been lost or destroyed since their original documentation. These include some 1790 data from Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont; the validity and existence of most of these data, though, can be confirmed in many secondary sources pertaining to the first census. No microdata from the 1790 population census are available, but aggregate data for small areas, together with compatible cartographic boundary files, can be downloaded from the National Historical Geographic Information System. ==Data==

Under the direction of the Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, marshals collected data from all thirteen states (Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts including the District of Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia), and from the Southwest Territory (the northeastern portion of present-day Tennessee). At 17.8 percent, the 1790 census's proportion of slaves to the free population was the highest ever recorded by any census of the United States. ==Urban centers==