1870 Census of Population and Housing

CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING
1870 Census

The 1870 census commenced on June 1, 1870, and was taken under the provisions of the census act of May 23, 1850.¹
The Secretary of Interior appointed General Francis A. Walker Superintendent of the Ninth Census on February 7, 1870.² Although the 1870 Census was under the 1850 act, a new bill approved on May 6, 1870, made the following changes:

The marshals were to submit the returns from “schedule 1” (free inhabitants) to the Census Office by September 10, 1870. All other schedules were to be submitted by October 1, 1870.
The1850 law authorizing penalties for refusing to reply to the inquiries was expanded to apply to all inquiries made by enumerators.

Redesigned schedules used for 1870 and the omission of a “slave” schedule made possible several additional inquiries as follows:

Schedule No.1 – General Population Schedule. This schedule collected data from the entire population of the United States.
Schedule No.2 - Mortality. This schedule collected data on persons who died during the year. In addition to the 1860 inquiries, inquiries were modified to include Schedule 1’s additions to collect data on parentage and to differentiate between Chinese and American Indians. Inquiries concerning “free or slave” status and “number of days ill” were discontinued.
Schedule No.3 - Agriculture. The 1860 inquiries were used with additional requests for (1) acreage of woodland, (2) production of Spring and Winter wheat, (3) livestock sold for slaughter, (4) total tons of hemp produced, (5) total wages paid, (6) gallons of milk sold, (7) value of forest products, and (8) estimated value of all farm productions.
Schedule No. 4 – Products of Industry. Using the 1860 schedule as a basis, additional information was requested on (1) motive power and machinery, (2) hands employed by sex and specified age groups, (3) total annual salaries paid, and (4) time of full-and part-time operation.
Schedule No.5 - Social Statistics. The 1860 schedule was modified to incorporate the questions on (1) bonded and other debt of counties, cities, towns, and townships, parishes, and boroughs, (2) pauperism and crime by race (“native black” and “native white”); (3) number of church organizations and church buildings; (4) number of teachers and students; (5) kinds of schools, libraries, and taxes, by type.

The 1870 enumeration was completed on August 23, 1871. The work of compiling the census data, a portion of which was tallied using a machine invented by Charles W. Seaton, was completed in 1872.

¹Although a Congressional committee stated that the1860 Census had been “the most complete census that any Nation has ever had,” it was recognized that the 1850 act was inadequate to meet the changing conditions in which the 1870 Census would need to be conducted. A special committee of the U.S. House of Representatives (Second Session, Forty-First Congress) investigated and reported on the need for a new census act. The committee’s report was submitted as a bill on January 18, 1870. This bill was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives, but defeated in the Senate, compelling the use of the 1850 Census act.

²General Walker was one of several “experts” participating in the U.S. House of Representatives’ Committee deliberations on the 1870 Census. Prior to being appointed Superintendent of the Ninth Census, Walker was Chief of the Bureau of Statistics, which then was an agency within the Treasury Department.

1870 Census Information	Online	Download
Census Reports. Compiled from the original returns of the Ninth Census. (June 1, 1870)
Volume 1. The statistics of the population of the United States, embracing the tables of race, nationality, sex, selected ages, and occupations. To which are added the statistics of school attendance and illiteracy, of schools, libraries, newspapers, periodicals, churches, pauperism and crime, and of areas, families, and dwellings...	PDF	ZIP 154.4 MB
Volume 2. The vital statistics of the United States, embracing the tables of deaths, births, sex, and age, to which are added the statistics of the blind, the deaf, and dumb, the insane, and the idiotic...	PDF	ZIP 68.6 MB
Volume 3. The statistics of the wealth and industry of the United States, embracing the tables of wealth, taxation and public indebtedness...	PDF	ZIP 83.6 MB
Statistical Atlas of the United States based on the results of the Ninth Census in 1870 with contributions from many eminent men of science and several departments of the government...	Library of Congress	N/A
A compendium of the Ninth Census (June 1, 1870) compiled persuant to a concurrent resolution of Congress	PDF	ZIP 106.5 MB
The Garfield Report to Congress from the Committee on the Ninth Census, 1870	PDF	ZIP 39.0 MB

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Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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Page Last Modified: August 26, 2008

CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING 1870 Census

CENSUS OF POPULATION AND HOUSING
1870 Census