1870 United States census

1870 United States census
Seal of the Department of the Interior
General information
Country	United States
Date taken	June 1, 1870 (1870-06-01)
Total population	38,925,598
Percent change	22.6%
Most populous state	New York 4,382,759
Least populous state	Nevada 42,941

The 1870 United States census was the ninth United States census. It was conducted by the Census Office from June 1, 1870, to August 23, 1871. The 1870 census was the first census to provide detailed information on the African American population, only five years after the culmination of the Civil War when slaves were granted freedom. The total population was 38,925,598 with a resident population of 38,558,371 individuals, a 22.6% increase from 1860.

The 1870 census' population estimate was controversial, as many believed it underestimated the true population numbers, especially in New York and Pennsylvania. This was the first census in which all 100 largest cities recorded populations of over 10,000. This was also the last federal census conducted using the US Marshal Service as enumerators.

Census Act of 1850

The Census Act of 1850 established the primary machinery of the ninth census. The Census Office, working within the Department of the Interior, oversaw the recording and tabulation of results gathered by assistant marshals, who were hired and supervised by federal marshals. Two new structural changes during the 1870 census occurred: marshals had to return the completed population questionnaire to the Census Office in September and penalties for refusing to reply to enumerator questions were extended to encompass every question on the questionnaires.

Census organization

The commonly past-used slave questionnaires were redesigned to reflect the American society after the Civil War. The five schedules for the 1870 census were the following: General Population, Mortality, Agriculture, Products of Industry, and Social Statistics.

The general population saw a 22.6% increase to 38,555,983 individuals in 1870. Charges of an undercount, however, were brought against Francis Amasa Walker, the Superintendent of the 1870 census.

Mortality rates in 1870, in general, decreased as a fraction of the total population by <0.1% from 1860 and by 0.1% from 1850. The lower death rates indicate that the standard of living increased, due to some exogenous factor, over the period of twenty years from 1850 to 1870.

In terms of products of industry, total U.S. wealth increased by 17.3% from 1860 to 1870, to reach an assessed wealth of $14,178,986,732. The four largest state contributors to this wealth were New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, in that order. Most of the wealth was concentrated in the developed Northeast region, as newer territories like Wyoming were beginning to develop their young economies.

The 1870 census was the first of its kind to record the nativity of the American population. This social statistic helped determine which areas were more highly composed of immigrants than native-born Americans. New York City had the most foreign-born individuals, with 419,094 foreigners, who comprised 44.5% of the city's total population. Philadelphia, Chicago, St. Louis, and San Francisco also had a great population of foreigners that made up a significant fraction of their total populations. Therefore, a great ethnic and cultural change was witnessed from 1860 to 1870, as part of the population growth was due to immigrants moving in and a shuffling of residents across state borders.

Census results

Population results of the 1870 census

True population	Total United States	38,925,598
	States only	38,205,598
	Territories	720,000
Constitutional/resident population*	Total United States	38,558,371
	States only**	38,115,641
	Territories	442,730
White population	Total United States	33,589,377
	States only	33,203,128
	Territories	386,249
Black population	Total United States	4,880,009
	States only	4,835,106
	Territories	44,903
Indian (Native American) population (on reservations)	Total United States	357,981
	States only	89,957
	Territories	268,024
Indian (Native American) population (not on reservations)	Total United States	25,731
	States only	21,228
	Territories	4,503
Chinese population	Total United States	63,199
	States only	56,124
	Territories	7,075
Japanese population	Total United States	55
	States only	55
	Territories	0

*The constitutional population excludes the populations of Native Americans "maintaining their tribal relations and living upon Government reservations" and "the newly acquired district of Alaska."

**When considering congressional apportionment, the total state population of the Constitutional population was used.

Census questions

Schedule 1 of the 1870 census collected the following information:

1. Dwelling-houses numbered in the order of Visitation
2. Families numbered in the order of visitation
3. Names
4. Age
5. Sex
6. Color
7. Profession
8. Value of Real Estate
9. Value of Personal Estate
10. Place of Birth (State, Territory, Country)
11. Father's Birthplace*
12. Mother's Birthplace*
13. If born within the year, state month
14. If married within the year, state month
15. Attended School within the Year (Y/N)
16. Cannot Read (Y/N)
17. Cannot Write (Y/N)
18. Deaf & dumb, blind, insane, idiotic, pauper, or convict
19. Male Citizens of U.S. of 21 years of age or upwards
20. Male Citizens of U.S. of 21 years of age and upwards where rights to vote is denied on grounds other than rebellion or other crime**

*If born in another country

**This question asked if one's right to vote is being denied due to a legal matter other than rebellion or conviction. Such circumstances included being unable to pay poll taxes, or being unable to pass a literacy test.

Full documentation for the 1870 population census, including census forms and enumerator instructions, is available from the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series.

Population undercount

Although Francis Walker, the Superintendent of the 1870 census, defended the quality of the census, arguing that standardized, clear, and statistical approaches and practices were carried out across all regions of the United States, the public at the time was disappointed in the national growth rate and suspected underenumeration. With especially bitter complaints coming from New York and Philadelphia claiming up to a third of the population was not counted, the President made the rare move to order a recount in those areas. While it was thought a large fraction of the population was not counted for being indoors in the wintry cold, newer estimates resulted in only a 2.5% increase in Philadelphia's population and a 2% increase in New York's.

This controversy of the 1870 undercount resurfaced in 1890, when the national growth rate between 1880 and 1890 was discovered to be much lower than it was between 1870 and 1880. Critics then asserted that the 1870 population must have been underenumerated by over 1.2 million people to account for the discrepancy between growth rates; it was presumed that the growth rate in 1880 had to be exaggerated because of the 1870 undercount. Despite the fact that modern investigations have yet to quantify the exact effect of the undercount, most modern social scientists do not believe the undercount was as severe as 1890 investigators assumed. Today most analyzers compare the 1870 undercount to the non-response rates seen in most modern census data.

State rankings

Rank	State/Territory	Population
01	New York	4,382,759
02	Pennsylvania	3,521,951
03	Ohio	2,665,260
04	Illinois	2,539,891
05	Missouri	1,721,295
06	Indiana	1,680,637
07	Massachusetts	1,457,351
08	Kentucky	1,321,011
09	Tennessee	1,258,520
10	Virginia	1,225,163
11	Iowa	1,194,020
12	Georgia	1,184,109
13	Michigan	1,184,059
14	North Carolina	1,071,361
15	Wisconsin	1,054,670
16	Alabama	996,992
17	New Jersey	906,096
18	Mississippi	827,922
19	Texas	818,579
20	Maryland	780,894
21	Louisiana	726,915
22	South Carolina	705,606
23	Maine	626,915
24	California	560,247
25	Connecticut	537,454
26	Arkansas	484,471
27	West Virginia	442,014
28	Minnesota	439,706
29	Kansas	364,399
30	Vermont	330,551
31	New Hampshire	318,300
32	Rhode Island	217,353
33	Florida	187,748
X	District of Columbia	131,700
34	Delaware	125,015
35	Nebraska	122,993
X	New Mexico	91,874
36	Oregon	90,923
X	Utah	86,336
37	Nevada	42,941
X	Colorado	39,864
X	Washington	23,955
X	Montana	20,595
X	Idaho	14,999
X	South Dakota	11,776
X	Arizona	9,658
X	Wyoming	9,118
X	North Dakota	2,405

References

• Contains 1870 Census results.