1840 United States census explained

1840 United States census
Country:	United States
Population:	17,069,453
Percent Change:	32.7%
Region Type:	state
Most Populous:	New York 2,428,921
Least Populous:	Delaware 78,085
Authority:	Office of the United States Marshal
Previous Census:	1830 United States census
Previous Year:	1830
Next Census:	1850 United States census
Next Year:	1850

The 1840 United States census was the sixth census of the United States. Conducted by U.S. marshals on June 1, 1840, it determined the resident population of the United States to be 17,069,453 – an increase of 32.7 percent over the 12,866,020 persons enumerated during the 1830 census. The total population included 2,487,355 slaves. In 1840, the center of population was about 260 miles (418 km) west of Washington, D.C., near Weston, Virginia (now in West Virginia).

This was the first census in which:

A state recorded a population of over two million (New York)
A city recorded a population of over 300,000 (New York)
Multiple cities recorded populations of over 100,000 (New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans)

It was also the last census conducted by U.S. marshals, as starting in 1850 a temporary office would be set up for each census under the purview of the Department of the Interior.

Controversy over statistics for mental illness among Northern blacks

The 1840 census was the first that attempted to count Americans who were "insane" or "idiotic". Published results of the census indicated that alarming numbers of black persons living in non-slaveholding States were mentally ill, in striking contrast to the corresponding figures for slaveholding States.

Pro-slavery advocates trumpeted the results as evidence of the beneficial effects of slavery, and the probable consequences of emancipation.^[1] Anti-slavery advocates contended, on the contrary, that the published returns were riddled with errors, as detailed in an 1844 report by Edward Jarvis of Massachusetts in the American Journal of the Medical Sciences, later published separately as a pamphlet,^[2] and in a memorial from the American Statistical Association to Congress, praying that measures be taken to correct the errors.^[3]

The memorial was submitted to the House of Representatives by John Quincy Adams, who contended that it demonstrated "a multitude of gross and important errors" in the published returns.^[4] In response to the House's request for an inquiry, Secretary of State John C. Calhoun reported that a careful examination of the statistics by the supervisor of the census had fully sustained their correctness.^[5] ^[6] The returns were not revised.^[7]

Census questions

The 1840 census asked these questions:^[8]

Name of head of family
Address
Number of free white males and females
- in five-year age groups to age 20
- in 10-year age groups from 20 to 100
- 100 years and older
number of slaves and free colored persons in six age groups
number of deaf and dumb, by race
number of blind, by race
number of insane and idiotic in public or private charge, by race
number of persons in each family employed in seven classes of occupation
number of schools and number of scholars
number of white persons over 20 who could not read and write
number of pensioners for Revolutionary or military service

Data availability

No microdata from the 1840 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. A compendium of data from the sixth census, organized by States, counties, and principal towns is available on the web site of the Census Bureau.

State rankings

Rank	State	Population
1	New York	2,428,921
2	Pennsylvania	1,724,033
3	Ohio	1,519,467
4	Virginia ^[9]	1,239,792
5	Tennessee	829,210
6	Kentucky	779,828
7	North Carolina	753,419
8	Massachusetts	737,699
9	Georgia	691,392
10	Indiana	685,866
11	South Carolina	594,398
12	Alabama	590,756
13	Maine	501,793
14	Illinois	476,183
15	Maryland	470,019
16	Missouri	383,702
17	Mississippi	375,651
18	New Jersey	373,306
19	Louisiana	352,411
20	Connecticut	309,978
21	Vermont	291,948
22	New Hampshire	284,574
X	West Virginia ^[10]	224,537
23	Michigan	212,267
24	Rhode Island	108,830
25	Arkansas	97,574
26	Delaware	78,085
X	Florida	54,477
X	Iowa ^[11]	43,112
X	District of Columbia ^[12]	33,745
X	Wisconsin ^[13]	30,945

City rankings

Rank	State	Population	Region (2016)^[14]
01		312,710	Northeast
02		102,313	South
03		102,193	South
04		93,665	Northeast
05		93,383	Northeast
06		46,338	Midwest
07		36,233	Northeast
08		34,474	Northeast
09		33,721	Northeast
10		29,261	South
11		27,849	Northeast
12		27,548	Northeast
13		23,364	South
14		23,171	Northeast
15		22,314	Northeast
16		21,210	South
17		21,115	Northeast
18		20,796	Northeast
19		20,191	Northeast
20		20,153	South
21		19,334	Northeast
22		18,213	Northeast
23		17,290	Northeast
24		16,469	Midwest
25		15,218	Northeast
26		15,082	Northeast
27		14,573	Northeast
28		12,960	Northeast
29		12,782	Northeast
30		12,672	South
31		12,087	Northeast
32		11,484	Northeast
33		11,214	South
34		11,136	South
35		10,985	Northeast
36		10,920	South
37		10,089	Northeast
38		9,534	Northeast
39		9,468	Northeast
40		9,367	Northeast
41		9,102	Midwest
42		9,089	Northeast
43		9,012	Northeast
44		8,627	Northeast
45		8,459	South
46		8,417	Northeast
47		8,410	Northeast
48		8,409	Northeast
49		8,367	South
50		8,333	Northeast
51		7,887	Northeast
52	Virginia^[15]	7,885	South
53		7,645	Northeast
54		7,596	Northeast
55		7,497	Northeast
56		7,312	South
57		7,161	Northeast
58		6,997	South
59		6,929	South
60		6,784	Northeast
61		6,738	Northeast
62		6,726	Northeast
63		6,477	South
64		6,458	Northeast
65		6,403	South
66		6,395	South
67		6,350	Northeast
68		6,071	Midwest
69		6,067	Midwest
70		6,063	Northeast
71		6,054	Northeast
72		6,048	Midwest
73		5,980	Northeast
74		5,672	Northeast
75		5,626	Northeast
76		5,575	Northeast
77		5,519	Northeast
78		5,335	South
79		5,314	Northeast
80		5,281	Northeast
81		5,225	Northeast
82		5,207	Northeast
83		5,182	South
84		5,141	Northeast
85		5,085	Northeast
86		5,060	Northeast
87		5,042	Northeast
88		5,020	Northeast
89		4,897	Northeast
90		4,875	Northeast
91		4,865	Northeast
92		4,821	Northeast
93		4,779	Northeast
94		4,766	Midwest
95		4,689	Northeast
96		4,504	Northeast
97		4,470	Midwest
98		4,351	Northeast
99		4,345	Northeast
100		4,340	South	-	100	4,336	Northeast
101		4,301	Northeast
102		4,285	South
103		4,271	Northeast
104		4,247	Midwest
105		4,226	Midwest -->

External links

"1840 census: False count on insanity showed slavery was good for Blacks" by Peter Whoriskey, The Washington Post, October 17 2020
Compendium of the Enumeration of the Inhabitants and Statistics of the United States . . . from the Returns of the Sixth Census .... (Washington, D.C., 1841)
Overview of the 1840 Census on www.census.gov.
1840 U.S. Federal Census Online Records and Indexes on www.cyndislist.com (21 Links) Includes links to sites with any or all of the following: digitized images, indexes, transcriptions, extractions, abstracts, and partial or whole copies of census materials.
Library of Congress research guide for 1840 census - links to primary documents

Notes and References

, and sources there cited.
Book: Edward Jarvis . Insanity Among the Coloured Population of the Free States . T.K. & P.G. Collins, Printers . 1844 . Philadelphia . May 31, 2013.
Book: Edward Jarvis. William Brigham. J. Wingate Thornton. Memorial of the American Statistical Association Praying the Adoption of Measures for the Correction of Errors in the Returns of the Sixth Census. May 31, 2013. Public Documents Printed by Order of the Senate of the United States, Second Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. I. 5. 1844.
Book: John Quincy Adams. Charles Francis Adams. Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: comprising portions of his diary from 1795 to 1848. May 31, 2013. 1877. J. B. Lippincott & Co.. Philadelphia. 27–28, 61, 119–20.
Litwack (1958), 267
Book: John Caldwell Calhoun. South Carolina General Assembly. Richard K. Crallé. The Works of John C. Calhoun: Reports and Public Letters. May 31, 2013. V. 1859. D. Appleton and Company. New York. 458. Calhoun engaged William A. Weaver, the superintendent of the 1840 census, to review the figures and check them against related data from the 1830 census. Ibid. Weaver reported that he had examined "each specification of error" and concluded that the memorialists had themselves erred in their claims. While there doubtless had been minor errors, he said, there had been no glaring methodological mistakes as charged. See William Edwin Hemphill, ed., The Papers of John C. Calhoun: 1845, Columbia: Univ. of South Carolina Press, 1993, vol. 21, p. 156.
Litwack (1958), 268
Web site: Library Bibliography Bulletin 88, New York State Census Records, 1790-1925. 1981. New York State Library. Several pages on U.S. federal web sites incorrectly assert that the 1840 census questionnaire closely followed that from the 1830 census, which did not include questions concerning mental illness.
Includes population in the future state of West Virginia
Between 1790 and 1860, the state of West Virginia was part of Virginia; the data for this state reflects the present-day boundary.
Includes portion of what is now Minnesota lying west of the Mississippi River, as well as portions of what is now North Dakota and South Dakota lying east of the Missouri River
The District of Columbia is not a state but was created with the passage of the Residence Act of 1790. The territory that formed that federal capital was originally donated by both Maryland and Virginia; however, the Virginia portion was returned by Congress in 1846.
Includes portion of what is now Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi River
Web site: Regions and Divisions . U.S. Census Bureau . September 9, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20161203020637/http://www.census.gov/econ/census/help/geography/regions_and_divisions.html . December 3, 2016 . dead . mdy-all .
Is in present day West Virginia