1840 United States census

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).

1840 United States census
← 1830 June 1, 1840 (1840-06-01) 1850 →
Seal of the United States Marshals Service, which administered the census
General information
Country	United States
Authority	Office of the United States Marshal
Results
Total population	17,069,453 ( 32.7%)
Most populous ​state	New York 2,428,921
Least populous ​state	Delaware 78,085

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,^[1][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	City	State	Population[14]	Region (2016)[15]
01	New York	New York	312,710	Northeast
02	Baltimore	Maryland	102,313	South
03	New Orleans	Louisiana	102,193	South
04	Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	93,665	Northeast
05	Boston	Massachusetts	93,383	Northeast
06	Cincinnati	Ohio	46,338	Midwest
07	Brooklyn	New York	36,233	Northeast
08	Northern Liberties	Pennsylvania	34,474	Northeast
09	Albany	New York	33,721	Northeast
10	Charleston	South Carolina	29,261	South
11	Spring Garden	Pennsylvania	27,849	Northeast
12	Southwark	Pennsylvania	27,548	Northeast
13	Washington	District of Columbia	23,364	South
14	Providence	Rhode Island	23,171	Northeast
15	Kensington	Pennsylvania	22,314	Northeast
16	Louisville	Kentucky	21,210	South
17	Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	21,115	Northeast
18	Lowell	Massachusetts	20,796	Northeast
19	Rochester	New York	20,191	Northeast
20	Richmond	Virginia	20,153	South
21	Troy	New York	19,334	Northeast
22	Buffalo	New York	18,213	Northeast
23	Newark	New Jersey	17,290	Northeast
24	St. Louis	Missouri	16,469	Midwest
25	Portland	Maine	15,218	Northeast
26	Salem	Massachusetts	15,082	Northeast
27	Moyamensing	Pennsylvania	14,573	Northeast
28	New Haven	Connecticut	12,960	Northeast
29	Utica	New York	12,782	Northeast
30	Mobile	Alabama	12,672	South
31	New Bedford	Massachusetts	12,087	Northeast
32	Charlestown	Massachusetts	11,484	Northeast
33	Savannah	Georgia	11,214	South
34	Petersburg	Virginia	11,136	South
35	Springfield	Massachusetts	10,985	Northeast
36	Norfolk	Virginia	10,920	South
37	Allegheny	Pennsylvania	10,089	Northeast
38	Smithfield	Rhode Island	9,534	Northeast
39	Hartford	Connecticut	9,468	Northeast
40	Lynn	Massachusetts	9,367	Northeast
41	Detroit	Michigan	9,102	Midwest
42	Roxbury	Massachusetts	9,089	Northeast
43	Nantucket	Massachusetts	9,012	Northeast
44	Bangor	Maine	8,627	Northeast
45	Alexandria	District of Columbia	8,459	South
46	Lancaster	Pennsylvania	8,417	Northeast
47	Reading	Pennsylvania	8,410	Northeast
48	Cambridge	Massachusetts	8,409	Northeast
49	Wilmington	Delaware	8,367	South
50	Newport	Rhode Island	8,333	Northeast
51	Portsmouth	New Hampshire	7,887	Northeast
52	Wheeling	Virginia[16]	7,885	South
53	Taunton	Massachusetts	7,645	Northeast
54	Paterson	New Jersey	7,596	Northeast
55	Worcester	Massachusetts	7,497	Northeast
56	Georgetown	District of Columbia	7,312	South
57	Newburyport	Massachusetts	7,161	Northeast
58	Lexington	Kentucky	6,997	South
59	Nashville	Tennessee	6,929	South
60	Schenectady	New York	6,784	Northeast
61	Fall River	Massachusetts	6,738	Northeast
62	Warwick	Rhode Island	6,726	Northeast
63	Portsmouth	Virginia	6,477	South
64	Dover	New Hampshire	6,458	Northeast
65	Augusta	Georgia	6,403	South
66	Lynchburg	Virginia	6,395	South
67	Gloucester	Massachusetts	6,350	Northeast
68	Cleveland	Ohio	6,071	Midwest
69	Dayton	Ohio	6,067	Midwest
70	Middletown	New Jersey	6,063	Northeast
71	Nashua	New Hampshire	6,054	Northeast
72	Columbus	Ohio	6,048	Midwest
73	Harrisburg	Pennsylvania	5,980	Northeast
74	Hudson	New York	5,672	Northeast
75	Auburn	New York	5,626	Northeast
76	Marblehead	Massachusetts	5,575	Northeast
77	New London	Connecticut	5,519	Northeast
78	Wilmington	North Carolina	5,335	South
79	Augusta	Maine	5,314	Northeast
80	Plymouth	Massachusetts	5,281	Northeast
81	Cumberland	Rhode Island	5,225	Northeast
82	Andover	Massachusetts	5,207	Northeast
83	Frederick	Maryland	5,182	South
84	Bath	Maine	5,141	Northeast
85	Middleborough	Massachusetts	5,085	Northeast
86	Evesham	New Jersey	5,060	Northeast
87	Gardiner	Maine	5,042	Northeast
88	Danvers	Massachusetts	5,020	Northeast
89	Concord	New Hampshire	4,897	Northeast
90	Dorchester	Massachusetts	4,875	Northeast
91	Easton	Pennsylvania	4,865	Northeast
92	Woodbridge	New Jersey	4,821	Northeast
93	York	Pennsylvania	4,779	Northeast
94	Zanesville	Ohio	4,766	Midwest
95	Beverly	Massachusetts	4,689	Northeast
96	Danbury	Connecticut	4,504	Northeast
97	Chicago	Illinois	4,470	Midwest
98	Carlisle	Pennsylvania	4,351	Northeast
99	Pottsville	Pennsylvania	4,345	Northeast
100	Columbia	South Carolina	4,340	South

References

1. Leon F. Litwack (1958), "The Federal Government and the Free Negro, 1790–1860", Journal of Negro History, 43 (4): 261–78, 263–68, doi:10.2307/2716144, JSTOR 2716144, S2CID 150261737, and sources there cited.
2. Edward Jarvis (1844). Insanity Among the Coloured Population of the Free States. Philadelphia: T.K. & P.G. Collins, Printers. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
3. Edward Jarvis; William Brigham; J. Wingate Thornton (1844). Memorial of the American Statistical Association Praying the Adoption of Measures for the Correction of Errors in the Returns of the Sixth Census. Public Documents Printed by Order of the Senate of the United States, Second Session of the Twenty-Eighth Congress. Vol. I. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
4. John Quincy Adams (1877). Charles Francis Adams (ed.). Memoirs of John Quincy Adams: comprising portions of his diary from 1795 to 1848. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. pp. 27–28, 61, 119–20. Retrieved May 31, 2013.
5. Litwack (1958), 267
6. John Caldwell Calhoun; South Carolina General Assembly (1859). Richard K. Crallé (ed.). The Works of John C. Calhoun: Reports and Public Letters. Vol. V. New York: D. Appleton and Company. p. 458. Retrieved May 31, 2013. 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.
7. Litwack (1958), 268
8. "Library Bibliography Bulletin 88, New York State Census Records, 1790-1925". New York State Library. 1981. 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.
9. Includes population in the future state of West Virginia
10. Between 1790 and 1860, the state of West Virginia was part of Virginia; the data for this state reflects the present-day boundary.
11. 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
12. 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.
13. Includes portion of what is now Minnesota lying east of the Mississippi River
14. Population of the 100 Largest Cities and Other Urban Places in the United States: 1790 to 1990, U.S. Census Bureau, 1998
15. "Regions and Divisions". U.S. Census Bureau. Archived from the original on December 3, 2016. Retrieved September 9, 2016.
16. Is in present day West Virginia

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