1840 Census

November 18, 2009

You may Listen or download this story in .mp3 format. or as a .wav file

Profile America — Wednesday, November 18th. The national census next April will be the 23rd time this once-a-decade count has been conducted since 1790. Census number six in 1840 showed a maturing nation. Then, there were just over 17 million residents in the United States. New York was the largest city at nearly 313,000 and Albany, New York, and Charleston, South Carolina, were on the list of the 10 biggest cities. In the decade to follow, the first wagon train would leave Missouri for California, the U.S. and Canada agreed on their long border, and Samuel Morse sent the first telegraph message. At the end of the decade, Elizabeth Blackwell received the first medical degree awarded to a woman. Profile America is a public service of the U.S. Census Bureau, now preparing for the 2010 Census.

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Through the Decades
http://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/fast_facts/1840_3.html