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Census has been controversial since 1790
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Census has been controversial since 1790
The US Census bureau is gearing up for next year’s count. The government’s been counting Americans for more than two centuries.
The very first US Census was in 1790.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says, "even then there was a big debate about the count. And the accuracy of the count."
It’s the job of the US Commerce Secretary to get an accurate count in 2010. Locke says the country’s first President took the Constitutional mandate very seriously.
"In fact," he says, "George Washington actually felt there had been an undercount because different religious groups were fearful of answering the census."
That first census also led to the first Presidential veto.
Washington was dissatisfied with the math in a bill that apportioned House seats according to the Census numbers.
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The 2010 Census goes out in the mail in March.
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