The 1790 United States census recorded a population of 3,929,214 people.
It was the first census conducted under the new federal government. Census Day was August 2, 1790, and the enumeration was required by Article I, Section 2, of the Constitution. Congress assigned the work to U.S. marshals, who visited households across the states and certain federal territories.
The count classified people into categories defined by law, including free white males, free white females, other free persons, and enslaved people. It did not resemble a modern census in methodology or terminology. Officials had to travel long distances, work with limited transportation, and compile results by hand.
Virginia was the most populous state in the census, with 747,610 inhabitants, while Delaware was the least populous, with 59,094. George Washington and Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson both suspected that the total was an undercount. The published report appeared in 1791 and ran to 56 pages.