The 1790 United States census recorded a national population of 3,929,214 people.
It was the first census conducted under the United States Constitution. Census Day was August 2, 1790, and federal marshals were responsible for visiting households and compiling returns. The constitutional requirement came from Article I, Section 2, which called for population counts to determine representation and direct taxation.
The total included free people and enslaved people, but the counting rules reflected the racial and legal categories of the era. The census counted enslaved people as three-fifths of a person for congressional apportionment, while most Native Americans outside the tax system were excluded from the official enumeration. Virginia was the most populous state, with 747,610 people, while Delaware was the least populous among the states. The original schedules have not all survived, and later historians reconstructed some figures from available records.