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Every ten years, in years ending with a zero, the U.S. Census Bureau counts all the
people in the United States. The creation of a census is a process required by the U.S.
Constitution. The results of the census are used to diisttriibutte government money and to
allocate seats in Congress. The seats in the House of Representatives are allocated according
to population. The population of your state determines how many seats your state has.
The first census of the United States was taken in 1790. At that time, there were an
estimated 3,929,214 people in the United States. This estimate is low because the census
records for five states were missing. In addition, slaves and Indians were not counted. At that
time, the census was intended to show how many men were available for military service. By
the time of the tenth census in 1890, the population was estimated to be 50,189,209. In 1920,
at the time of the fourteenth census, the population first topped 100 million. The 1920
population was estimated to be 106,021,537. 1950 was the first time a computer was used for
the census. The new room–sized computer named ENIAC was used for parts for the count. In
fact, the Census Bureau acquiired its own computer, named UNIVAC, during that era. By the
year 2000, there were 281,421,906 people in the United States. That information was
gathered using high–speed supercomputers, quite a difference from the 200 men who
traveled throughout the country on horseback gathering information for the first census!
The census is important because the results are used to decide how federal money
will be distributed throughout the country. Money for education, health care for older people,
and funds for community development and housing is sent to the states according to the
number of people in each state. Local and state governments use the results of the census to
help them decide where to build schools, libraries, bridges, highways, and other public
projects. Businesses use the numbers to help them dettermiine where to open new businesses.