The first census of the whole United States was recorded on August 2, 1790 and according to the census the population of the United State was just under 4 million persons. According to the census there were only five cities with a population of more than 10,000. Compare that to London, the largest city in Europe which had just over one million. America was a very rural country. New York had only 33,131 persons and Philadelphia had only 28,522. Virginia was by far the largest state with almost 750,000 people, but almost 300,000 of them were slaves. Overall, about 20% of the population in the United States were slaves. There were three states with no slaves. They were Massachusetts, Main and Vermont. Less than 1% of of Pennsylvania's population were slaves. Half of the free white men were under the age of sixteen.
In 1791, George Washington in his 3rd annual address announced the results of this first census:
"The completion of the census of the inhabitants, for which provision was made by law, has been duly notified (excepting one instance in which the return has been informal, and another in which it has been omitted or miscarried), and the returns of the officers who were charged with this duty, which will be laid before you, will give you the pleasing assurance that the present population of the United States borders on 4,000,000 persons."America in 1790 was young and rural. This is the America that George Washington governed. Today, America has over 308 million persons, with nine cities over one million. New York itself has 8 million people in the city proper, and almost 20 million people living in it's metropolitan area. Washington D.C. today has over 672,228 people living in it today. Just imagine almost the entire state of Virginia from 1790 living in a 10 square mile area that was set aside as the permanent seat of the government. Washington could not have imagined this. Now, in the United States, 78% of the people are over the age of 16. 16% are over the age of 62. America, today is much older and much more urban than anyone in 1790 could have predicted.
In 1790, the president governed 4 million people, but today there are 4.1 million people just employed by the federal government. Today, there are 435 congressmen representing 308 million people. That is about 700,000 persons per congressmen. In 1790, there were 65 congressmen representing about 60,000 persons each. In 1790, the President and Congress had to travel long distances to meet with the people. They had intimate discussions. There was no huge stadiums, there was no CNN or Fox News. You didn't get randomly selected to meet with the President. If you really wanted to meet the President, you could travel to Philadelphia where the temporary capital was and meet with the President.
In 1825, President John Quincy Adams reflected on the words of George Washington in 1791 as he reported that in 1825, the population of the United States had reached 10 million. John Quincy Adams was just 24 years old, and had not yet been appointed to a government position. In 1793, he was appointed to be the minister of the Netherlands.
"When, on 1791-10-25, the first President of the United States announced to Congress the result of the first enumeration of the inhabitants of this Union, he informed them that the returns gave the pleasing assurance that the population of the United States bordered on 4,000,000 persons. At the distance of 30 years from that time the last enumeration, 5 years since completed, presented a population bordering on 10,000,000. Perhaps of all the evidence of a prosperous and happy condition of human society the rapidity of the increase of population is the most unequivocal. But the demonstration of our prosperity rests not alone upon this indication."President Adams continued to describe the growth of government that coincided with the population growth. Both houses of Congress had grown, but the judiciary and executive had not. Already in 1825, they were already beginning to get out of touch with the common folk.
"Our commerce, our wealth, and the extent of our territories have increased in corresponding proportions, and the number of independent communities associated in our Federal Union has since that time nearly doubled. The legislative representation of the States and people in the two Houses of Congress has grown with the growth of their constituent bodies. The House, which then consisted of 65 members, now numbers upward of 200. The Senate, which consisted of 26 members, has now 48. But the executive and, still more, the judiciary departments are yet in a great measure confined to their primitive organization, and are now not adequate to the urgent wants of a still growing community."
Our country did not change overnight. Change was gradual, but after 226 years it has gone through a drastic change. And so has our government. The graph below attached shows how the population has grown since 1790. With each president elected, our country has grown. One question remains. Does our government still represent YOU?
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29433
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=29467
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1790_United_States_Census
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Washington,_D.C.
https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-03.pdf
https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/data-analysis-documentation/federal-employment-reports/historical-tables/total-government-employment-since-1962/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/114th_United_States_Congress
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_United_States_Congress
http://www.historytube.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/George-Washington-after-Gilbert-Stuarts-Lansdowne-portrait-ca-1800.jpg
https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/whitehouse.gov/files/images/Administration/People/president_official_portrait_hires.jpg
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