Among the important subjects to which the attention of the present
Congress has already been invited, and which may occupy their further
and deliberate discussion, will be the provision to be made for taking
the fifth census or enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States.
The Constitution of the United States requires that this enumeration
should be made within every term of ten years, and the date from which
the last enumeration commenced was the first Monday of August of the
year 1820. The laws under which the former enumerations were taken were
enacted at the session of Congress immediately preceding the operation;
but considerable inconveniences were experienced from the delay of
legislation to so late a period. That law, like those of the preceding
enumerations, directed that the census should be taken by the marshals
of the several districts and Territories of the Union under instructions
from the Secretary of State. The preparation and transmission to the
marshals of those instructions required more time than was then allowed
between the passage of the law and the day when the enumeration was to
commence.
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