ary of State (J.Q. Adams). But these returns, like those of the
third census, were of very slight value.

In the act of March 23, 1830, for taking the fifth census, provision is
made for ascertaining the number of blind and deaf and dumb, and the
returns of age and sex were required with greater fulness than before.
The time for commencing the enumeration was changed from August 1 to
June 1, and the work was to be completed in six instead of nine months.
The return of manufactures required by the two preceding census laws was
omitted.

The act of March 3, 1839, for the sixth census, differed very slightly
from that for the fifth, except that returns were also required of the
number of insane and idiotic, the number of Revolutionary pensioners,
and of the manufacturing, agricultural and educational statistics. By an
amendment adopted February 26, 1840, the time for completing the
enumeration was reduced to five months from June 1, and, for the first
time provision is made for special supervision of the work by requiring
the appointment of a superintending clerk.

Thus it appears that down to the taking of the sixth census, in 1840,
the chief object aimed at was the enumeration of the population. No
effort was made to arrive at, or even approach, by any thorough and
scientific process the great facts relating to our material progress and
prosperity, or to supervise the publication of such returns as were
required. But the report for that year shows a great advance over any
preceding one both in quantity and quality of information. The decade
then closing was one of great life and movement. The States west of the
Alleghanies were rapidly filling up with immigrants, whose arrival was
followed by speculations hitherto unknown. Fabulous wealth was speedily
followed by utter bankruptcy. The railroad, the steamship and the
telegraph foreshadowed the approaching revolution in methods of commerce
and communication. A new life was dawning.

These commercial changes and social revolutions were continued with
increasing intensity during the next decade. The great famine in Ireland
sent us swarms of laborers. The Mexican war brought us California, and
the discovery of gold there marked the beginning of a new era in our
material condition. It was under the influence of these stimulating
events that the seventh census was undertaken. To make such preparations
that it should, to some extent, embody the spirit of the time and
furnish