As the United States has changed, so has the census! While required by the Constitution, the questions the government asks to allot representation and federal funding has developed over time. Using images of previous censuses, young scholars think about what these questions say about the American identity and what is most important to them. 

Concepts

censuses, the census, the constitution, the united states constitution, primary source analysis, primary source images

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Additional Tags

social studies

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Instructional Ideas

• Use discussion questions to compare and contrast census surveys
• Refer to historical census forms to discuss the concerns of previous eras

Classroom Considerations

• Learners may need Internet access if having them view census forms not included with worksheet

Pros

• Images are intriguing and stimulate interest
• Resource includes some annotations for handwriting on difficult to read documents

Cons

• None

Common Core

RH.9-10.1 RH.9-10.4 RH.9-10.7 RH.9-10.9 RH.9-10.10 RH.11-12.1 RH.11-12.4 RH.11-12.7 RH.11-12.9 RH.11-12.10