28-01-2010, 03:00 AM
Good question. On first blush it would seem superfluous to a free nation. After all, we had just gotten away from a monarchy and an empire and we were clearing new political ground with a constitutional republic...something never tried previously. Heady stuff!
A Census's value to a king or emperor is clear...it's in his interest to know just how many able bodied men in his hinterlands he can conscript, or how many might rise against him.
Hell, it was Pharoah's census that caused someone on the order of Jesus Christ to be born in a stable, for Christ's sake! So it is apparent that censuses (censi?) are very important to tyrants and despots.
So why is there a Census in the US Constitution?
Well, it may be because there was a legitimate need to know the accurate population count for representation in government. What a concept! The more people affected by government's decisions, the more people get to lobby for them.
Apportionment of Seats in the House
Clause 3. [Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons].344 The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made,...
OK, so once we get past the archaic ideas of free persons, indentured servants, Indians and folk who are only 3/5 of a person, we see that the Constitution of the United States, which last time I looked was still supposed to be the Law of the Land, and which last time I checked, was what all elected officials were sworn to uphold and defend, allows Americans to be COUNTED for the purpose of taxation and representation.
A Census's value to a king or emperor is clear...it's in his interest to know just how many able bodied men in his hinterlands he can conscript, or how many might rise against him.
Hell, it was Pharoah's census that caused someone on the order of Jesus Christ to be born in a stable, for Christ's sake! So it is apparent that censuses (censi?) are very important to tyrants and despots.
So why is there a Census in the US Constitution?
Well, it may be because there was a legitimate need to know the accurate population count for representation in government. What a concept! The more people affected by government's decisions, the more people get to lobby for them.
Apportionment of Seats in the House
Clause 3. [Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons].344 The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative; and until such enumeration shall be made,...
OK, so once we get past the archaic ideas of free persons, indentured servants, Indians and folk who are only 3/5 of a person, we see that the Constitution of the United States, which last time I looked was still supposed to be the Law of the Land, and which last time I checked, was what all elected officials were sworn to uphold and defend, allows Americans to be COUNTED for the purpose of taxation and representation.
"If you're looking for something that isn't there, you're wasting your time and the taxpayers' money."
-Michael Neuman, U.S. Government bureaucrat, on why NIST didn't address explosives in its report on the WTC collapses
-Michael Neuman, U.S. Government bureaucrat, on why NIST didn't address explosives in its report on the WTC collapses