STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL RESOURCES
OFFICE OF ARCHIVES AND HISTORY
ARCHIVES INFORMA TION CIRCULAR
Number 2 1983 EZM (Revised 2002 GTM) Raleigh, North Carolina
Overview of North Carolina Census Records, 1787-1920
During the colonial period the royal governors were required by the Board of Trade to take censuses for
administrative purposes. In 1754 Governor Dobbs ordered a census for North Carolina to "get at the strength of
the Province by ascertaining the number of its taxables, the number of its women and children, the strength and
discipline of the militia, the quantity and condition of the ammunition on hand and in store, the names of the
officers and the number of Indians." In general, however, these enumerations were ignored by the independent-
spirited people, and the colonial governors apparently had to rely on tax lists and militia rolls for information.
In 1775 the Board of Trade reported that there were 50,000 white inhabitants and 13,000 men capable of
bearing arms in North Carolina.
As the colonies began to organize, the census received more attention. In August, 1775, North Carolina's
First Provincial Congress, meeting in Hillsborough, resolved that the Committees of Safety should obtain an
exact list of inhabitants, distinguishing two age groups for white males (16-50; under 16; over 50), the number
of white women, female children, male slaves taxable, female slaves taxable, and slaves not taxable. The only
surviving reports from the 1775 state census are returns naming the inhabitants of Pitt County and a summary
return (no names) for Rowan County.
In 1783 the Continental Congress resolved that each of the states take a census of its inhabitants, and in
November 1784 the North Carolina General Assembly passed an act requiring that the census be taken. Copies
of the law were delivered to the counties a year later, and county officials conducted the state census in 1786
and 1787. Since the instructions in the 1784 act were not precise, some counties named the heads of
households, and other counties merely counted the inhabitants without naming any of them. The tables on pages
8 and 9 indicate the counties for which there are surviving reports from this census.
The question of settling the national debt became more serious, and the unwillingness of some states to
order a general census and assume their equitable proportion made it apparent that a complete census of the
country could never be made except by a central directing authority. Hence, when the Constitutional
Convention met in 1787, members seem to have agreed that a provision for a periodic federal census should be
incorporated into the Constitution.
