- Title Pages
- Frontispiece
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Illustrations
- List of tables
- Note on Terminology
- Introduction
- Part I The Origins of the US Census: From Enumeration of Voters and Taxpayers to “Social Statistics,” 1790–1840
- 1 The Creation of the Federal Census by the Constitution of the United States
- 2 The First Developments of the National Census (1800–1830)
- 3 The Census of 1840
- Part II Slaves, Former Slaves, Blacks, and Mulattoes: Identification of the Individual and the Statistical Segregation of Populations (1850–1865)
- 4 Whether to Name or Count Slaves
- 5 Color, Race, and Origin of Slaves and Free Persons
- 6 Color and Status of Slaves
- 7 Census Data for 1850 and 1860 and the Defeat of the South
- Part III The Rise of Immigration and the Racialization of Society: The Adaptation of the Census to the Diversity of the American Population (1850–1900)
- 8 Modernization, Standardization, and Internationalization
- 9 From Slavery to Freedom
- 10 From “Mulatto” to the “One Drop Rule” (1870–1900)
- 11 The Slow Integration of Indians into US Population Statistics in the Nineteenth Century
- 12 The Chinese and Japanese in the Census
- 13 Immigration, Nativism, and Statistics (1850–1900)
- Part IV Apogee and Decline of Ethnic Statistics (1900–1940)
- 14 The Disappearance of the “Mulatto” as the End of Inquiry into the Composition of the Black Population of the United States
- 15 The Question of Racial Mixing in the American Possessions
- 16 New Asian Races, New Mixtures, and the “Mexican” Race
- 17 From Statistics by Country of Birth to the System of National Origins
- Part V The Population and the Census: Representation, Negotiation, and Segmentation (1900–1940)
- 18 The Census and African Americans Within and Outside the Bureau
- 19 Women as Census Workers and as Relays in the Field
- 20 Ethnic Marketing of Population Statistics
- Epilogue
- Conclusion
- Abbreviations
- Sources and Bibliography
- Index
Immigration, Nativism, and Statistics (1850–1900)
Immigration, Nativism, and Statistics (1850–1900)
- Chapter:
- (p.137) 13 Immigration, Nativism, and Statistics (1850–1900)
- Source:
- Counting Americans
- Author(s):
Paul Schor
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
This chapter discusses the emergence of questions on national origins and foreign birth in the censuses of 1850 to 1900 in the context of rising nativism. The 1820 census first introduced the distinction between Americans and foreigners. It also distinguished “foreigners not naturalized” from the rest of the population. Immigration became a subject for official statistics in the 1850 census, which included very detailed questionnaires on numerous social and economic questions, such as occupation, education, or property. In 1870, a major development was the introduction of the question of the foreign birth of each parent. By the 1890 census, statistics on the naturalization of immigrants made it possible to measure the electoral strength of immigrants, whether of the first or second generation.
Keywords: national origin, foreign birth, immigrants, naturalization, US census, nativism
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- Title Pages
- Frontispiece
- Acknowledgments
- Note on Illustrations
- List of tables
- Note on Terminology
- Introduction
- Part I The Origins of the US Census: From Enumeration of Voters and Taxpayers to “Social Statistics,” 1790–1840
- 1 The Creation of the Federal Census by the Constitution of the United States
- 2 The First Developments of the National Census (1800–1830)
- 3 The Census of 1840
- Part II Slaves, Former Slaves, Blacks, and Mulattoes: Identification of the Individual and the Statistical Segregation of Populations (1850–1865)
- 4 Whether to Name or Count Slaves
- 5 Color, Race, and Origin of Slaves and Free Persons
- 6 Color and Status of Slaves
- 7 Census Data for 1850 and 1860 and the Defeat of the South
- Part III The Rise of Immigration and the Racialization of Society: The Adaptation of the Census to the Diversity of the American Population (1850–1900)
- 8 Modernization, Standardization, and Internationalization
- 9 From Slavery to Freedom
- 10 From “Mulatto” to the “One Drop Rule” (1870–1900)
- 11 The Slow Integration of Indians into US Population Statistics in the Nineteenth Century
- 12 The Chinese and Japanese in the Census
- 13 Immigration, Nativism, and Statistics (1850–1900)
- Part IV Apogee and Decline of Ethnic Statistics (1900–1940)
- 14 The Disappearance of the “Mulatto” as the End of Inquiry into the Composition of the Black Population of the United States
- 15 The Question of Racial Mixing in the American Possessions
- 16 New Asian Races, New Mixtures, and the “Mexican” Race
- 17 From Statistics by Country of Birth to the System of National Origins
- Part V The Population and the Census: Representation, Negotiation, and Segmentation (1900–1940)
- 18 The Census and African Americans Within and Outside the Bureau
- 19 Women as Census Workers and as Relays in the Field
- 20 Ethnic Marketing of Population Statistics
- Epilogue
- Conclusion
- Abbreviations
- Sources and Bibliography
- Index