"The
Actual Enumeration..."
In 1787, the
Constitution of the United States was adopted by the Constitutional
Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. One of the primary
concerns for the founding fathers was the method used to determine
representation and taxation from the states. The Virginia Plan
proposed by Madison and Randolph suggested that representation be
determined by the population of the state while the New Jersey plan
proposed by Paterson discussed equal representation for each of the
states. Finally, a compromise was reached by designing a two house
or bicameral system of representation. However, concerns and
questions remained about the slaves in America. Delegates from the
states with large slave populations wanted the slaves considered as
persons for the purpose of determining representation. If the new
government were to raise taxes from the states, the slaveholding
states wanted to count the slaves as property rather than as
population. The final decision was reached by determining that
slaves would be counted as three-fifths of a free person for the
purpose of representation and direct taxation. This is called the
"three-fifths compromise." The Fourteenth Amendment to the
Constitution adopted in 1868 would eventually eliminate this method
of the computation.
The census material
included in this exercise will allow students to investigate the
population of households as well as gathering mathematical data
about the time periods. Another point of interest will be the
housing needs of the numbers of individuals in each
"family." Students will recognize their own concerns for
personal space while discussing some of the requirements that they
believe the numbers of people in each household would need in the
1850s.
Activity 1: Gathering Data
Upon
completion of this activity, students should be able to:
- Identify some of the ages, sexes
and races of the individuals in a given household using a
census.
- Compare and contrast the methods
of counting individuals for the census using the
"three-fifths compromise."
- Make historic assumptions based
upon census data.
QCC
Objectives:
Grade 4: Skills: A1, A2, A3, B12, B13, D24, D29,
Grade 8: Topics/Contents: D20, Skills: A1, A6, A9, A10, D34, D38,
D39, H40, H41, H48
For
this Lesson you will need the following images:
-
1840
Census of Baldwin County, Georgia, page 1
-
1840
Census of Baldwin County, Georgia, page 2
-
1840
Census of Baldwin County, Georgia, page 3
-
1840
Census of Baldwin County, Georgia, page 4
-
1840
Census of Baldwin County, Georgia, page 5
-
1840
Census of Baldwin County, Georgia, page 6
-
1850
Census of Baldwin County, Georgia
-
1850
Slave Schedule of Milledgeville, Georgia, page 1
-
1850
Slave Schedule of Milledgeville, Georgia, page 2
Suggested
Lesson:
- Make copies of the census
documents for the students.
- Using the 1840 and the 1850
census, ask the students to tally the total number of people
included in Governor McDonald's and Governor Towns' household.
- Answer the following questions:
- How many white males were
there in each household?
- How many of the white males
were below the age of eighteen in each household?
- How many white females were
there in each household?
- How many of the white females
were below the age of eighteen in each household?
- How many slaves were counted
in each household?
- How many of the slaves were
male in each household?
- How many of the slaves were
female in each household?
- How many of the slaves were
below the age of eighteen in each household?
- What are "free colored
persons?"
- What other kinds of
information can one find using these documents?
- Why are the census documents
separated in 1850? Do the 1850 documents supply you with
more or less information than the 1840 document?
- Calculate the number of people for
whom Governor McDonald and Governor Towns must pay taxes and can
be used for the purposes of representation. Article 1, Section 2
of the Constitution states: " 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."
- How will "free colored
persons" in the community be counted?
- Describe Governor McDonald's or
Governor Towns' family using the information that you have
gathered from the census. Can you make a prediction concerning McDonald's
or Towns' wealth? What kinds of work would the slaves perform
while in the Governor is Mansion? Do you believe that these are
all of the Governor's slaves? Why or why not?
- Imagine that you are designing the
next census. Make a list of the questions that you might ask.
(If possible, obtain some information from the U.S. Census
Bureau about the questions and information gathered during the
census. The calculation of homeless people in the United States
presented a large problem in the computation of the 1990
Census.)
Activity 2: Architectural Designs
Upon completion of this activity, students should be able
to:
- Make historic assumptions based
upon census data.
- Discuss societal and technological
advances that have influenced architectural designs.
QCC Objectives:
Grade 4: Skills: A1, A2, A3, B12, B13, C17, C19, C23, D24, D29,
Grade 8: Topics/Contents: D20, Skills: A1, A6, A9, A10, C20, C24,
C25, C33, D34, D38, D39
Suggested
Lesson:
- Divide the class into groups of
four. Allow each group to research architectural styles of the
1840s to determine the common uses of rooms and possible sizes
of rooms during this time period.
- Using the information that you
have gathered from the previous census exercise, write a
paragraph describing or draw a picture showing the house that
you believe would be necessary for either the McDonald or the
Towns family. Describe the number of rooms and the types of
rooms that might be needed for the McDonald or the Towns family.
- Compare the house that you have
created to your own homes. How many rooms are necessary for your
families? What kinds of rooms are found in a modern home? What
similarities and differences exist between the structures from
the 1840s and modern structures? How have the needs of society
and technological advances changed the structures of homes?
nineteenth century. The kitchens and bathrooms were commonly
separated from the living portions of the houses of the
nineteenth while bedrooms and beds were commonly shared.)
- Imagine that you are the architect
who has been hired to design a building to serve as the
Governor's Mansion. Remember that this building is a symbol of
leadership. Also, it will be used as a public building and must
accommodate different families with different needs. With your
group members, make a list of necessities for this new mansion.
Click here for the Tenth Lesson,
Preparing
for the New Governor
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