Citation

Anderson M. Ann. Am. Acad. Polit. Soc. Sci. 2010; 631(1): 152-162.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0002716210373721

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article provides an overview of one major platform of the federal statistical system, the census. It briefly describes the origin and structure of the current diverse and decentralized U.S. federal statistical system and then describes the place of the census and the Census Bureau in the system. It treats the census in the context of the demographic and political history of the nation and discusses how the demographic and political history of the nation both has fostered and complicated the development of the system.