"No other official record or group of records is as historically significant as the 1790 census of the United States. The taking of this census marked the inauguration of a process that continues right up to our own day--the enumeration at ten-year intervals of the entire American population" -- publisher website (June 2007).

The First Census of the United States (1790) comprised an enumeration of the inhabitants of the present states of Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. Unfortunately, during the War of 1812, when the British burned the Capitol at Washington, the returns for several states were destroyed. However, the census records for Maryland survived and were available for this 1907 publication. In March 1790, Maryland had a population of 319,728, out of the Nation's total population of approximately 3,920,000. The information provided in this census includes the Name of Head of Family, the number of free white males of 16 years and upward in the household, the number of free white males and under living in the household, the number of free white females, all other free persons, and the number of slaves. Populations are also recorded for Towns and Counties.