Proclamation 6105—Twenty-First Decennial Census, 1990

In 1790, barely a year after our Nation's government was established, the first Census of Population was taken by the United States Marshals under the direction of then-Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson. A total of 3.9 million residents were counted. This year, another census will be taken -- the 21st in the history of the United States. Each decennial census has helped to chart the growth and change experienced by our vast country during the past 200 years.

The primary purpose for the census remains the same today as it was in 1790: to serve as the source of State population totals so that the number of seats in the House of Representatives can be properly apportioned among the States. Mandated by the Constitution, the use of census figures in guaranteeing representative government has been expanded over the years by the courts. It now includes the reshaping of voting district boundaries for State legislatures and local governments, as well.

Since our Nation's founding, the census has been a way of taking a "statistical snapshot" of our people and determining their number and location. Over the years, census information has become essential in the distribution of billions of dollars annually under Federal and State programs for such worthwhile purposes as education, health care, community development, transportation, and crime prevention. Government policymakers routinely use census data to make decisions on where to locate or expand public facilities and services, while business planners employ census numbers to devise strategies for the Nation's economic development.

Data from the 1990 census will serve as the basis for many of the Nation's official statistics during the coming decade. Leaders in government and the private sector will use the information it provides in making critical decisions as we prepare to enter the 21st century.

Abraham Lincoln once observed: "If we could just know where we are and whither we are tending, we could better judge what to do and how to do it." The census helps to provide us with such insight.

Now, Therefore, I, George Bush, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby declare and make known that under the law it is the responsibility and obligation of every person who usually resides in the United States to take part in the 1990 Census of Population and Housing by truthfully answering all questions on the census forms applying to him or her and to each member of the household to which he or she belongs, and to the residence being occupied.

Every resident of the United States is hereby assured that the information provided in the census will be used solely for the purposes allowed by law. Only combined statistical summaries of answers to census questions are published. By law, individual and household answers cannot be released in any way that will identify or harm any person or household. Individual information collected will not be used for purposes of taxation, investigation, or regulation, or in connection with military or jury service, the compulsion of school attendance, the regulation of immigration, or the enforcement of any other Federal, State, or local law or ordinance.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this sixth day of March, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and fourteenth.

GEORGE BUSH