The census can never be termed as a simple head count and from the time it was made for first time, the census report always helped the presidents to track the changing needs of citizens in the country and it even held the government to identify the areas where more resources must be allocated to ensure smooth flow.
To identify the number of military age men in country during 1790, the government under the regime of James Madison has conducted the censuses for first time in United States and in later years, several censuses were made to find out the manufacturing establishments within country. In 1840, the census was conducted to ask about the literacy rate and school enrolment in America.