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  Census 2000

The 2000 Census

Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution of the United States mandates a complete count of the population every ten years. This was the first regularly scheduled complete census in world history. The census was designed to solve the problem of allocating political power among the states that make up the United States of America. Seats in the House of Representatives are re-apportioned according the population share of each state as measured by this decennial census. The first census was conducted in 1790. Each decade thereafter another census was conducted. The latest census was conducted in the spring of 2000. Results from Census 2000 will be released throughout 2001, 2002, and 2003 as the Census Bureau completes tabulation and analysis of the census forms.

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Program Segment 16

Interviews:
Prewitt
Yankelovich
DeMuth
Kraut
Simon

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PBS Program | Trends of the Century | Viewer's Voices | Interactivity | Teacher's Guide