"The exact number of inhabitants in the United States has not, I believe, been ascertained by an actual census in more than two or three of them. The only computation made by Congress was on the 29th of July, 1775; the manner and occasion of which exclude every suspicion of its exceeding the true number. Congress had emitted bills of credit to a very considerable amount, and were apprised of the necessity of emitting more. Justice demanded that this debt should be apportioned among the States according to their respective abilities; an equitable rule whereby to determine that ability became indispensable. After much consideration, Congress resolved, 'that the proportion, or quota of each Colony, should be determined according to the number of the inhabitants of all ages (including negroes and mulattoes) in each Colony,' but as that could not _then_ be ascertained _exactly_, they were obliged to judge of, and compute the number from circumstantial evidence. The delegates gave to Congress an account of the population of their respective Colonies, made from the best materials then in their power, and so great was their confidence in each other, that from those accounts that computation was principally formed. Your Excellency will readily perceive, that the delegates were far from being under any temptations to exaggerate the number of their constituents; they were not ignorant, that by such exaggerations they would increase their portion of aids, both of men and money, and that whatever errors they might commit, could not be rectified by an actual numeration during the war. The computation then formed was as follows. New Hampshire, 124,069 and a half Massachusetts Bay, 434,244 Rhode Island, 71,959 and a half Connecticut, 248,139 New York, 248,139 New Jersey, 161,290 and a half Pennsylvania, 372,208 and a half Delaware, 37,219 and a half Maryland, 310,174 and a half Virginia, 496,278 North Carolina, 248,139 South Carolina, 248,139 --------- 3,000,000 Exclusive of the inhabitants of Georgia, who were not at that time represented in Congress, and of whose numbers I have no information that I can confide in. _The Form of Government of each State._