"Indians not taxed are not to be enumerated" (United States, census of 1850)
Record: the document says itPattern: documents line upLens: our readingOpen: not yet proven
Year: 1850 · Places: Virginia, Carolinas
SUMMARY1. "Indians not taxed are not to be enumerated" (United States, census of 1850) [Connections: Who decided who's Indian, Nov 5, 2026]
RECORDThe 1850 enumerator instructions for color say: "in all cases where the person is white, leave the space blank; in all cases where the person is black, insert the letter B; if mulatto, insert M." There was no Indian code at all. On Native people the instruction is: "Indians not taxed are not to be enumerated in this or any other schedule." The Census Bureau's own race-history tool says 1790–1810 race was recorded by "enumerator observation," and "Free Colored Persons" was introduced in 1820. HOSTILE
WITNESSthe federal census office, writing for apportionment and taxation, not for the nations
PATTERNFor the first 60 years of the census, a Native person off the tribal rolls had only three boxes to land in: blank (white), B, or M. There was no box for what they were
LENS (WW9)If the form has no word for you, the clerk picks one, and the one he picked was "colored."
OPENHow Native households on the Eastern Shore and in the Carolinas were actually marked in 1820–1850 (free colored, M, B) needs county-by-county checks of the schedules
SOURCEIPUMS, 1850 enumerator instructions; US Census Bureau, "Measuring Race and Ethnicity Across the Decades: 1790–2010". Primary: Instructions to Marshals and Assistant Marshals, Seventh Census, 1850.