The U.S. census counts people categorized as "idiots" and the "insane" for the first time.
Date: 1840
Free Black people in both the South and the North who live in significant poverty are disproportionately defined as "defective persons" by white census takers. Pro-slavery advocates argue that this proves that Black people do not succeed when free. Social reformers use this data to bolster their argument that large asylums need to be built to institutionalize Black communities.