The 1790 census counted 16 slaves in Vermont, all in Bennington County. In 1870, the chief clerk of the Census Bureau, who was from Vermont, changed the reported status of the 16 to "Free Other", alleging that the original report was a mistake. Whether it was really a mistake is a matter of some dispute.[2] (The 1790 census of the United States did not reach Vermont until the following year, 1791, because the government of Vermont took the position that Vermont was not a part of the United States until its admission to the Union in 1791.)