Historians have long appreciated the value of the U.S. Census as a source of statistical data for studying nineteenth- and twentieth-century American history. However, in ways that many other primary source documents do not, the census reflects and addresses social, political, and economic issues on national, state, and community levels simultaneously, such as the relationship between slavery and westward migration. Moreover, unlike other original sources, the census is underutilized in the college history classroom. Beginning in 1850 when the census incorporated social statistics--property ownership (real estate and personal)--and additional schedules--slave, agriculture, manufacturing, and mortality--were created, national concerns about the state of the country were brought to and recorded at the individual level. As the debate over slavery became more heated and the secession of certain southern states seemed a real possibility, communities, especially those in the Border States, divided over their sympathies and their options. Cynthiana in Harrison County, Kentucky, was one of many of those divided communities. This case study permits students to analyze individuals and their choices on their own terms so that students cultivate a broader, yet more nuanced, understanding of the complex issues that circumscribed both the community and the nation during the Civil War. Particular attention is paid to answering the question: Where does Cynthiana fit in the national, historical narrative?