Slavery

The scourge of human bondage arrives at the Jamestown Colony in 1619 when the British privateer White Lion exchanges “some twenty & odd Negroes” in chains for supplies to continue their voyage. Virginia Governor George Yardley puts them to work on his plantation and the practice of chattel slavery takes hold.

By 1650 kidnapping and transporting Africans across the Atlantic accelerates sharply, with some 12 million captives going mainly to Brazil to labor on sugar plantations. An additional 500,000 end up in the Colonies, mainly to support their participation in the triangular trade involving slaves, sugar, the production of rum and finished goods.

As of 1750, slavery exists in all of the original thirteen colonies, according to 1970 estimates from Historical Statistics of the U.S.

20.0 Enslaved Population (000) By Colony in 1750

Between 1790 and 1860 the Census shows that the total Black population of the United States grows from 694,000 to 4.4 million. The rate of growth slows gradually after the 1808 ban on the international slave trading.

20.1 Total Black Population (000)

The overwhelming majority of Blacks are enslaved and living throughout the South. By 1820, slavery has almost disappeared in the North, once the profitability of the triangular trade ends for lack of Africans left to be kidnapped.

20.2 Enslaved (000) By Region

Within the total Black population, around 10% of all Blacks are classified as “Freedmen,” escaping bondage either through paid or voluntary manumission by their owners. Run-aways are not counted as free.

20.3 Total Black Population (000)

Surprisingly, slightly over half of all Freedmen live in the South, surrounded by an overwhelming number of those still enslaved, and facing close scrutiny and restrictions on their daily activities.

20.4 Freed Blacks (000) By Region

Growth of the Black population is heavily influenced by owners who are intent on producing “excess slaves” for sales at highly profitable public auctions. Their cynical calculations go as follows:

• Females can bear children between the ages of 18-44.
• Assuming early weening, up to 13 pregnancies could follow.
• Given a 66% survival rate, the result would be 8-10 new slaves.
• At an auction price of $300, sales would be $2500-3000 in added capital.
• Not to mention the further returns on new female slaves.

Among the earlies proponents of this systematic breeding of female slaves is Virginia planter, Thomas Jefferson, who writes in a June 30, 1820 note to his friend John Wales Epps:

I know no error more consuming to an estate than that of stocking farms with men almost exclusively. I consider a woman who brings a child every two years as more profitable than the best man of the farm. What she produces is an addition to the capital, while his labors disappear in mere consumption.

The auction price of those enslaved is driven by demand from those hoping to improve their total estate wealth. It spikes up in the 1830’s as white farmers assume control over the tribal homelands in the lower south. But the largest jump occurs after the 1848 Mexican War Cession and the 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act, both opening the prospect of expanding slavery from the Mississippi to the west coast.

While South Carolina Senator William Henry Hammond declares that “Cotton is King” in his 1858 speech, the underlying wealth of the South resides in the value of those enslaved. As the war approaches in 1860, Professor Robert Ransom at U. California pegs this at $3.1 Billion, at a time where the total U.S. GDP in goods and services is estimated at $4.4 Billion.

20.5 Estimated Auction Value Of Those Enslaved

Based on integration of multiple sources of date, the table below provides an overview of the scope and character of slavery across the South. Headlines:

* Only 30% of all southern families own any slaves.

* Just over 70% of owners have less than ten, living on small farms.

* A minimum of 20-50 slaves are need to operate a small plantation.

* Large plantations require at least 50.  

* Only 1% of all owners hold upwards of 100 captives.

* This translates to 2,700 families owning some 360,000 in bondage. 

* The largest owner, with 1,130, is John Joshua, “king of rice planters.”

20.6 Estimated Distribution Of Enslaved Persons

Professor Ransom’s calculations also reveal the positive impact that slave ownership has on a family’s wealth. While this is a mix of different farm sizes, on average the total estate value of a Southern family owning slaves is over 16 times greater than a family who has none.

20.7 Average Wealth of Southern Farmers in 1860

This “estate wealth gap” likewise favors Southern farmers over their Northern counterparts.

20.8 Average Wealth of Southern Vs. Northern Farmers in 1860

The geographic location of those enslaved mirrors the consistent westward movement of the entire U.S. population. By 1860, the Union consists of 33 States, 17 in the North and 16 in the South. At that time, the percentage of those in bondage has declined to 47% in the original six southern states and climbed to 53% inland.

20.9 The Westward Movement of Those Enslaved

The state by state figure below show this same westward pattern

20.10 The Westward Movement of Those Enslaved