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Slave ownership in the US before the Civil War

The percentage of Americans who owned slaves on the eve of the Civil War and how it is measured

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Feb 2, 2026

How did county-level percentages of enslaved populations vary across the Deep South in 1860?

The in showed extreme local variation in the share of county populations that were enslaved: many river-valley and coastal counties were majority‑enslaved—frequently exceeding 50–70 percent—while inla...

Jan 31, 2026

What proportion of the overall U.S. population were enslaved people in 1860?

The 1860 U.S. census counted roughly 3.95 million people held in slavery against a national population of about 31.4 million, which translates to approximately of the entire U.S. population being ensl...