The African-American population in 1860

This 1860 federal census was the last of the slavery era. With it we can view a portrait of the United States on the eve of the Civil War. Five years – and much bloodshed – later, the end of the War would also herald the end of slavery.

 

The statistics below are based on the 1860 federal census, as provided by the University of Virginia Library’s Historical Census Browser. Below the raw data, several charts display the data graphically, as well as the percentage of the total population consisting of free persons of color, slaves, and slaveholders, and the average number of slaves owned by each slaveholder.

 

Several interesting and surprising figures arise in a statistical study of this nature.

 

The most surprising is that, nationwide, Mississippi had the highest number of slaveholders relative to its total population, but the number of slaveholders even in Mississippi was only 3.91% of the total population of that state. Over 55% of the total population of that state were slaves.

 

Another item of note, though not necessarily unexpected, is that Virginia, in 1860, had the highest number of slaveholders, slaves, and free persons of color. It was also the most populous of all of the “slave states.” The highest number of slaves as a percentage of the total population stood in South Carolina, in which over 57% of the total population of the state were slaves.

 

Just as surprising, however, is how small the difference is in the average number of slaves per slaveholder. While the total number of slaves and the total number of slaveholders varies greatly from state to state, the average number of slaves owned ranged from Delaware (only three slaves per household) to Louisiana and South Carolina (both with fifteen slaves per household).

 

Certainly, many more useful statistical calculations can be gleaned from the below data.

 

STATE	TOTAL POPULATION	TOTAL SLAVE-HOLDERS	TOTAL FREE PERSONS OF COLOR	TOTAL SLAVES
Virginia	1,596,318	52,128	58,042	490,865
Georgia	1,057,286	41,084	3,500	462,198
Mississippi	791,305	30,943	773	436,631
Alabama	964,201	33,730	2,690	435,080
South Carolina	703,708	26,701	9,914	402,406
Louisiana	708,002	22,033	18,647	331,726
North Carolina	992,622	34,658	30,463	331,059
Tennessee	1,109,801	36,844	7,300	275,719
Kentucky	1,155,684	38,645	10,684	225,483
Texas	604,215	21,878	355	182,566
Missouri	1,182,012	24,320	3,572	114,931
Arkansas	435,450	11,481	144	111,115
Maryland	687,049	13,783	83,942	87,189
Florida	140,424	5,152	932	61,745
Delaware	112,216	587	19,829	1,798