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Civil War Statistics:

Slaves as a Percentage of the U.S. Population

(1800-1860)

 

 

The chart below shows the numbers of Americans in each census year from 1800 to 1860, along with the total population of enslaved African-Americans in the United States (and in the Confederacy). The last column shows the what percentage of the total U.S. population were enslaved. By the time of the next census, in 1870, slavery had been ended.

American Slavery

An American Slave with Scars from Whipping

 

Pages on American Slavery

Slave Rebellions in U.S. History

 

Slaves as a Percentage of the U.S. Population

Year
Total U.S. Population (in millions)
Total U.S. Slave Population (in millions)
Slaves as a Percentage of the Total U.S. Population

1800

5.1

0.9

17.6%

1810

6.8

1.1

16.1%

1820

10

1.5

15 %

1830

12.8

2.0

15.6%

1840

17

2.5

14.7%

1850

23

3.2

13.9%

1860

31.2

4.0

12.8%

NOTE: The population of the Confederate States in 1860 (according to the 1860 census) stood at 9,103,332. Of that number, 3,521,110 were enslaved African-Americans. Enslaved African-Americans constituted 38.67% of the total population of the Confederate states.

The percentage of Southern families that possessed slaves was 30% in 1860.

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