Statistics on Slavery

Population of the Original Thirteen Colonies, selected years by type

1750	1750		1790	1790		1790	1810		1810	1810	1860		1860	1860	State
White	Black		White	Free		Slave	White		Free	Slave	White		Free	Slave
				Nonwhite					Nonwhite				Nonwhite
108,270	3,010		232,236	2,771		2,648	255,179		6,453	310	451,504		8,643	-	Connecticut
27,208	1,496		46,310	3,899		8,887	55,361		13,136	4,177	90,589		19,829	1,798	Delaware
4,200	1,000		52,886	398		29,264	145,414		1,801	105,218	591,550		3,538	462,198	Georgia
97,623	43,450		208,649	8,043		103,036	235,117		33,927	111,502	515,918		83,942	87,189	Maryland
183,925	4,075		373,187	5,369		-	465,303		6,737	-	1,221,432		9,634	-	Massachusetts
26,955	550		141,112	630		157	182,690		970	-	325,579		494	-	New Hampshire
66,039	5,354		169,954	2,762		11,423	226,868		7,843	10,851	646,699		25,318	-	New Jersey
65,682	11,014		314,366	4,682		21,193	918,699		25,333	15,017	3,831,590		49,145	-	New York
53,184	19,800		289,181	5,041		100,783	376,410		10,266	168,824	629,942		31,621	331,059	North Carolina
116,794	2,872		317,479	6,531		3,707	786,804		22,492	795	2,849,259		56,956	-	Pennsylvania
29,879	3,347		64,670	3,484		958	73,214		3,609	108	170,649		3,971	-	Rhode Island
25,000	39,000		140,178	1,801		107,094	214,196		4,554	196,365	291,300		10,002	402,406	South Carolina
129,581	101,452		442,117	12,866		292,627	551,534		30,570	392,518	1,047,299		58,154	490,865	Virginia
934,340	236,420		2,792,325	58,277		681,777	4,486,789		167,691	1,005,685	12,663,310		361,247	1,775,515	United States

(Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S. (1970), Franklin (1988): http://www.eh.net/encyclopedia/wahl.slavery.us.php)

Throughout colonial and antebellum history, U.S. slaves lived primarily in the South. Slaves comprised less than a tenth of the total Southern population in 1680 but grew to a third by 1790. At that date, 293,000 slaves lived in Virginia alone, making up 42 percent of all slaves in the U.S. at the time. South Carolina, North Carolina, and Maryland each had over 100,000 slaves. After the American Revolution, the Southern slave population exploded, reaching about 1.1 million in 1810 and over 3.9 million in 1860.

Population of the South 1790-1860

(Source: Historical Statistics of the U.S. (1970).)

Slaves as a Percent of the Total Population selected years, by Southern state

(Sources: Historical Statistics of the United States (1970), Franklin (1988).)

Holdings of Southern Slaveowners by states, 1860

(Source: Historical Statistics of the United States (1970).)

Slavery was the basis of sectional differences in the U.S. which resulted in the Civil War and  renewed commitment to realize the promise of protection of inalienable rights for all persons in the country. 

Gray = Confederate States of America
Blue, Pink, & Red = Union States or United States of America
Pink = Border States (slave states), that stayed in the Union.
Red = In 1863, West Virginia separated from Virginia.
Light Green = USA; areas and territories that were not states in 1861.