Alan J. Pitts
Social Profiles from the Census of 1860....
Thu May 31 13:58:50 2001


This link is probably familiar to many of you. However, it includes information that may have been useful during our recent discussion on free blacks, north and south. It also includes the number of men considered to be of military age by state, and other interesting data:

http://www.umsl.edu/~muns/civilwar/civfaq.htm

An-oft confused point of ACW debate concerns the ratio of slaveholders to non-slaveholders in southern states. It turns on this point: if I own slaves, and the three families that live nearest me do not, the ratio of slaveholders to non-slaveholders in our community is 1:4, or 25%. If, however, there are five persons in each of these four households, and I am the only slaveholder, the ratio of slaveholders to non-slaveholders becomes 1:20, or 5%. When we read statements that only five percent or some other miniscule number actually owned slaves, the statement is based on the latter method of reasoning. It's technically correct, but to my mind the first method provides a much more accurate picture. As I understand, the overall figure for slaveholding households in 1860 was about 26%.

For what it's worth, the typical slaveholder owned about five slaves. Of course that includes men, women and children of all ages. The general rule of thumb seems to be that anyone who owned twenty or more slaves could be considered a planter (as opposed to a mere farmer). If you take the numbers and produce an average of slaves per slaveholder, the number may be very close to twenty. However, the actual numbers of slaveholders in Alabama who owned more than twenty slaves is only about 10% of the total. The small number of slaveholders who owned several hundred slaves each weights the average too far in that direction. The "typical" (not the average) slaveholder in this state owned about five slaves.

Many regulars on the board are more skilled with numbers, and will respond with corrections and additions. Before closing, I'd like to mention James Oakes' book on the small slaveholder, "The Ruling Race: A History of American Slaveholders". For interested parties, here's a review from Texas Christian University:

http://enterprise.is.tcu.edu/~swoodworth/Oakes.htm