Alan J. Pitts
Re: 1860 Census
Thu May 31 18:01:56 2001


Let's remember that slavery was a system of labor. The difference between a household that included one slave and another that included five might be very little. It's doubtful that all five would be adults; more likely the owner is providing for three or four children or older people, and only one or two adults. On the other hand, the owner with one slave probably had an adult. The bottom line would be that each had an extra hand to assist with farm labor.

You pose some interesting questions. The best published work to explore this area is Fred A. Bailey's "Class and Tennessee's Confederate Generation", a study of the thousands of questionnaries returned by veterans about 1915. Questions were designed to elicit veteran's responses to the many of the questions you just asked. I did my own study and arrived at different conclusions than Bailey, but the questionnaire itself is fascinating.