According to most reliable references, no more than 22% or fewer of the southern population owned slaves. The cost of one slave was around $100,000 to $200,000 in twenty first century dollars. The most wealthy 1 percent or so of southerners (like Thomas Jefferson or George Washington) owned around 100 to
200 slaves at any one time. Only about 2000 plantation owners owned the bulk of the slaves. About 17 percent or so of the population owned from 3 to 10 slaves, while around 4% owned one or two slaves. A person had to be very wealthy to own one slave. Owning one slave would be like owning a vacation home today as far as costs are concerned. At least 77 percent of southerners never owned slaves and were either too pooor to even think about it, or considered sslavery very bad.
04-24-2012, 01:45 PM
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