Only 2% “Owned” Slaves?”: Slavery and Slaveholding in the United States Facts (Part 3)

Slavery and Slaveholding in the United States, 1860

Introduction

On the eve of the Civil War, slavery was the backbone of Southern life and one of the most defining institutions in American history. The 1860 U.S. Census, alongside research from the National Park Service, Duke University’s Cook Center, PolitiFact, and the University of Houston’s Digital History project, allows us to see not only the numbers but also the reach of slavery into nearly every corner of Southern society.

These figures reveal a sobering truth: while not every white Southerner legally owned enslaved people, the system touched almost every white household—through economics, law, social norms, and racial control.

The Numbers

• Total population (1860): 31,443,321 people.

• Enslaved African Americans: 3,953,760 (about 12.6% of the U.S. population).

• Free population: About 27.49 million nationwide (all those not enslaved).

Slaveholders and Households

• Named slaveholders: Roughly 393,975 individuals in the census owned enslaved people. This equals about 1.25% of the total U.S. population, but this framing understates slavery’s spread because it includes enslaved people and children in the denominator.

• Families that owned slaves (nationwide): About 7.4% of U.S. families held at least one enslaved person—around one in thirteen. This is far higher than the misleading “1%” claim often repeated today.

• White families in the South: Roughly 25–30% of white families in the slave states were slaveholding households. That’s one in every four white families.

• Confederate states: In the 11 states that would form the Confederacy, about 31% of free families owned enslaved people.

Regional extremes

The “Cotton Kingdom” states saw especially high rates:

• Mississippi: Nearly 49% of white families enslaved people.

• South Carolina: About 46%.

• Georgia: About 37%.

By contrast, border states had much lower rates—only 3% of families in Delaware enslaved people.

Non-Slaveholders and Their Role

Even those who did not personally own enslaved people were deeply entangled in the system:

• Economic ties. Small farmers, artisans, and businessmen often hired out enslaved laborers from wealthier owners. This “hiring-out” meant that many whites without permanent ownership still profited from enslaved people’s work.

• Community enforcement. White men across classes were required to serve on slave patrols, enforcing curfews, chasing runaways, and policing Black people’s movements. Slavery was upheld as a community duty. This fostered a sense of shared interest in preserving slavery and the mindset that justified it.

• Social status. Poor and middle class whites still benefited from a racial hierarchy that elevated them above enslaved Black people. Owning enslaved people was viewed as a pathway to prosperity, and many aspired to it.

• Sexual exploitation. The law did not recognize the rape of enslaved women as a crime. This meant any white man—not just an owner—could commit sexual violence against enslaved women (or men) without legal consequence. The entire white population, not just owners, held power over Black lives and bodies.

Conclusion

By 1860, nearly 4 million Black people were enslaved in a nation of 31 million. Roughly one in three white families in the South were direct slaveholders, and in places like Mississippi and South Carolina, nearly half of all white households enslaved people. Beyond ownership, slavery’s reach extended into the lives of nearly all white Southerners through economics, law, culture, and violence.

Slavery was not the burden of a tiny elite—it was a system that structured Southern society as a whole, implicating both owners and non-owners in the oppression of millions of African Americans.

Key Statistics from the 1860 Census

• Total U.S. population (1860): Approximately 31.4 million people. The official 1860 Census counted 31,443,321 inhabitants .

• Enslaved African American population: Around 4 million. The 1860 Census recorded 3,953,760 people as enslaved, about 12.6% of the national population .

• Free population: Roughly 27.5 million (all people not enslaved). This included about 8.3 million free persons in the South (the 15 slaveholding states) . In other words, out of ~27.5 million free Americans nationwide, about 8 million lived in slave states (the rest lived in free states).

• Slaveholding individuals/households: Approximately 393,000. In 1860 there were about 393,975 people recorded as slave owners in the slave states . Since typically one owner represented a household or family, this means roughly 393,000 households (out of several million nationwide) held slaves. This figure corresponds to only about 1.3% of the total U.S. population being slaveholders if you count individuals .

However, owners were a larger share of the adult free population in the South (see below).

• Percentage of all American families owning slaves: Approximately 7–8%. When considering families/households (rather than individuals), about 7.4% of all families in the United States owned at least one enslaved person in 1860 . (This is much higher than the oft-misquoted figure of “1%” that counts only owners as a share of the entire population, including slaves and children .)

In other words, roughly one out of every 13 families in America held slaves.

• Percentage of white Southern families owning slaves: Roughly 25–30%. In 1860, about one-quarter of white families in the South were slaveholders . Historians estimate the proportion at about 25% for all slave states on average (the median was ~27% among slave states) . In the 11 states that would form the Confederacy, the share was on the higher end – about 30.8% of free families in those states owned slaves (nearly one-third) .

In the Deep South “Cotton Kingdom” states the rates were especially high: for example, nearly 49% of white families in Mississippi and 46% in South Carolina enslaved people in 1860 . Border slave states had lower rates (e.g. only 3% of families in Delaware) . Overall, roughly every fourth white Southern family was directly involved as a slaveholding household by 1860.

• Slaveholding among landowners and in the cotton belt: Among white Southerners who owned land (farmers/planters), slaveholding was even more common. Estimates suggest about half of landowning white families in the South enslaved people. In the richest plantation regions – the heart of the cotton belt – a majority of white families owned slaves . In certain counties dominated by plantation agriculture, well over 50% (in some cases over 60%) of white households were slaveholding.

For instance, parts of the Black Belt had local slaveholding rates exceeding half of all white families, and South Carolina as a whole was unique in approaching an outright majority of white families owning slaves . This regional variation shows that slavery’s prevalence was especially intense in the big cotton- and sugar-producing areas.

The Role of Non-Slaveholders in a Slave Society

It is important to note that even white people who did not personally own slaves were often deeply entangled in the slave system. Slavery was the foundation of Southern society and economy, touching the lives of non-slaveholders in many ways:

• Economic and Social Ties: Non-slaveholding whites frequently worked with or for slave-owners and benefited indirectly from slavery. Many engaged in business with planters or found jobs in occupations supporting the slave economy (e.g. as overseers, slave traders, slave patrolmen, merchants, bankers, insurers, etc.).

The National Park Service notes that large numbers of whites without slaves still hired enslaved workers, traded with plantation owners, served as bankers/insurers, and aided the slave trade . In fact, slavery was so ingrained that owning slaves was seen as the main route to prosperity – those who didn’t own slaves still aspired to, or at least accepted the system as the norm .

A majority of white Southern families either owned slaves, had owned them in the past, or expected to own them in the future , indicating how pervasive the ambition of slave-ownership was in Southern culture.

• “Hiring” or “Borrowing” enslaved people: It was very common for non-slaveholding whites to rent or borrow enslaved laborers from wealthier slave-owners for short periods. Historian Adam Goodheart explains that many whites who didn’t hold title to slaves would nonetheless lease enslaved people for work; thus a person could function as a temporary “master” without legally owning the slave .

For example, a small farmer might hire enslaved field hands at harvest time, or a craftsman might rent an enslaved apprentice. This means the number of white Southerners using enslaved labor was higher than the number who formally owned slaves . The census figures therefore undercount the extent of slavery’s reach, since non-owners could still exploit slave labor.

• Policing and enforcing slavery: White southerners also participated in the enforcement of slavery. Local laws often required even non-slaveholders to serve on slave patrols, which chased runaways and monitored black people’s movements. In this way, controlling the slave population was a community-wide effort – “a matter of concern for all whites, whether they owned slaves or not,” as historians have noted . This fostered a sense of shared interest in preserving slavery.

Non-slaveholding whites understood that their own legal and social status as “free white persons” was elevated by the existence of a Black slave underclass, and many defended the institution for that reason.

• Sexual exploitation of enslaved people: The dominance of all white people over all Black people under slavery had especially horrific personal consequences. Even whites who did not legally own slaves could commit acts of sexual violence against enslaved African Americans with impunity. Under the laws of slave states, the rape of an enslaved woman was not a crime – enslaved people had no legal standing to accuse a white person of rape .

This meant any white man (not just an owner) could abuse an enslaved woman without fear of punishment. Enslaved women (and men) were thus vulnerable to sexual assault from owners’ family members, overseers, neighbors, or any white in the community.

For example, one formerly enslaved woman recounted how an overseer (who did not own her) tried to force her mother to be his “wife” – when her mother resisted his sexual advances, the overseer brutally tied her up and whipped her as punishment .

Such incidents illustrate that sexual coercion and abuse were an integral part of slavery, perpetrated not only by slave-owners but by other whites entrusted with authority over slaves. The utter lack of legal protection for Black women and men meant that the entire white society – not just slaveholders – wielded power over Black persons.

Key Statistics from the 1860 Census (with links)

• Total U.S. population (1860): Approximately 31.4 million people. The official 1860 Census counted 31,443,321 inhabitantspolitifact.com.

• Enslaved African American population: Around 4 million. The 1860 Census recorded 3,953,760 people as enslaved, about 12.6% of the national populationpolitifact.com.

• Free population: Roughly 27.5 million (all people not enslaved). This included about 8.3 million free persons in the South (the 15 slaveholding states)socialequity.duke.edu. In other words, out of ~27.5 million free Americans nationwide, about 8 million lived in slave states (the rest lived in free states).

• Slaveholding individuals/households: Approximately 393,000. In 1860 there were about 393,975 people recorded as slave owners in the slave statessocialequity.duke.edu. Since typically one owner represented a household or family, this means roughly 393,000 households (out of several million nationwide) held slaves. This figure corresponds to only about 1.3% of the total U.S. population being slaveholders if you count individualssocialequity.duke.edusocialequity.duke.edu. However, owners were a larger share of the adult free population in the South (see below).

• Percentage of all American families owning slaves: Approximately 7–8%. When considering families/households (rather than individuals), about 7.4% of all families in the United States owned at least one enslaved person in 1860politifact.com. (This is much higher than the oft-misquoted figure of “1%” that counts only owners as a share of the entire population, including slaves and childrenpolitifact.compolitifact.com.) In other words, roughly one out of every 13 families in America held slaves.

• Percentage of white Southern families owning slaves: Roughly 25–30%. In 1860, about one-quarter of white families in the South were slaveholdersnps.gov. Historians estimate the proportion at about 25% for all slave states on average (the median was ~27% among slave states)politifact.com. In the 11 states that would form the Confederacy, the share was on the higher end – about 30.8% of free families in those states owned slaves (nearly one-third)socialequity.duke.edu. In the Deep South “Cotton Kingdom” states the rates were especially high: for example, nearly 49% of white families in Mississippi and 46% in South Carolina enslaved people in 1860politifact.com. Border slave states had lower rates (e.g. only 3% of families in Delaware)politifact.com. Overall, roughly every fourth white Southern family was directly involved as a slaveholding household by 1860.

• Slaveholding among landowners and in the cotton belt: Among white Southerners who owned land (farmers/planters), slaveholding was even more common. Estimates suggest about half of landowning white families in the South enslaved people. In the richest plantation regions – the heart of the cotton belt – a majority of white families owned slaveskensingtons.org.uk. In certain counties dominated by plantation agriculture, well over 50% (in some cases over 60%) of white households were slaveholding.

For instance, parts of the Black Belt had local slaveholding rates exceeding half of all white families, and South Carolina as a whole was unique in approaching an outright majority of white families owning slavespolitifact.comkensingtons.org.uk. This regional variation shows that slavery’s prevalence was especially intense in the big cotton- and sugar-producing areas.

The Role of Non-Slaveholders in a Slave Society

It is important to note that even white people who did not personally own slaves were often deeply entangled in the slave system. Slavery was the foundation of Southern society and economy, touching the lives of non-slaveholders in many ways:

• Economic and Social Ties: Non-slaveholding whites frequently worked with or for slave-owners and benefited indirectly from slavery. Many engaged in business with planters or found jobs in occupations supporting the slave economy (e.g. as overseers, slave traders, slave patrolmen, merchants, bankers, insurers, etc.). The National Park Service notes that large numbers of whites without slaves still hired enslaved workers, traded with plantation owners, served as bankers/insurers, and aided the slave tradenps.gov. In fact, slavery was so ingrained that owning slaves was seen as the main route to prosperity – those who didn’t own slaves still aspired to, or at least accepted the system as the normdigitalhistory.uh.edu. A majority of white Southern families either owned slaves, had owned them in the past, or expected to own them in the futuredigitalhistory.uh.edu, indicating how pervasive the ambition of slave-ownership was in Southern culture.

• **“Hiring” or “Borrowing” enslaved people: It was very common for non-slaveholding whites to rent or borrow enslaved laborers from wealthier slave-owners for short periods. Historian Adam Goodheart explains that many whites who didn’t hold title to slaves would nonetheless lease enslaved people for work; thus a person could function as a temporary “master” without legally owning the slavepolitifact.com. For example, a small farmer might hire enslaved field hands at harvest time, or a craftsman might rent an enslaved apprentice. This means the number of white Southerners using enslaved labor was higher than the number who formally owned slavespolitifact.com. The census figures therefore undercount the extent of slavery’s reach, since non-owners could still exploit slave labor.

• Policing and enforcing slavery: White southerners also participated in the enforcement of slavery. Local laws often required even non-slaveholders to serve on slave patrols, which chased runaways and monitored black people’s movements. In this way, controlling the slave population was a community-wide effort – “a matter of concern for all whites, whether they owned slaves or not,” as historians have notedbattlefields.org. This fostered a sense of shared interest in preserving slavery. Non-slaveholding whites understood that their own legal and social status as “free white persons” was elevated by the existence of a Black slave underclass, and many defended the institution for that reason.

• Sexual exploitation of enslaved people: The dominance of all white people over all Black people under slavery had especially horrific personal consequences. Even whites who did not legally own slaves could commit acts of sexual violence against enslaved African Americans with impunity. Under the laws of slave states, the rape of an enslaved woman was not a crime – enslaved people had no legal standing to accuse a white person of rapeldhi.library.cofc.edu. This meant any white man (not just an owner) could abuse an enslaved woman without fear of punishment. Enslaved women (and men) were thus vulnerable to sexual assault from owners’ family members, overseers, neighbors, or any white in the community. For example, one formerly enslaved woman recounted how an overseer (who did not own her) tried to force her mother to be his “wife” – when her mother resisted his sexual advances, the overseer brutally tied her up and whipped her as punishmentldhi.library.cofc.edu. Such incidents illustrate that sexual coercion and abuse were an integral part of slavery, perpetrated not only by slave-owners but by other whites entrusted with authority over slaves. The utter lack of legal protection for Black women and men meant that the entire white society – not just slaveholders – wielded power over Black bodies.

In sum, by 1860 about 4 million Black people were enslaved in a nation of 31 millionpolitifact.com. Slavery was concentrated in the South, where it formed the backbone of the economy and social order. While only a minority of Americans owned slaves, that minority was significant: roughly 393,000 slaveholding familiessocialequity.duke.edu (about 25–30% of white families in the Southnps.govsocialequity.duke.edu and ~8% of families nationwidepolitifact.com).

In the plantation-dominated areas, slave ownership was even more widespread, approaching or exceeding half of white householdspolitifact.com.

Just as importantly, slavery’s reach extended beyond the slaveholders themselves. Non-slaveholding whites – from yeoman farmers to urban businessmen – still profited from and participated in the slave system, whether by hiring enslaved labor, enforcing slave laws, or simply exploiting the racial hierarchy for social advantagenps.govpolitifact.com.

The institution of slavery thus enveloped the entire Southern society, implicating slave-owners and non-owners alike in the oppression of Black Americans.

Sources: Data from the U.S. Census of 1860politifact.comsocialequity.duke.edu; historical analyses by scholars and institutions including PolitiFact (citing UNC historian Joseph Glatthaar)politifact.compolitifact.com, the Duke University–Moguldom fact check (citing researcher Al Mackey and Prof. Sandy Darity)socialequity.duke.edusocialequity.duke.edu, the National Park Servicenps.gov, Digital History at University of Houstondigitalhistory.uh.edu, and the New Georgia Encyclopediageorgiaencyclopedia.org.

For the lived experience of slavery and widespread white involvement, see NPS and Lowcountry Digital History Initiative resourcesnps.govldhi.library.cofc.eduldhi.library.cofc.edu, which document how non-slaveholders would hire slaves and how enslaved people were vulnerable to abuse by any white, not just their owners.